Judge not, that ye be not judged: '93 Blasts

By the time we go to the press almost the entire proceedings in the specially designated court of Justice PD Kode in the bomb blasts 1993 would be over. Though it would become history it would refuse to die there. There is a dynamic inherent in the judgment and the circumstances that would keep the cases open. What is in the judgment that is still open- ended? Of course the way is open for appeal. But more than that is the fact that antecedents and consequences should have been considered for a holistic approach and a judicious dispensation of justice. If rarest of the rare crime calls for death penalty so does the rarest of the rare circumstances call for a foresighted and judicious approach! Such an approach should be comprehensive enough to explain to all members of the society that its security and togetherness requires redress of grievances. The guilty must be punished but also those whose outlook and acts produced the crimes the guilty and the convicted and the sentenced, committed.

Justice BN Krishna commission report enjoins on the state to order probe and prosecution and conviction of those named for the riots that preceded the blasts. Among them are 33 police men and their officers. One such officer was not only given promotion but a ticket by Shiv Sena to fight election in the city. This is hardly justice, let alone poetic justice. It is a mockery of both. The officer had allegedly killed many in the Suleiman bakery area. His victims were in no position to either attack or even defend. They were cornered in rooms with no escape. There was Abdulla, a boy of 12, who saw his handicapped father dragged down and killed point blank by the police. Justice must involve a healing process and reconciliation. That is the way we can fight terror. Lawyers and judges must not fight on finer points of logic and evidence alone

The circumstances also must be weighed. The demolition of the Babri mosque was in clear violation of the rules of law and the constitution of the country. The chief minister of UP had given an undertaking which he not only did not maintain but gloated over the breaking of his legal obligation to protect the mosque. The top security forces amassed in Avodhya could have prevented but did not do anything; nay, they also joined in the juggernaut set in motion by no other than the pontificating-on-terrorism LKAdvani. The worst is not over with the two. Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray also instigated attacks on Muslims and never hid the fact that his musclemen partook in the demotion. Whenever cases were filed and court hearing approached he would dare anyone to touch him. He threatened each time that he would set the country on fire. His impetuosity has never ebbed. He said that President Kalam went down in his estimate because he did not uphold the death sentence of Afzal Guru. He left no one in doubt that it was the religion of the President which in his mind militated against the otherwise wonderful man we had in the rashtrapati bhavan. Facts prove that the President had not even received the papers on Guru! When will the legal finesse discern that the attack on the Parliament and on historic symbol of faith of a section of our people is both matters of taking the law into one’s own hand?

One of the cases of creating disaffection between two sections of Indian society and inciting violence in Mumbai did come up before the court in Mumbai. The judge dismissed the case on the ground that time had lapsed. He exonerated Bal Thackeray on that account. However, the chief minister of Bihar Mr Nitesh Kumar reopened the Bhagalpur riot case which had happened even before Mumbai riots of 1992-93. The Bihar high court has convicted and sentenced the guilty to prison, including a police officer. Two judgments in two diverse cases in the fateful month of July 2007 reflect on the still inconclusive state of investigation of July 11, 2006 blasts on trains. Despite election promise of taking action on BN Shrikirshna commission report the chief minister Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh has not done anything. Healing touch and reconciliation requires evening out the scales of justice.

There is a need for ethical cleansing rather than ethnic. It is important that our utterances and action should be free from any use of language that is a source of creating disaffection among the people. Not excepting Justice Kode’s riposte. He had sentences Zakir Hussain and Abdul Akhtarto to death. They shouted “AllahOAkbar” and had the demolition of Babri in mind when they again shouted “ Hindustan mein Musalmanoko fansi hi hogi. Jab Hindu ladenge toh commission bhitayenge, jab Musalman ladenge toh fansi pe chadayenge.” Why should such utterance (though unwarranted and a breach of court’s respect and the law of the land) be matched by what the honourable lordship said: “Their outpouring justifies the sentence”? (TOI 25-7-07)

The anger and the frustration that the convicts expressed should not become a rallying cry by any extremist group among the people. Hence the need to address the larger issues involved, what went before and what followed. There is no argument for commuting any sentence and yet there is some truth in tempering justice with mercy.

In fact there should be a commission of inquiry with the aim of reconciling different sections of society. A commission must find out what actually happened. There were riots after the demotion of Babri mosque but with the murder of 4 porters a twist was given in the gruesome tragedy. Who brought about this? Why? What exactly was the reason of the serial blasts of March 12, 1993? Those who organized the people and instigated them to violence must also be identified and prosecuted. It would be interesting to know why the then Defence Minister Sharad Pawar did what he acknowledged so late: “To keep peace, I misled people in 1993 blasts” (Indian Express August 12, 2006). Among other things why the Home Minister of India of the time late Shankerrao Chaven accused Pawar of complicity in the riots.

If Pawar was performing a balancing act what is the full extent of his acts of commission and omission? For example, the soldiers of the Indian army had caught Shiv Sena leader Madhukar Saropdar with guns and choppers in his possession. He was moving in his car with a gangster when the riots were raging and yet he was not booked and prosecuted. Was this also a balancing act? Justice BN Krishna has recommended that the criminals involved in the serial blasts should be punished but he also recommended that those who were involved in the murder and mayhem, burning and looting in 1992-93 should be prosecuted and punished. Why is this delay? The commission must probe the truth in order to find ways of reconciling the people without which our democracy and nation would be hollow in its self proclaimed goals.

His lordship Justice PD Kode has asserted during the trial of ’93 blats that Muslims had fought side by side with Hindus and others for the freedom of the country. They also gave sacrifices. A new commission or further trial must unearth who the perpetrators of the riots were that led to the serial bomb blasts of ’93. No one Indian is beyond the purview of what the justice Kode has observed and none should be left to feel raw justice is done: “I{Justice Kode} must say that for every citizen, the laws of the nation shall be respected. If you don't, I don't expect you to be called a moral person."