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Gujarat riots probe : Apex court’s strong strictures |
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The severe strictures passed by the Supreme Court against the handling of riot cases by the BJP state government in Gujarat, could not have come at a worse time with state elections for five Assemblies due in November this year. The Congress is sure to make capital out of it.
The handling of the riots cases and the treatment to the victims in Gujarat came for strong censuring by the Supreme Court last week. The Chief Minister Narendra Modi was the clear target as the judges questioned the government’s appeal against the recent acquittals of the accused in the Best Bakery carnage case, as the witnesses were too scared to depose against the guilty people due to fear of reprisals. The Modi government has gone to the extent of admitting it was not in a position to protect the witnesses and victims from harassment.
The Supreme Court minced no words and flayed the Narendra Modi Government for filing an “eye-wash” of an appeal in the High Court in the `Best Bakery case and said: “Quit if you cannot prosecute the guilty”. It directed the State Chief Secretary and the Director-General of Police to be present in the court on September 19 to explain who had drafted the appeal. A three-Judge Bench, comprising the Chief Justice V.N. Khare, Justice Brijesh Kumar and Justice S.B. Sinha, found fault with the Modi Government for not being serious in prosecuting the appeal against the acquittal of all the 21 accused in the Best Bakery case.
Reminding the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, of his ‘raj dharma’ (tenets of governance) to protect the weaker sections and punish the guilty, the Chief Justice told the Additional Solicitor-General, Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Gujarat Government, “I have no faith left in the prosecution and the Gujarat Government. I am not saying Article 356. You have to protect people and punish the guilty. What else is raj dharma? You quit if you cannot prosecute the guilty. It is not your personal property. If you cannot protect the property of the people you cannot continue.”
The Bench observed, “We do not have any trust anymore in your prosecution. We will order either a CBI investigation or have our own agency to investigate the matter. There appears to be some collusion between the Government and prosecution in a case where 14 people were burnt alive. Is this the way prosecution should conduct trial before the trial court?” The Bench told the ASG, “We have absolute faith in our courts. There is no fault at all in the trial court. If you produce such a witness, what else the court can do ?”
When the senior counsel for the National Human Rights Commission Rao submitted that no grounds had been taken in the appeal for fresh investigation or retrial of the case, the Bench told the ASG, “Is this an appeal? Even a counsel with one year’s experience will not draft such an appeal. It appears to us that it is an eyewash. It is just an eyewash and nothing else. We will not be silent spectators. We will act if the State keeps silent before the High Court”.
The ASG invited the wrath of the CJ by submitting that in the last 40 years, several riots had taken place in the country and none of the rioters had been punished as no prosecution had ended in conviction. He gave the example of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot case in which no one could be punished. The CJ shot back, “Just because nobody had been punished for the last 40 years, it does not mean that we should shut our eyes”.
May harm BJP election prospects
Taken aback by the Supreme Court’s severe indictment of the Gujarat government in the Best Bakery case, which has cast doubts on its intentions to punish the guilty and asked it to quit if it cannot punish the rioters, the BJP has decided for the moment to sit tight. The party will be seeking legal advice - it is awaiting the return of law and commerce minister Arun Jaitley who is away in Cancun and will not be back till September 15.
Earlier, responding to the court’s observations, Naidu said, “There is no question of Modi resigning. If the Supreme Court has given a direction, then the Gujarat government is dutybound to respond positively to it.” In fact, the effort now appears to be to try and deflect attention from the court’s observations and the Congress’s demand that Modi resign by referring to the bad state of law and order in Bihar, where the government is backed by the Congress. The BJP may try to brazen it out, but the timing of the court’s observations could not have come at a worse moment, with assembly elections due in five states soon.
The Congress had been waiting for a chance to hit out at the Modi government. The court comments came in handy for the party. Convinced that the Narendra Modi government would never bring to book those guilty of last year’s communal carnage, the Congress urged Prime Minister Vajpayee to impose President’s Rule in the State.
The party said the court’s observations on the role of the Modi government and its appeal in the High Court against the acquittal of all 21 persons accused in the Best Bakery case as ‘’an eyewash’’ amounted to ‘’a stinging and wide-ranging indictment’’ of its role in the case and other incidents of violence.
Party spokesman S Jaipal Reddy told reporters that the court’s observations were ‘’unprecedented in the annals of independent India’’ and that the Union government could not remain a mute spectator. ‘’Something drastic needs to be done,’’ he added.
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