Human Rights Day Special: As the world observes International Human Rights Day today, during the last week the Indian state and a large portion of the population, swathed in hate and revenge, did a leapfrog to turn the country into a banana republic. From the passing of the retrograde Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Lower House of the Indian Parliament to the deathly silence on public-oriented extrajudicial murder of four accused in Hyderabad, India turned into a country to be careful about the free and unfettered movement of women in cities, towns and villages and a clear demarcation of the population on religious lines. 

I N THE LAST ONE WEEK, India has shown all the trappings of a police state and its continued degeneration into a banana republic.  Police kill with impunity, law-makers seek instant revenge, the state is silent, media joins the fun, judiciary reluctantly questions, President says no mercy, people rejoice and sanity is the domain of only a handful.

Not able to handle the increasing number of crimes against women, especially rape of women of all age groups, the Indian society has gone into a tizzy of inhuman, uncivilised and cannibalistic behaviour, talking eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Notwithstanding the severity of the crime, the civilized world has to accept that it is possible to condemn rapists and at the same time afford them justice through a fair trial leading to life imprisonment and not seek the death penalty.

Civilized men and women and voices of sanity have had to withstand shocking sights of uncivil, illegal and unlawful behaviour and actions of the police, the public and the law-makers enjoying the revengeful killing of four accused of the dastardly crime of rape.

Notwithstanding the severity of the crime, the civilized world has to accept that it is possible to condemn rapists and at the same time afford them justice through a fair trial leading to life imprisonment and not seek the death penalty.

Lest you got lost in the “celebration” and condonation of the pathetic, shameful celebrations of killing of the four accused in Hyderabad, apart from individual cases of brutality, the Nirbhaya Kaurs of Delhi 1984, the Nirbhaya Banos of Gujarat 2002, the Nirbhaya Bhats of Kashmir 1991, the Nirbhaya Meenas of Dalits since the 70 years throughout the country and the Nirbhayas of Tamil Eelam are asking us all,  “when will we get justice?”

The instant justice meted out to four young men accused of the crime of rape and murder is condemnable in the harshest words possible, in exactly the same manner in which the actual sickening crime was committed.

The Chief Justice of India has had the good sense to come out with a public statement condemning revenge. This is not enough. The police commissioner of Cyberabad and the entire entourage which was responsible for the killing of the four accused should be arrested and tried for pre-meditated murder. The National Human Rights Commission must ask the right questions and come out with an impartial report.

The instant justice meted out to four young men accused of the crime of rape and murder is condemnable in the harshest words possible, in exactly the same manner in which the actual sickening crime was committed.

Listening to the Police commissioner of Hyderabad narrating the ridiculous film-script of the fake encounter, I could not help but recollect that my journey into human rights activism through the Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights in Mumbai started with voicing concern and protest against the extrajudicial encounter killings of poorest of the poor farmers in the name of Naxalism in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.  The whole scene unfolded in front of my eyes while trying to digest the events of the last week.

Today, I recall the work of stalwart human rights defenders like world-renowned mathematician Prof. Balgopal, who quit his career to work as the sheet-anchor of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee.  Supreme Court advocate-activist Kannabiran spent his entire life defending the civil liberties of the so-called Naxals. Warangal in Andhra Pradesh was the first disturbed area of India after independence in 1948.

The story of the present Police Commissioner of Cyberabad-V. C. Sajjanar, on whom people showered rose petals is no different from the days of yore. In 2012 too, he was hailed as a hero for a fake encounter.  The glee on his face during the media briefing is mocking the Indian justice system.

Nobody is asking simple questions:

• Why were the accused taken to the crime scene, which is, in any case, a secluded area in the dead of night?
• What was the grand hurry to recreate the scene in just a few days of the arrest of the accused?
• Why were the accused not handcuffed?
• Why were only ten police persons accompanying four ‘diehard criminals’?
• Have the police taken action against the policemen for dereliction of duty from whom the accused allegedly ran away after snatching their weapons?

At a larger level, we have even stopped feeling ashamed of such crimes. Lawmakers in parliament talk of rape based on party lines and depending upon which government is running which state of the country. Uncomfortable questions are no asked. If this is their line of thought, it is foolhardy to expect any reasonable opinion on human rights violations in Kashmir, Nagaland and Punjab.

It is not just disgusting but frightening to see women -young and old, falling into the trap of seeking retributive justice. Death by stoning or street justice of any kind has not reduced crimes in countries where such punishments are meted out. Someone needs to tell women in India that there are women across the world who stand up to those who violated their daughters and killed them but do not seek the death penalty. To say that only the ‘wearer knows where the shoe pinches’ is criminalising a civilised argument. The logic of subverting the morale of the police force will lead to more criminalisation of police management of crime in India.

Today, I recall the work of stalwart human rights defenders like world-renowned mathematician Prof. Balgopal, who quit his career to work as the sheet-anchor of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee.  Supreme Court advocate-activist Kannabiran spent his entire life defending the civil liberties of the so-called Naxals. Warangal in Andhra Pradesh was the first disturbed area of India after independence in 1948.

Every few years, the rape and murder of someone’s daughter become a spectacle to be talked about and debated, venting of our frustration and then moving on. After Nirbhaya in Delhi, now after a gap of 7 years, it is another Nirbhaya in Hyderabad. Nobody is asking the government as to why the Nirbhaya fund has not been utilised? Why are more judges not appointed by the system to ensure prompt and proper justice? Is there a nexus of delay between the executive and the judiciary?

Lest you got lost in the “celebration” and condonation of the pathetic, shameful celebrations of killing of the four accused in Hyderabad, apart from individual cases of brutality, the Nirbhaya Kaurs of Delhi 1984, the Nirbhaya Banos of Gujarat 2002, the Nirbhaya Bhats of Kashmir 1991, the Nirbhyas of Nagaland and Manipur raped by the Indian army in 2004 and beyond, the Nirbhaya Meenas of Dalits since the 70 years throughout the country and the Nirbhayas of Tamil Eelam are asking us all,  “when will we get justice?”