Are You Listening, Mr Rahul Gandhi? Is this how your shop of love will function for Muslims?
By
Wadood Sajid, Tr. New Age Islam
15
November 2023
On
November 8, an important news was broken but went largely unnoticed. The news
was ignored by the national media except one newspaper. The TV channels did not
report it. That the Supreme Court had lashed out at the Rajasthan government
was also not reported. It is surprising that the Supreme Court had given the
Satanic TV channels an important opportunity against the Rajasthan Congress
government but they did not exploit it. The print media and the TV channels did
not do so for the love of Congress. They spared the Gehlot government of the
Congress party for the hate of the Muslims. I am, therefore, putting some
questions directly to Mr Rahul Gandhi.
On May
13, 2008, serial bomb blasts had occured in Jaipur. Many Muslims had been
arrested as the accused. The local court had convicted four of them and awarded
death sentence to them, (as is usual at this level of judiciary). The Rajasthan
High Court had not only acquitted all of them but also ordered legal action
against the erring police officers. The Rajasthan government appealed against
the High Court judgment in the Supreme Court. On November 8, the Rajasthan
government had to face embarassment and humiliation in the Supreme Court. It
would be appropriate to quote what I had written to the Chief Minister of
Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot in my column Nawae Imroz on March 31.
"Mr
Gehlot! You
might be aware of the stoy of the four innocent youth whom the Rajasthan High
Court had released from.the death noose,and had given them a new lease of life.
They wasted the precious 15 years of their life. When they had been arrested on
May 13, 2008 for Jaipur serial blasts, they had pleaded desperately that they
were innocent but the Rajasthan police had not listened to them. The special
court of Jaipur had given them death sentence in 2019. Finally, the Rajasthan
High Court had listened to their pleas and adjudged after 15 years that they
were innocent.
"On
the one hand, the High Court had acquitted the youth and on the other, it had
placed the police and the investigating officers in the dock. The High Court
has protected the honour and credibility of the judiciary. The honourable
exposed the shameful act of the investigating officers and ordered the DGP to
initiate action against the guilty police officers. The court has also ordered
the Chief Secretary to personally look into the matter in the larger interests
of the people. It means that the Court has indirectly indicted your government
as well.
"Mr
Chief Minister!
You cannot return the acquitted youth the precious years of their life that was
ruined due to the false accusation of terrorism against them, nor can you
return them their reputation and dignity which was damaged by the false
propaganda run by the terrorist media at the time of their arrest. The media
had declared them perpetrators of the blasts even before the investigations
were completed by the police and the investigating officers.You can also not return them their peace of mind that
was taken away by these mischief mongers. The High Court judgment requires that
you should dismiss all the police officers, get them arrested and initiate
legal action against them immediately as per the High Court order. If you have
the slightest feeling of the pain and loss suffered by the youth, you should
pay them appropriate compensation and give the government jobs.
"Mr
Gehlot! The
additional counsel of your government Rekha Madnani has made it clear that the
High Court judgment will be challenged in thr Supreme Court. If your government
is going to the Supreme Court against this clear and judicious verdict, it will
mean that you want to hang these youth at any cost. It would also mean that you
do not have the intention to take legal action against the investigating
officers who ruined the lives of the youth."
(Excerpts
from my column Nawai Imroz March 31)
The
Chief Minister of Rajasthan government did not take any notice of the above
quoted column. The government knocked at the door of the Supreme Court despite
a clear and realistic verdict of the High Court and appealed for stay on it. On
March 17, 2023, the SC refused to stay the verdict. The Rajasthan government
was in a great hurry to get a stay. The three judge bench comprising Justice B.
S. Gawai, Justice B. S. Narasimha and Justice Arvind Kumar said that they
cannot take a decision in such an important judgment in a mechanical way
without listening to those whom the court had acquitted.
When
the High Court had acquitted the youth and ordered action against the guilty
officers on March 29, 2023, the additional counsel of Rajasthan government
Rekha Madnani had said in the court complex that they would challenge the
judgment in the SC. We had thought then that she had made the statement due to
the embarassment caused to the government by the High Court order. That's why I
had made an appeal to the CM directly.
Now,
after the judgment of the SC, it has become clear that the decision to
challenge the HC judgment in the SC was not taken at the lower level but the
highest level of the leadership of the state government was also involved. Had
it not been so, the seniormost law officer of the country, the Attorney General
would not have represented the state government in the SC. When the case was
brought before the bench, the court said to AG R. Venkataraman:
"Your
appeal against the acquittal of the accused is unique and unprecedented. To
consider your extraordinary appeal, it is necessary to study whether the HC
order is flawed or has some discrepancy. The court also observed that after a
judgment acquitting the accused comes the view about their innocence gets more
strength.
The
Attorney General is the senior most officer. In principle, he represents the
central government in the Supreme Court.The next comes the Solicitor General.
Then there are his deputies. In the state, the most senior law officer is the
Advocate General who represents the state government in the HC. There are
deputies in the state as well. If the state has to make an appeal in the SC the
additional Advocate General represents the state government. The state does not
request the representative of the central government, that too, the Attorney
General, to represent it. This proves that the state government was hell bent
on hanging the innocent youth. For that, it acquired the services of the AG. It
appears that the SC also felt the gravity of the matter and observed that such
an appeal was unique and unprecedented.It should be noted here that on the
first hearing, the SC had demanded the entire record of the case from the trial
court of Jaipur. But it was not submitted till the second hearing on November
8. It is surprising that the Jaipur trial court could not submit the record
before the SC even after six months.On November 8, the SC again ordered the
registry to make the record available. The counsel of the acquitted youth,
Rebecca John told the court that despite their acquittal, the youth had been
ordered to register their presence at the anti-terrorism police station from 10
am to 12 pm every day. The Court told the AG that this condition limited the
freedom of the youth. The AG argued that though the HC had acquitted them, they
could not be permitted to move about freely. Therefore, they appealed for a
stay.
Mr
Rahul Gandhi! All this has been done with the four innocent
youth by your Rajasthan government. I am addressing you because CM Gehlot has
exposed fully the 'real man' inside him but we do not expect that degree of
nakedness from you though it is also a fact that a large number of youth have
been framed in terror charges under the Congress and the UPA governments. Still
we hope that you will not allow this to continue. The case of the four youth is
a litmus test for you. Your Gehlot government presents the youth in the SC as a
threat and wants to limit their freedom despite a clear verdict in their
favour.
As a
journalist, I can only address you in decent words but if you want to know my
views as a common Indian, I have no decent words for your Gehlot government
except the words of condemnation. This veteran politician and ruler terms the
youth as a threat and wants to put them in shackles even after they have
already wasted 15 years of their lives for an uncommitted crime though the HC
has not only acquitted them but also put the police and the entire judicial
machinery in the dock. All this is happening at a time, Mr Gandhi, when your
party is in the poll fray to form the government in two states and is trying to
wrest power from the BJP in one state. In these circumstances, we repose our
trust only in you. Will you do something in this matter? We await your response.
(Inquilab
14 November)
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Urdu Article: Where are you Mr Gandhi! آپ کہاں ہیں مسٹر گاندھی
URL:
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