[A Chief Minister, in fact any minister for that matter, is under oath to uphold the Constitution and, consequently, the rule of law.
Here we've one who's thumping her chest in public with the claim of having flagrantly violated such norms, taking pride in conducting custodial torture and trashing the due process of law.] I/II. http://www.asianage.com/opinion/oped/120217/dishonouring-the-oath-of-office.html Dishonouring the oath of office Aakar Patel Aakar Patel is Executive Director of Amnesty International India. A former editor, Patel is a senior columnist and a translator of Urdu and Gujarati works. Published : Feb 12, 2017, 6:46 am IST Updated : Feb 12, 2017, 7:14 am IST Uma Bharti, the water resources minister, claims she told the victims to watch as the offenders were hung upside down. All ministers and Prime Ministers who take office in India make this promise: “I do swear in the name of God that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, that I will faithfully and conscientiously discharge my duties... and that I will do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.” This oath is taken from the Constitution’s third schedule. There is also an oath of secrecy that the minister “will not directly or indirectly communicate or reveal to any person or persons any matter which shall be brought under my consideration or shall become known to me except as may be required for the due discharge of my duties as such minister.” How seriously do our ministers and leaders take this promise to be faithful to the Constitution, which means essentially to uphold the law? This week, BBC reported this news: “An Indian minister says she made rape suspects beg for their lives and ordered police to torture them.” Uma Bharti, the water resources minister, claims she told the victims to watch as the offenders were hung upside down. “Rapists should be tortured in front of victims until they beg for forgiveness,” she said. “The rapists should be hung upside down and beaten till their skin comes off,” the minister is reported to have said. “Salt and chili should be rubbed on their wounds until they scream. Mothers and sisters should watch so they can get closure.” What the minister is claiming to have done is essentially a criminal act. The law and the Constitution do not allow for what Ms Bharti did, because the process for handling crimes is clear. The police register a case and investigate, the state prosecutes and the judiciary decides. What Ms Bharti is boasting she did is violating the Constitution and law she swore to uphold. We expect mobs in the subcontinent to hand out punishment without trial. To have ministers doing it and then being proud about it says something about how the law is treated in India and how seriously ministers take their oath of office. The other thing is that these boasts about punishment to rapists should be contrasted with India’s actual record of action on that crime. None of the seven survivors of gangrape in the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013, who filed FIRs, has got justice yet. One of the women has died while the other six have been fighting against the system to be heard. The women have been threatened by their alleged rapists and have received no support from those who are advertising their great actions against sexual violence. A massive movement was launched in India after the incident in Delhi known as the Nirbhaya case in which a young woman was sexually assaulted and murdered. After it, changes in law and in procedure were made to ensure that victims and survivors of such violence received speedy justice. The reality is that there is no change on the ground, as the Muzaffarnagar gangrape cases show. And so on one hand we have total failure from the state on its actual performance and delivery on sexual violence and rapists. And on the other hand we have these statements about what fabulous things ministers have done to address these crimes. The unusual thing about what Ms Bharti said is this. She will likely not even be aware that she is violating the Constitution because she is convinced she is doing the right thing. And the right thing, in the perspective of people like her, is not necessarily the legal thing. She swore “that I will do right to all manner of people”. But the distinction between an accused and a convict does not really exist in a society, which believes that there are people who come from “good families”. Those who do not come from good families must possibly be bad by birth and should be punished for that. The civilised idea of law is that it grants protection to the accused and that is why we have the phrase “presumed innocent until found guilty”. But that goes against the primitive thinking exhibited by our minister. All the focus in the oath is on that line about “unity and integrity of India”. That is sacred and those who are accused of violating that sentiment, even verbally, will be thrashed, again without trial. The rest of it, the bearing of faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, is incidental. II. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/torture-rape-accused-uma-bharti-says-can-cite-two-instances-4520107/ Torture rape accused: Uma Bharti says can cite two instances “The matter is so serious and expansive that I want the debate on it to be stopped till March 11," Bharti said. By: Express News Service | Bhopal/new Delhi | Published:February 12, 2017 3:10 am Uma Bharti campaigns with Rita Bahuguna Joshi in Lucknow on Saturday. Vishal Srivastav UNION WATER Resources Minister and Jhansi MP Uma Bharti on Saturday stuck to her claim that she had tortured rapists when she was Madhya Pradesh chief minister, saying she had done it twice and “will do so again in future if I get an opportunity”. Reacting to a report in The Indian Express that quoted former DGP S K Das as saying he could not recollect any such incident when she was the CM and he headed the police force, Bharti said that she would reveal those instances after March 11 (when results of the state elections will be announced). “I will not reveal the names of policemen who acted on my instructions. I will be ready to face consequences and if I get a chance in future will again do so,” the former CM said in a letter sent to The Indian Express. However, she added, she would not participate in a discussion on the topic till March 11 but answer all queries after that. “The matter is so serious and expansive that I want the debate on it to be stopped till March 11.” She said that the Home Department had been with her as the CM for days, and that she had herself instructed Das to ensure that people at police stations are not humiliated. “Thousands of people die of police torture every year after being arrested. Many of them are extremely poor and innocent… However, that relaxation (of not humiliating people) was not meant for tyrants, who had paraded nude women before crowds, gangraped them and disfigured their faces with acid,” she said, without giving any details of such incidents. Das was DGP for 16 months, including the eight months from December 2003 to August 2004 when Bharti was the CM. “Let the elections be over and call Das saheb for a discussion. I will remind him of the two incidents because he is aware of the facts,” she said. “I made him the DGP. (For the first time) in the state’s history, the post of DGP had gone to an officer of the deprived class. He fully deserved it.” She further said that she would speak to anyone, from constable to the SP to the IG, when crimes were committed against women, disabled, old and deprived, because she was authorised to do. Bharti said she also shared “everything with the DGP though he was aware of the facts”. When reached for his comments again on Saturday, the former DGP said, “Even if my father from heaven were to descend and ask me to do so (torture), I would not do it.” Also reacting sharply to Bharti’s assertion that she had made him the DGP, Das said: “Did she also post me to the previous senior positions I had held? The deprived classes have risen in life, some above her. Which class did Ambedkar belong to?” Rejecting her call for a debate, the retired police officer said, “Let her say what she has to say. Who is she to call me for a debate? Don’t drag me into all this.” At the rally in Agra on Thursday, Bharti had said rapists should be given a beating in public, “skinned” and salt and chilli should be applied to their wounds, and that she had ensured such punishment for rapists as CM. In her letter, Bharti said, “I have a kind heart. Even while washing my face in the washbasin, I ensure that ants are not washed away. But I can’t do injustice to an innocent or watch it happen. I don’t feel any compassion for those who harass girls and rape girls and women because I don’t consider them human beings. Hence, they don’t have any human rights… I can forgive anyone but not those who disrespect women, elderly, handicapped or cow. I continue to believe in handing out the strictest punishment to them.” Criticising Congress leaders for slamming her comments, Bharti said, “Some incidents are so crystal clear that no witnesses are required. Yet such criminals claim innocence in court and engage in character assassination of the victim. How can such people be worthy of human rights? If I get opportunities in future, I will award them strictest punishment.” Referring to the Naina Sahni tandoor murder case and the mysterious death of MP Congress leader Sarla Mishra, she said, “In both cases, Congress leaders were involved. It’s natural that the Congress will back such tyrants.” Asking The Indian Express to organise an “ideological debate” on the issue and invite Das to participate, Bharti said, “This issue does not relate to elections. Rather it is a matter of global concern. Recently, during the US elections, a lot of indecent remarks were made against President Donald Trump’s wife and presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. All kinds of people — educated as well as illiterate — are part of this crime.” -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
