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| The Srikrishna Report | | Why it is not being acted upon | |
What has happened to the Srikrishna Report about the Mumbai riots? This is a question that has been asked repeatedly during the past few years and needs to be asked even more pointedly today.
What happened in March 1993 - explosions and all the rest - has gone through the process of prosecution and a judicial verdict. That it took 13 years for the matter to reach this stage of development speaks for itself. What has been announced so far is only partial. What punishment is exactly awarded to those who are held guilty remains to be decided.
When all this is happening, quite some people in Mumbai and elsewhere would like to know what happened to the Srikrishna Report about the riots which took place only a few months later. As most people will recall, this report has had several ups and downs. An enquiry committee was appointed after the riots. But there was a change of government in the state and the committee was disbanded. During the 13 days when Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee headed the government but failed to secure a vote of confidence one of the things that he did was to persuade the Shiv Sena government to reappoint the committee.
That was done. The judge took a very long time over completing his report. Since the government was not all that cooperative, it was difficult to do the job. Somehow the judge managed to complete the enquiry and submitted his report.
That it was a fair report should become clear from one single fact. Despite all that was being said about the judge, he was appointed to the Supreme Court. That this should have been done by a BJP-led government speaks for itself. All kinds of things must have been said against the judge by people who mattered. In the end, however, his personal merit and his unquestioned integrity ensured his appointment. Having completed his tenure as a judge of the Supreme Court, he has now retired and lives presumably in Mumbai, which is perhaps his home town.
These details are not all that relevant. What is relevant is that doing this enquiry required a good deal of hard work and a genuineness of approach, and both were seen to be in evidence. There were powerful vested interests which wanted to ensure that the enquiry was not completed. But it was completed, and without any loose ends. The judge had to struggle for it. Fortunately, good sense prevailed and eventually everything went through as it should have.
Does this statement not require to be amended? Everything did not happen as it should have happened. The report was submitted as well as publicised, but it has not been followed up. And this is despite the fact that the political party which worked behind the scenes and did not wish to be in the dock is already out of office. As a matter of fact, it has been out of office for a couple of years. Not only that, the Shiv Sena which headed the government was indicted in this report to some extent is in a state of disarray. But even then the successor government is not prepared to implement the report. Evidently, one cannot go into the details here nor are all details known publicly. This much is clear however that the report is not being acted upon.
What is working in the background and what political calculations are at work should not be difficult to judge. Indeed, one thing should not be difficult to anticipate. As and when certain individuals are punished, there would be protests against it. The psychology at work would be the same as is currently at work in J&K. Afzal, one of the people held guilty in the case relating to the attack on Parliament, is being supported by people who might not have done so had the decision come earlier. Delayed decision-making creates its own problems and we are seeing quite some evidence of it.
Would not the same story get repeated even in Maharashtra? The report on the riots which took place in March 1993 was completed and, after the due process of law, some individuals were found guilty. So far, so good, as they say. But how does the party in power in Maharashtra today answer the question that the due process of law is not being followed in the riots which occurred only a few months later? More than that, the enquiry report that was submitted had to overcome all kinds of difficulties. To have gone through all that and then do nothing at the end of it appears both perverse and short-sighted. Worse than that, it shows poor political judgment.
The Congress party alone is not responsible for what is happening in Maharashtra for there is a coalition government at work. But can one say that there is nothing to defend here? The plain fact is that more than Mr Sharad Pawar it is the Congress which will eventually have to explain what is happening. One thought the Congress had learnt a lesson from what had happened in Delhi in 1984, but obviously that does not seem to be correct.
What one can say with a good conscience is that this is not the way to build the country. Both the conduct of the police and the judicial process are deeply interlined. To play politics with either of them is the surest way of creating further trouble. In this connection, it would not be out of place to refer to what the Supreme Court said only a few days ago. It told the government in no uncertain terms that police reforms had to be carried through within a specified period of time. At least one dimension of that reform is that the functions of investigation and prosecution need to be separated. Is that being done?
It may not be out of place to repeat one thing. The Congress is committing the same mistake that it committed in 1984 in Delhi. Two decades later, it had to apologise in Parliament for what had happened. In the circumstances, the best it could do was to give liberal compensation to those who had suffered. That too has been done mainly in Delhi and Punjab. In states like UP, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu (where there was some rioting) hardly anything has been done so far. The most notable omission has been that no action has been taken against those officials who had collaborated with the rioters.
In a sense, history is being repeated in Maharashtra. Unlike the reports on the Delhi riots, the Srikrishna Report is balanced but unambiguous. It puts some important members of the Shiv Sena in the dock. If this report is to be implemented as it should be, the political cost that the Congress will have to pay may be high. That is why even though the coalition led by the Congress has been in power for over two years, no initiative has been taken in this regard.
Over the years, things have changed. History cannot be exactly repeated in the same way but that is what the Congress is trying to ensure. Can it overlook the directive given by the Supreme Court that police reforms as suggested by it have to be introduced by a certain date? It can, but the price in terms of credibility will be high. In addition, there would be some kind of a confrontation, direct or indirect, with the Supreme Court.
To say no more on this subject, one thing should be understood. Though the British did commit excesses every now and then, the overall impression most people had, and still have, is that for the most part the British adhered to the rule of law. It was this concept which, among other concepts, dominated the thinking of our Constitution makers. Indeed, the Indian Constitution is fairly specific on this point. As a matter of fact, this concept is one of the pillars of the Constitution. Over the years, it has been getting subverted. Things have reached such a state of deterioration that, as referred to above, the Supreme Court had to issue a formal note of caution.
In a sense, therefore, how the report of the Srikrishna Commission is acted upon will determine the next phase of Indian politics.
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