*JUSTICE UNDERDONE* *The freezing of the Srikrishna Report rips into the rule of law notion* *Sankarshan Thakur*
So we have a fairly agreed superscript to the sentencing of Sanjay Dutt -- he has the overwhelming, often lachrymal, support of fans and family, but that's okay, he was in grievous offence of the law, his punishment is deserved. No concessions for lineage and celebrity. No confusions between man and Munnabhai. Just as justice should perhaps be. However, as often happens, our proprieties remain stained. The serial sentencing in the Bombay blasts case mocks our treatment of a previous outrage in the city, an outrage that is often cited as justification for the blasts -- the riots that broke out on the cusp of 1992-93 following the demolition of the Babri Masjid. It is probably erroneous to call what happened "riots" because it was mostly a one-way story -- manic hordes incited by Shiv Sena bosses wiping out anything with a Muslim name attached -- people, streets, shops and businesses, entire localities. The mayhem continued for weeks, Bombay became bigotry's bloody stage. Hundreds were slaughtered, thousands and thousands were left scarred and destitute. There exists in the possession of the Maharashtra government a very comprehensive report on the horrors that preceded the Bombay blasts submitted by Justice BN Srikrishna. It is a widely respected and written about report; it also remains forsaken. And the reasons why that is so explain a lot to us about why we have a far way to go before we can make claims on the fundamentals of civil society. Justice Srikrishna's wasn't a wishy-washy whitewash job; he was direct in his indictments of the guilty: the blood lay mostly at the doorsteps of Bal Thackeray's Shiv Sena. Sena mp Madhukar Sarpotdar, even former Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi, were named among those who had incited violence . By the time Justice Srikrishna submitted his report, fresh elections had installed the Shiv Sena in power, so it was no surprise that little cognisance was taken of the findings and littler action taken. This isn't to justify the Shiv Sena not acting against its own on the basis of a judicial enquiry report, but such is our collective cynicism that we have come to accept such nepotisms as givens of our public life. Anyhow, came another election and power changed hands again, this time the Congress returned to power. And still there was no evacuating the Srikrishna findings from cold storage. Various reasons have been quoted at various times, but one has stood out -- whatever he does, whatever happens, don't touch Bal Thackeray, he can set Mumbai aflame again. The Sena boss lives and flourishes by ransom. And the system allows him to. The consequence of kowtowing to one man's bluff is that whole sections of our people lose faith in the fundamentals that India is built upon-democracy, eqaulit, rule of law. On the one hand, you have the guilty ogf the Bombay blasts being handed sentences, on the other, the perpetrators of communal bloodshed sitting secure in high places. That's a recipe for breeding prejudices and hatreds we have already have enough of. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality." - Dr BR Ambedkar ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
