Visit , read the petition & support by signing the petition demanding
ACCOUNTABILITY OF INDIAN JUDGES & POLICE.
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/accountability-of-indian-judges#signatures ,
https://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/judge ,
Judge sending obscene SMS to women
S.O.S - eVoice For Justice - e-news weekly
Spreading the light of humanity & freedom
Editor: Nagaraj.M.R...vol.6.issue.3....16/01/2010
"There is a higher court than the court of justice and that is the court of
conscience It supercedes all other courts. "
- Mahatma Gandhi
Editorial : RULE OF LAW IN THE HANDS OF SHAMELESS POLICE & SHAMELESS JUDGES -
Can Poor dalits expect Justice From corrupt public servants ?
Dalits , Tribals , poor people in India are being meated out injustice by the
corrupt police & bureaucrats. Even our judiciary has failed to provide justice.
Go through the following articles & READ FULL ARTICLES AT FOLLOWING WEB PAGE
https://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/judicial-orders-for-...
Jai Hind. Vande Mataram.
Your's sincerely,
Nagaraj.M.R.
Bangalore jail warden supplies drugs to inmates, held
Bangalore: Bangalore Central Jail Chief Warden B Jyothiyamma has been caught
supplying marijuana, SIM cards and liquor to inmates.
Jyothiyamma has guarded prisoners for over 15 years but it turns out that her
priorities lay in supplying them with the luxuries of outside world, some of
them illegal.
An embarrassed state police is now promising action against Jyothiyamma.
"We have registered a case under 20 (B) NOPS Act. Under this section the accused
if found guilty can be punished unto 10 years imprisonment and fined up to Rs 1
lakh," says DCP South East BNS Reddy.
Jyothiyamma's lucrative business came to light after another warden Dilip Kumar
caught her supplying a kilo of marijuana and SIM cards to a prisoner. Police are
now investigating how long she has been running the drug supply business.
"We have to find out from where she collected the drugs and to whom she was
giving it to. We have also informed the jail authorities about the usage of
mobile phones and it would be better if in the prison the inmates could be
frisked," says Reddy.
Last year the city police had busted a chain snatching gang operating inside the
jail, which was coordinating its operations through cell phones.
Jyothiyamma's arrest shows that the effort to crackdown on contraband in jail
seems to have had little effect.
JUDGE SENDING OBSCENE SMS TO WOMEN
Lucknow Taking cognisance of the allegation against a civil Judge (junior
division) of Budaun court that he sent obscene SMSes to a woman lecturer, the
Registrar General of Allahabad High Court today sought a report from the
district judge into the matter.
The civil judge of Gunnor sub-division court of Budaun — Pramod Kumar Gangwar—
was accused of sending obscene SMSes from his cellphone to a woman lecturer of
Classic College of Law, Bareilly. A lecturer of the same college, Vivek Gupta,
was named in the FIR lodged by the victim while Gangwar's name surfaced in the
primary investigation.
Registrar General Dinesh Gupta said, "The district judge of Budaun has been
asked to send a detailed report into the allegations. Appropriate action would
be taken on the basis of the report."
District Judge Suresh Kumar Srivastava said, "I have asked the Bareilly district
police to send a report about the matter. The report on the basis of the police
inquiry would be sent to the Allahabad High Court Registrar General."
"I am not aware about the matter, as the Bareilly police did not intimate me
before initiating the probe against the civil judge. They should have informed
me when they had received any such complaint," the judge added.
Meanwhile, Bareilly CO II Raj Kumar, who is investigating the case, today
recorded the statement of the victim. "I have collected the call details of the
cellphone used for sending the SMSes, but I have yet to get the address of the
person who is subscriber of the SIM card," he said.
"The probe is on to verify if the accused in the case were present on the
location recorded in the call details when the SMSes were sent. The details of
the findings of the investigation would be sent to the Budaun district court to
seek the direction," the CO added.
Asked if the investigation was earlier conducted into the matter, Raj Kumar
said, "The SP (Crime) had initiated probe into the matter, but I am not aware if
the investigation had reached to any conclusion."
The woman lecturer had lodged an FIR at the Mahila police station on Thursday
alleging she had received obscene SMSes on her cellphone involving her colleague
Vivek Gupta. The preliminary inquiry into the case by the police yesterday had
found that the mobile phone used in the crime belongs to the civil judge.
Mumbai police chief recommends suspension of DCP, ACP
Mumbai Five police personnel, including an IPS officer, who allegedly attended a
Christmas-eve party thrown by the Chota Rajan gang, face suspension.
The suspension of DCP V N Salve, an IPS officer, and ACP Prakash Wani, and three
other police personnel, has been recommended by Mumbai Police Commissioner D
Sivanandan on Saturday.
The Maharashtra government had on Friday ordered an inquiry into allegations
that besides Salve and Wani, senior police inspector Tulsidas Khakkad, a police
inspector of anti-extortion cell and a constable from Chembur police station had
attended the party.
"I have recommended to the state government to initiate disciplinary action
against the five policemen and suspend them pending inquiry," Sivanandan said.
He said there were "CCTV footages and photographs which may prove" that the
officials were present at the party held at a private gymkhana in suburban
Chembur.
The party was reportedly organised to celebrate the release of some top-ranking
members of the gang. Among them were dreaded D K Rao, who was released from jail
after 13 years of imprisonment, Farid Tanasha and Sunil Poddar.
Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil had on Friday ordered the inquiry after
photographs and grainy video footage purportedly showing them were aired on TV
channels.
Meanwhile, Wani vehemently denied the accusation, claiming the video clippings
and photographs were doctored.
"This is a conspiracy against me. I am a member of the gymkhana and had gone
there with my wife for dinner and not to party with any gang members," he said.
The party was reportedly thrown by Paulson Joseph, a close aide of Chota Rajan,
who is said to be looking after the underworld don's business interests in
Mumbai's suburbs.
Sources at the gymkhana said Joseph was a member of the upmarket club, which
charges a membership fee of Rs five lakh, and used to go there regularly to play
cards and party.
Speaking strictly on condition of anonymity, they said that a member could bring
along any number of guests after paying Rs 30 for each of them.
"So many people visit the club on the Christmas-eve and it is not possible to
ascertain the identity of each one of them," they said, when asked if they had
spotted any police officer at Joseph's bash.
Rajasthan launches search for former DIG charged with rape
JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government has asked the Special Operations Group (SOG) to
find former deputy inspector general (DIG) Madhukar Tandon who
has been absconding for the last 13 years after he was chargesheeted for raping
a tribal woman.
"We have handed over the case to the SOG of the Rajasthan Police. It's a serious
matter that Tandon not been arrested since 1997. We want to arrest him and find
out why he's not been arrested so far," state Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal told
reporters here.
A Rajasthan Police party arrived in Noida in Uttar Pradesh Wednesday to
investigate the matter and visited the property that earlier belonged to Tandon.
Dhariwal has also sought all the files relating to the case.
"I have asked the police to bring all the files relating to Tandon to me... I
want to know the details," he said.
Malli Devi, a resident of Bandikui in Dausa district has alleged that on Jan 21,
1997 she was abducted and taken to Noida where she was allegedly raped by former
DIG Tandon, then posted in the police headquarters and who is now reported to be
absconding.
Khayali Ram, the husband of the victim who was a constable attached to the DIG
said: "It has been 13 years that he ruined me and my family."
"Tandon had summoned my wife to Jaipur from the village on the pretext that an
accident has happened in my family. When she arrived in Jaipur she was
forcefully taken to Noida, to the DIG's residence, where she was victimised,"
said Ram.
"I was forced out of the service when I refused to withdraw the case against
Tandon in 2000," he added.
Tandon was suspended in 2002, five years after first FIR was lodged against him
and a magisterial court in Dausa had ordered all his property including his
house in Noida to be attached.
I am Rathore's victim: Ruchika's brother
Panchkula: Molestation victim Ruchika Girhotra's brother Ashu, who was in hiding
for the past 16 years since his sister's suicide, emerged on Thursday evening
and submitted a fresh complaint to the police of abetment to suicide against
former Haryana top cop S P S Rathore.
Ashu's complaint also seeks a case against serving Haryana Inspector General of
Police (IGP) K P Singh, who was the Ambala district police chief when Ashu was
booked in false car theft cases by the police at Rathore's behest.
Rathore, former Haryana DGP, has been held guilty of molesting Ruchika 19 years
ago. The teenager committed suicide three years later as her family was
continually harassed when she filed a complaint against Rathore.
Ashu alleged the Haryana police tortured him on the former DGP's orders.
"Rathore used to come and see the torture himself," he said.
"As you know, the molestation of my sister took place in 1990. Rathore unleashed
torture on me and my family after that. False cases were put on me, leading to
my sister committing suicide," Ashu said.
 CBI goes after Rathore, seeks stiffer punishment
 Ruchika's school faces the heat over her expulsion
 CNN-IBN's in-depth coverage of Ruchika case

"We were harassed, tortured in police custody," Ashu told reporters.
"My demand is that Rathore should be arrested and put behind bars," Ashu added
before being taken away by family members and lawyer Pankaj Bhardwaj.
Having lived a life in hiding ever since his torture by the Haryana police
between 1990 and December 1993, Ashu walked confidently out of his house in
Sector 12-A here.
Wearing blue jeans and an off-white jacket, Ashu was taken in a green-coloured
Honda-CRV sports utility vehicle by lawyer Pankaj Bhardwaj to the office of
Panchkula's superintendent of police in Sector 1 here.
He was accompanied by his father, S C Girhotra, and Anand Praksh, father of
Ruchika's friend Aradhana, who fought the case relentlessly against Rathore in
the last 19 years.
"We have filed a fresh complaint with the police seeking registration of a case
of abetment of suicide against Rathore and others. In this petition, the
complainant is Ashu himself," Bhardwaj told reporters here.
Bhardwaj wondered why the Panchkula police was not arresting Rathore despite the
registration of two new first information reports (FIRs) against him by the
police Tuesday.
"Rathore has been booked under non-bailable sections of the IPC. Why is the
police delaying his arrest," the lawyer asked.
For the past 16 years, ever since teenaged Ruchika committed suicide, her father
and brother preferred to avoid the public gaze surrounding the molestation case.
Even after the verdict was out on Monday, they stayed away, refusing to come out
of the shell.
Ruchika's father Subhash Chander Girhotra and brother Ashu were nowhere to be
seen in the court although they had been in constant touch with complainant
Anand Parkash, the father of Ruchika's best friend Aradhana, who fought the
legal battle against the powerful former DGP S P S Rathore.
Ruchika's father, who stays in Sector 12 Panchkula, refused to come on record.
"He is satisfied with the verdict and had tears in his eyes when I told him that
Rathore had been convicted. He has still not come to terms with the loss of his
daughter," said Anand Parkash. Ruchika's mother had expired much before the
incident.
Behind silence of Ruchika's family, a tale of harassment
Harassed is too small a word to describe what the family went through these 19
years. Initially geared up to fight the case, the father and brother backed out,
terrified with the chain of events that struck them one after the other.
Ruchika was suspended from the Haryana Lawn Tennis Association, which was then
headed by Rathore. In September 1990, her school expelled her without citing any
reason. Her father sold their house at Panchkula and Ashu, who was also in his
teens, had six cases of car theft slapped on him.
Ashu was arrested by the Crime Branch of Panchkula police in October 1993,
allegedly at the behest of Rathore, and kept in illegal detention for a period
of more than two months. He was allegedly forced to sign on blank papers, which
were used by the police to show his "confessions" that he stole 11 cars. One day
when he was still in illegal confinement, Ashu was allegedly taken to his house
and beaten mercilessly. Rathore allegedly asked him to tell his sister that if
she did not take back the complaint, her family will face the same action.
On December 28, 1993, Ruchika consumed insecticide. She died the next day. She
blamed herself for traumatising her family. The traumatised family left the
state fearing more harassment. Ashu was acquitted by the court in all the cases
later on.
Beyond the uproar
After all the media storm and fury in the Ruchika case subside, we may again be
left with the outdated laws and tardy process of justice, writes Aruti Nayar
ONCE all the media noise has subsided, with every one connected with the Ruchika
molestation case getting their 15 minutes of fame or notoriety, what will remain
will be the same outdated laws, the same dilatory tactics and the same
subversion of the legal process.
Time line
August 11, 1990 — S.P.S. Rathore goes to Ruchika's house and asks her father to
send her the next day to the office of HLTA.
August 12, 1990 — Ruchika and Reemu go to the office in the`A0afternoon. Rathore
asks Reemu to go and call the coach. When Reemu`A0returns, she sees Rathore
molesting Ruchika. They flee and do not report the matter.
August 14, 1990 — Ruchika and Reemu change the time of tennis practice to avoid
Rathore. He sends a man to call Ruchika.
August 16, 1990 — Ruchika and her father and Reemu and her parents, along with
others, give a representation to the CM and Governor.
August 17, 1990 — They meet the CM and are assured that action would be taken
within a week.
August 18, 1990— An inquiry is marked.
September 3, 1990— Inquiry report indicts Rathore. Along with 178 annexures and
the girl's statement, the report is given to the government. Action is sought
under Sections 342 and 354. Rathore calls it a one-sided inquiry.
September 3, 1990-March 13, 1991— File is kept pending.
June 30, 1992-January 27, 1993 — Ruchika's brother Ashu is implicated in as many
as six cases of theft and tortured by the police.
December 29, 1993— Ruchika commits suicide.
July 1997 — Madhu Prakash manages to get a copy of the inquiry report and moves
the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking registration of a case against
Rathore.
August 21, 1998 — The High Court orders a CBI inquiry. Rathore challenges the HC
order in the Supreme Court.
From September 10, 1998, to January 10, 1999 — After four months of`A0day-to-day
hearing, the Supreme Court upheld the High Court order and directed the CBI to
lodge an FIR.
November 17, 2000 — The CBI files charge-sheet against the Haryana DGP. During
its probe, the CBI had written to the Haryana Government, urging it to remove
Rathore in the interest of ``free and fair deposition''.
July, 2002—Rathore retires.
November 2009—Case transferred from Ambala court to the CBI, Chandigarh.
December 11, 2009—Court closes all final arguments and sets date for verdict.
December 15, 2009—Case adjourned till December 21.
December 21, 2009—CBI court gives six months' jail and Rs 1,000 fine to Rathore.
There will be two sets of laws, one for the powerful and another for the
powerless. And when the media attention fades away, so will the concern of the
people and their involvement.
Why should it only require the media to keep alive our sensitivity toward issues
that concern us all? If the media focuses on one case, that means the others,
who do not have the fortune of being highlighted, will languish forever, waiting
for justice.
In Ruchika's case, the justice or rather the lack of it, was an eye-opener.
Which young victim of molestation will muster the courage to confront and report
against the offender, especially if he is as powerful as Rathore?
Apart from being dehumanising, s*xual violence is an unlawful intrusion into the
sanctity of a woman and her right to privacy. It offends her dignity and
self-esteem and leaves behind a trail of traumatic experiences.
Whenever the law has been silent on any aspect, interpretation and gender-just
judgements have provided a ray of hope for the people. That is why courts are
expected to deal with crimes against women with the utmost sensitivity. As
former Chief Justice of India, A.S Anand, in his book Justice for Women:
Concerns and Expressions writes: "A socially-sensitised judge is a better
statutory armour in cases of crimes against women than long clauses of penal
provisions containing complex exceptions and provisos".
Thus, one of the most important tasks a judge is expected to perform is to be
sensitive, responsive and responsible. He must be creative and may create
precedent where no law exists for women, but where it is needed. Judicial
decisions can influence and under certain circumstances even compel the
government to enact appropriate provisions to cover up the deficiency in the
existing laws.
Even though the inquiry report conducted by former Joint Director of CBI, R. M.
Singh, indicted Rathore, no action was taken and the young girl had to pay a
price. Boys would pass obscene comments and often stalk her.
The Rajput Sabha— SPS Rathore is a member of the Rajput community—took out a
procession in front of her house, shouting slogans. She was called a girl of
"loose moral character". In short, the victim had been, as it often happens,
made out to be a culprit.
What does Ruchika's story tell us? It is foolhardy to take on the powerful. What
can a common man do if the process of law is obstructed? You can knock and knock
at all doors for justice, but the procedures are so tardy and amenable to
manipulation that the whole process is self-defeating.
Simple, ordinary, middle-class people (neither ideologues nor fire-brand
activists), the Prakash family, fought on with the intention of bringing the
guilty to book. In an age of apathy and declining social conscience, they
persisted with the arduous legal battle, that, too, for somebody who was not
even directly related to them. Had the law of the land been a deterrent and not
subjective, had it not been arm-twisted by the likes of the ex-DGP, there would
not be a travesty of justice, too little, too late, an example of the total
subversion of the entire system.
Anand Prakash had spoken to Ruchika when she told him that she wanted to pursue
the case against Rathore. He had warned her that she would have to be really
bold and brave to take on the might of the police chief. But she did not flinch.
Her answer was: "Unless he is checked, many more girls would face a similar
situation". Like the Prakash couple, for how many of us is it a matter of
conviction that silence (out of fear or cowardice or both) is complicity?
How many of us have the courage and the daring to speak out and plough a lonely
furrow? Perhaps that is why the collective voice is getting louder in the face
of injustice. It affords us the anonymity, while giving us a chance to vent out
our frustration, helplessness and rage against official apathy,
The media, in projecting this voice, is simply salvaging its conscience. But how
many channels or newspapers are devoting their news space or airtime to digging
up other such cases (which may run into thousands if not lakhs) of official
apathy and/or exploitation, away from the comfort zones? There are so many
people fighting battles, people who do not get either the support or the
projection? Why should it take two decades for people to find their voice? The
fact is that in the process of the commercialisation of the media, there has
been a dumbing down and the space for discussion of social issues has shrunk
considerably. Why should we, the people, too, wait only for the media to pitch
in, light candles and launch signature campaigns? The middle class is so cosily
ensconced in its own cocoon that once in a while it is shocked into the
awareness of the flaws of the system. Otherwise, it is happy that its boat is
not being rocked. What is wrong in activism as a citizen of civil society, even
away from the TV studios?
The case should serve as an eyeopener for the common man. Even if the
bureaucracy, politicians and the tedious process of law try to muzzle the voice
of the common man, he should not capitulate. It is this abdication of social
responsibility that fuels oppression. The refusal to speak out encourages the
perpetrators of atrocities and they thrive on this fear. One must speak up even
if it means putting up with inconvenience, facing trials and tribulations and
putting one's life on hold.
What is amazing is how a person, responsible for enforcing law and order in a
state, refuses to respect the course of law himself and waits until he is
"proved" guilty. Probably, moral conviction does not matter. Everyone kept
capitulating, no one offered resistance to Rathore and his oppression, no wonder
he could afford to smirk.
Had an FIR been lodged in 1990 itself, Ruchika would not have been harassed and,
as a consequence, not committed suicide. We should start looking at juvenile
laws because a lot still needs to be done to change regulations in this regard
to ensure that children's rights are protected.
Custodians of law need to understand that the law applies to them also. They are
not above the law. Rathore has misused his position of power and also further
abused the family by terrorising them. The overwhelming feeling is "public
pressure can change things". But we must not forget that public pressure is
fickle, arbitrary and volatile. What will endure is enduring laws, implemented
for all, without fear or favour.
Ten reasons why criminals in khaki get away
Former Haryana DGP S.P.S. Rathore and his advocate wife Abha Rathore coming out
of special CBI court on Monday. Photo: Akhilesh Kumar
Behind every man like S.P.S. Rathore who abuses his authority stand the generals
and footsoldiers who help and support him. We need to take them all down.
S.P.S. Rathore, the criminal former top cop of Haryana, may appear alone today
but we must never forget that he was able to get away with the s*xual
molestation of a young child and the illegal harassment of her family for 19
years because he had hundreds of men who supported him in his effort to evade
justice.
The fact that these men – fellow police officers, bureaucrats, politicians,
lawyers, judges, school administrators – were willing to bend the system to
accommodate a man accused of molesting a minor speaks volumes for the moral
impoverishment of our establishment and country. Decent societies shun those
involved in s*xual offences against children. Even criminals jailed for
`ordinary' crimes like murder treat those serving time for molesting children as
beyond the pale. But in India, men like Rathore have their uses for their
masters, so the system circles its wagons and protects them.
The CBI's appeal may lead to the enhancement of Rathore's sentence and perhaps
even the slapping of abetment to suicide charges, since his young victim killed
herself to put an end to the criminal intimidation her family was being
subjected to by Rathore and his men. But the systemic rot which the case has
exposed will not be remedied unless sustained public pressure is put on Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, two men who have
it in their power to push for simple remedies in the way the Indian law
enforcement and justice delivery system works.
First, abolish the need for official, i.e. political sanction to prosecute
bureaucrats, policemen and security forces personnel when they are accused of
committing crimes.
The original intent behind this built-in stay-out-of-jail card was to protect
state functionaries from acts done in the course of discharging their duties in
good faith. Somewhere along the line, this has come to mean protecting our
custodians of law and order when they murder innocent civilians (eg. the
infamous Panchalthan case in Kashmir where the trial of army men indicted by the
CBI for murdering five villagers in 2000 still cannot take place because the
Central government will not grant permission), or assault or molest women and
children. No civilised, democratic society grants such impunity. It is
disgusting to see former officials and bureaucrats from Haryana saying how they
had wanted Rathore prosecuted but were prevented from doing so because of
pressure. Such officials should either be made formally to testify in a criminal
case against the politicians who so pressured them or they should themselves be
hauled up for perverting the course of justice.
Second, stop talking about how making the police and army answerable to the law
will somehow demoralise their morale. Does anybody care about the morale of
ordinary citizens any more? Or the morale of upright police and army officers,
who do not think it is right for their colleagues to be able to get away with
criminal acts?
Third, bring an end to the cosy relationship between the police and politicians.
Rathore was protected by four chief ministers of Haryana. He served them and
they served him by ensuring his unfettered rise. It is absurd that the Indian
Police is still governed by a colonial-era Act dating back to 1861. A number of
commissions have made recommendations for reforming the police over the years;
but no government or political party wants to give up its ability to use and
misuse the police for their own benefit.
Fourth, ensure that police officers who abuse their authority and engage in mala
fide prosecutions are dismissed from service and sentenced to jail for a long
period of time. Mr. Chidambaram should use the considerable resources at his
command to find out who were the policemen involved in filing 11 bogus cases
against the teenaged brother of the young girl Rathore molested. He should then
make sure criminal proceedings are initiated against all of them. The message
must go out to every policeman in the country: If you abuse the law at the
behest of a superior, you will suffer legal consequences.
Fifth, ensure that criminal charges against law enforcement personnel are
fast-tracked as a matter of routine so that a powerful defendant is not able to
use his position to delay proceedings the way Rathore did for years on end. The
destruction or disappearance of material evidence in such cases must be treated
as a grave offence with strict criminal liability imposed on the individual
responsible for breaking the chain of custody.
Sixth, empower the National Human Rights Commission with teeth so that police
departments and state governments cannot brush aside their orders as happened in
the Rathore case. This would also require appointing to the NHRC women and men
who have a proven record of defending human rights in their professional life,
something that is done today only in the breach. The attitude of the Manmohan
Singh government to this commission and others like the National Commission for
Women (NCW) and National Commission for Minorities is shocking. Vacancies are
not filled for months on end.
Seventh, ensure the early enactment of pending legislation broadening the ambit
of s*xual crimes, including s*xual crimes against children. Between rape,
defined as forced penetrative s*x, and the vague, Victorian-era crime of
`outraging the modesty of a woman', the Indian Penal Code recognises no other
form of s*xual violence. As a result, all forms of s*xual molestation and
assault short of rape attract fairly lenient punishment, of the kind Rathore
got. In his case, the judge did not even hand down the maximum sentence, citing
concerns for the criminal's age. Sadly, he did not take into account the age of
the victim and neither does the IPC, which fails to distinguish between
`outraging the modesty' of an adult woman and a young child.
A draft law changing these provisions and bringing India into line with the rest
of the modern world has been pending with the NCW and Law Ministry for years.
Perhaps the government may now be shamed into pushing it through Parliament at
the earliest.
Eighth, take steps to introduce a system of protection of witnesses and
complainants. The fate that the family of Rathore's young victim had to endure
is testament to the fact that people who seek justice in India do so at their
own peril.
Ninth, ensure that robust interrogation techniques like narco-analysis, which
are routinely used against other alleged criminals, are also employed against
police officers accused of crimes.
Tenth, the media and the higher judiciary must also turn the light inward and
ask themselves whether they were also derelict in their duty. The Rathore case
did not attract the kind of constant media attention it deserved, nor do other
cases involving serving police officers accused of crimes against women,
workers, peasants and minorities. As for the upper courts, their record is too
patchy to inspire confidence. It was, after all, the high court which chose to
disregard the CBI's request for including abetment to suicide charges.
Court terms Rathore's crimes 'spine-chilling', rejects bail plea
Panchkula (Haryana), Jan 8 (IANS) Declining anticipatory bail to former Haryana
police chief S.P.S. Rathore in fresh cases registered against him, a court in
Panchkula town Friday observed that Rathore's crime had a 'spine-chilling' and
'hair raising' impact. The decision means Rathore could now be arrested any
time.
Additional district and sessions judge Sanjeev Jindal, while dismissing
Rathore's anticipatory bail plea, said: 'The applicant-accused cannot be
entitled to the concession of anticipatory bail, especially in the circumstances
when specific allegations in categorical terms have been leveled in both the
FIRs.'
'Serious non-bailable offences on his (Rathore) part not only prick the
conscience of a common man, but also cast a spine-chilling and hair-raising
impact on one's psyche relating to the alleged inhuman torture meted out to the
complainants at the diktat and behest of the applicant-accused on account of his
alleged political clout and high official position in the official machinery of
the state,' the court observed.
Rathore moved the bail pleas against two fresh First Information Reports (FIRs),
in the Ruchika Girhotra's molestation case, which were registered Dec 29.
The judge said: 'Applicant accused being an IPS (Indian Police Service) officer
had held high official positions throughout his service, including DGP (director
general of police) of the state and had a considerable political clout, the
possibility of tampering with the evidence and intimidating the witnesses
directly or indirectly cannot be ruled out.'
Referring to allegations levelled against the media by Rathore's wife and
counsel Abha Rathore, the judge said counsel for the accused 'lambasted the
media by saying that the media has assumed the role of prosecutor and judge as
well and wants to publicly hang the applicant-accused'.
'As a fourth pillar of democracy, the role and importance of the media cannot be
denied or undermined, and further that in certain other cases, the media has
come to the forefront to aid and help the most deprived and down-trodden
segments of the society in a bid to protect them from the atrocities and high
handedness of the system of the country and in order to secure justice for
them,' he observed.
Rathore was booked under non-bailable charges like attempt to murder, criminal
intimidation, forging evidence, wrongful confinement, fabricating false evidence
and criminal conspiracy.
He got interim relief Jan 1 from the court till Friday on his bail plea in the
matter pertaining to the two new FIRs registered against him.
The court also rejected the anticipatory bail plea of another Haryana police
official, Sewa Singh, a sub-inspector posted at Pinjore near here, who also has
been accused of implicating Ruchika's brother Ashu in false cases of car theft,
allegedly at Rathore's behest.
Sources in the Haryana police said after the court order that the state DGP and
senior home department officials could now consult Chief Minister Bhupinder
Singh Hooda before arresting Rathore.
The Haryana police, through the state government, have already recommended to
the central government that the fresh cases, including a third FIR charging
Rathore of abetment to suicide of Ruchika, be handed over to the Central Bureau
of Investigation (CBI) for investigation.
'I am happy and I have hope that justice will be done. We want him arrested
immediately,' Ruchika's friend Aradhana, whose family fought the case against
Rathore for over 19 years, said after the bail plea was rejected.
Aradhana alleged that state officials had already been supporting Rathore in the
past and that she did not have much faith in the state machinery to take action
against him.
'The CBI is a more independent agency and I hope they will be able to
investigate the matter properly,' Aradhana added.
Rathore's counsel said after the dismissal of the bail plea that they would move
the high court to seek relief.
Ruchika, a teenaged budding tennis player, was molested by Rathore, then an
inspector general of police, in Panchkula Aug 12, 1990. Three years later,
Ruchika committed suicide.
Nineteen years after the molestation incident, Rathore was convicted by a CBI
special court here Dec 21 and sentenced to six months' rigorous imprisonment and
a fine of Rs 1,000.
The light conviction led to uproar in different sections of society, forcing
authorities to re-visit the case and seek justice for the molestation victim.
A magisterial inquiry by the Chandigarh administration Thursday indicted
Ruchika's school, Sacred Heart sSchool, and its principal for her expulsion on
the flimsy grounds of non-payment of fee in 1990, just after her molestation
incident.
Many other students, including Rathore's daughter Priyanjali who was Ruchika's
classmate, who too similarly defaulted in fee payments were not expelled or
subjected to any disciplinary action, the magisterial inquiry revealed.
Why Jury System is superior than judge system
________________________________________
Contents
1. What is judge system and Jury System?
2. How judge system has weakened India : A specific example
3. judge-lawyer nexus in judge system
4. Nexuslessness : KEY difference Jury System creates over judge system
5. Knowledge/information factor
6. Summary
________________________________________
What is judge system and Jury System?
In any nation, there will be disputes over many issues between two or more
individuals, and if these disputes are NOT resolved by the state/nation in short
time, the individuals will resolve to private retribution thereby causing a
chaos. Such chaos could wreck the nation. So for stability, it becomes necessary
for the citizenry to give judgements on these disputes, and use force to enforce
that judgement.
A nation consisting of lakhs and crores of citizens would have thousands
and lakhs of disputes a year. It is NOT possible for every citizen to personally
take interest in each of the these individual thousands and lakhs of disputes. A
citizen can at best take interest in 1-2 disputes a month or year. Therefore,
the citizenry has not much option, but to appoint some individuals, for each
dispute and take their decision has almost final in most cases, and scrutinize
(via appeal) them in some cases.
So one of the procedure that a nation has to execute, implicitly or
explicitly, is to choose individuals to give judgement on a perticular dispute.
There are two broad systems depening on how individuals are chosen
1. The Jury System : Given any dispute, 5-10-15 citizens are chosen at random
from the voter list of all adult citizens in that district/state, and these
citizens, called as Jurors, hear the arguments, examine the evidences, and give
a verdict
2. the judge system : some senior individuals in the state appoints some chosen
individuals in a district and appointed as judges, who will have term for
2-4-more years. And these fixed small number of appointed individuals will
resolve the disputes.
Other systems, which use BOTH, random selection of citizenry as well as
appointed individuals are basically simple combitions of Jury System and judge
system. And there are many other factors, like size of Jury, qualifications,
screening rules etc which make one Jury System differ from another. But
fundamental difference between Jury System and judge system is : Jury System
depends on a few randomly chosen citizens from ENTIRE population, and DIFFERENT
Jurors are used for different cases; WHILE judge system uses same appointed
individuals for almost all cases that would come.
On the surface, this issue may look unimportant --- what difference does it
make whether cases are decided by randomly chosen citizens or a fixed judges?
But this trivial looking difference plays a huge role in the strengthening or
weakening the nation.
________________________________________
How judge system has weakened India : A specific example
Consider a specific kind of crime --- street criminals (commonly called as
Daadaa) collecting protection money from small shop-keepers etc every month,
openly and fearlessly. There are places in US/Europe with high crimes, but
nowhere can one see criminals opnely extorting money from shop-keepers.
There are many differential reasons for this. One of the factor why career
crime is rampant in India, and less seen in West is the that India uses judge
system, while the West uses Jury System. The judge system makes India's courts
very nexused, while the Jury System has drastically reduced the nexusproneness
in Western courts.
Lets see how Jury System reduces the nexusproneness in Western Courts.
Consider a mid-level career criminal with a gang of 50-100 criminals. He may be
operating in some 5-10 areas. Now to sustain their operations, he and his gang
members would need to pay monthly bribes to many MLAs, MPs, police officers,
other officers, government lawyers, judges etc and would also need money to hire
lawyers, mercinaries etc on time to time basis. All this, means a monthly FIXED
COST of lakhs of rupees. Now such career criminal CAN NOT always find 5-10
victims that would cover all the costs and give profits every month. So almost
always, a gang of career criminals has to victimise 100s of victims a month.
In short, a career criminal and his gang-member has to commit 100s of crime
a month. Out of so many crimes, some 20-30 of victims would end up filing
complain in the courts. This would generate some 300-400 court cases per year.
Now this is where judge system and Jury System would create difference in
combating career crimes.
Career criminal in judge system Career criminal in Jury System
• In the judge system, these 300-400 cases will go to just 5-10 judges, who
have a term of 2-4 years in their areas.
• So in order to delay the case (to frustrate the complainers/witnesses) or get
outright aquittals, the gang leader has to cultivate nexuses with ONLY 5-10
judges.
• He cultivates nexuses with 5-10 judges, and bingo ... he can manage an
acquital/delay in 99% cases. • In the Jury System, EACH case goes to 12-15
DIFFERENT Jurors, randomly chosen from the district.
• So to get acquitals in 300-400 cases a year, the gang leader will need to
cultivate nexuses with 3000-5000 Jurors a year.
• Long delay in Jury Trials are rare as each Jury is given ONLY one case,
hearings are from 11am to 4pm on one and only one case, and mostly next date is
next day.
• so managing acquitals in even 10%-20% cases is next to impossible, much much
harder than it is in judge system
IOW, since a large number of cases in Indian courts are resolved by a small
number of individuals (i.e. judges) the career criminal who have cultuvated
nexuses with are having a field day. While West uses a very large number of
individuals to resolve court cases, which makes establishing nexuses in a larger
number of cases difficult.
________________________________________
judge-lawyer nexus in judge system
That was about judge-criminal nexus. The courts in India are sprawling with
judge-lawyer nexuses. How does judge-lawyer nexus come into existance?
judge-lawyer nexus No Jury-lawyer nexus
• Say 3-5 senior lawyers have 10-20 junior lawyers working for them. Say they
are togather taking 200-400 cases a year in a district
• Most of these cases would to same 10-20 judges posted in that district.
• Within 3-6 months these lawyers can cultivate nexuses with these 10-20
judges. • No one in Western courts has even seen Juror-lawyer nexus. It simply
cant exist as ...
• the 3-5 senior lawyers, who are taking 200-400 cases a year will end up
facing 2000-5000 Jurors a year
• there is no time to cultivate nexuses with even 5% of them.
Putting it other way
When a lawyer makes a nexus with a judge during the trial of a case, that nexus
with that judge will be CERTAINLY useful to that lawyer in ALL his cases which
will come up before that judge. Even if a lawyer manages to form nexuses with
say 7-8 out of 12 Jurors during the trial of a case, those nexus with those
Jurors will be of NO USE at all in ALL other case of that lawyer, as Jurors
change with each and every trial.
Nexuslessness : KEY difference Jury System creates over judge system
I will re-explain the difference Jury System creates.
1. There are 12 DIFFERENT Jurors for each case, and NO citizen is allowed to sit
in Jury for more than once in say 5-10 years. (The judge's role is to guide the
Jurors, not to decide the guilt.)
2. So in the West, say there are 5000 cases a year in a district, the verdict is
given by 50000 to 60000 Jurors. Where as in judge system, these 5000 verdicts
will be given by mere 20-50 judges.
3. Lets look at it another way. Say a judge gives say 100 verdicts a year and
say a judge's career is 30 years long. So one individual, the judge, decides
3000 cases. Whereas, in The Jury System, EACH case goes to 10-15 DIFFERENT
Jurors. So the judgements in these 3000 cases will come from 30000 to 40000
DIFFERENT Jurors.
4. So the number of 'decision makers' in Jury System is much much larger. The
number of decision makers in courts go up by not just 10-12-15 times, but almost
20000 to 40000 times higher.
How does this make courts of West less nexusprone? While it is indeed
possible to make nexuses with 7-10 out of 12 Jurors and get a favorable verdict,
it is NOT possible for a lawyer or a career criminal to make nexuses with 1000
out of 2000 Jurors. Basically, in a district's courts, when number of decision
makers are small, such as just 20-50, it is possible for a lawyer or a career
criminal to cultivate nexuses with them. But when number of decision makers are
large, as large as 50000-60000, it is next to impossible for a career criminal
or a lawyer to cultivate a nexuses with many of them.
[Note :
The Jury System is the KEY reason why Courts in US are much less nexused
than courts in India. But it is NOT the only reason. Following are the OTHER
additional reasons why US Courts are less nexused than Courts in India
1. Grand Jury System : The public prosecutors in US are accountable to Grand
Jury consisting of some 25-30 citizens. They are semi-randomly chosen from
citizenry; term is 6 months to 1 year, and repeatations are NOT allowed. This
makes Grand Jury a fairly less nexusprone body.
2. The public prosecuors in most states/district are elected. When not elected,
they are appointed by PM/CM/Mayor, and appointment needs approval of majority of
MPs/MLAs/Panchayat-Members. Where as in India, PPs in ALL districts are
appointed by Law Ministers. The procedure is more nexus-prone compared to
election procedure.
3. The police chief in most districts in US is elected. This makes police chiefs
more responsible to citizenry and less nexused than appointed police chiefs.
4. The judges in many states/districts in US are elected. Election is less
nexusprone procedure than appointment. When not elected, judges are appointed by
PM/CM and appointment needs approval of majority of MLAs/MPs. This procedure is
far less nexusprone than procedure used in India, where judges appoint judges
without any public debate.
________________________________________
Knowledge/information factor
One objection often cited by anti-Jury pro-judge individuals is that Jurors have
less knowledge/information about the law. This objection is partly incorrect ---
BOTH jurors and judges have SAME knowledge/information about basic concepts of
justice, fairness, right/wrong etc. The ONLY difference is that judges have more
TECHNICAL knowledge about specific details. eg both judges and Jurors know that
violence is crime, crime done with specific monetary motive is more henious than
spotaneous violence etc. But Jurors may or may not be aware of specific details
like such and such act carries maximum punishment of say 5 years or 7 years or 6
months and so forth. Such specific details are easy to grasp and apply.
The pro-judge anti-Jury people do not mention the other point --- i.e. judges
progressively get more and more nexused. A newly appointed young Magistrate is
relatively nexusless, and so he is bold, upright, straight forward and fair. But
as days go, he cultivates more and more nexuses with lawyers, criminals, other
judges, officers, Ministers, MLAs, local riches etc. Whereas each Jury is
DIFFERENT and so un-nexused.
IMO, decisions from un-nexused Jurors will have more integrity and fairness than
decisions of nexused judges, no matter how much more knowledgeable and informed
they might be. Therefor, I prefer Jury System over judge system.
________________________________________
How to bring Jury System in India ?
The question is for all those, but ONLY those, who believe that decisions of
inhererently ununexused Jurors will be better than decisions of the fixed
permanent judges, who are nexusprone and often nexused. To those who believe
that judge system is better than Jury System, this is a non-question.
Now following is are the steps I suggest using which citizens in India can expel
the judges and bring Jurors onboard.
1. First citizens should get LM.01-03 passed in Panchayats, Assembly and
Parliament. These procedures would reduce citizens dependence on MLAs/MPs etc in
getting Jury related laws passed in Panchayats, Assembly and Parliament.
2. Next, citizens should pass a law in Parliament using LM.03, which would give
full powers the State Legislatures to draft the laws related with appointments
of judges in all courts which would takes cases on issues which are State
subjects. The Central government would ONLY manage the cases that are related
with Central subjects.
3. Next, citizens should pass a law in Assemblies using LM.02, which would give
full powers the Districts to draft the laws related with appointments of judges
in Lower Courts, whose power is restricted to maximum punishment of 3 years and
fine of Rs 100,000, and would also empower Districts to have full control over
administration of such LCs.
4. Using LM.03, citizens can expel all appointed judges in SC and ensure that
SCs has ONLY 10 judges of which all 10 are DIRECTLY elected by citizens of
India. And using LM.03, citizens can pass a law that would create Jury System in
Supreme Court of India.
5. Using LM.02, citizens can expel all appointed judges in HC and ensure that
HCs has ONLY 10 judges of which all 10 are DIRECTLY elected by citizens of the
State. And using LM.02, citizens can pass a law that would create Jury System in
High Courts of States
6. Using LM.03, citizens can expel all appointed judges in LCs and ensure that
LCs judges get DIRECTLY elected by citizens of the District. And using LM.01,
citizens can pass a law that would create Jury System in Lower Courts.
Basically, 1st step redeuces the need to convince MLAs who are hostile to Jury
System due to a mutual understainding that whereby judges will not hurt MLAs and
MLAs will not hurt the judges. The second step will allow each state to decide
whether they want judge system or Jury System, and how they want to manage their
State courts. The third steps takes it down to district level --- for all crimes
in which maximum punishment is below 3 years. Now citizens of districts are on
their own --- some district may decide to continue as is with appointed judges,
some may opt for elected judges with no Jury, some district may opt for elected
judges with Jury System and so forth.
This may reduce uniformity, but DOES NOT result into discrimination, as inside a
court, all citizens are treated equally. Such uniformity does not exist even
today, as some laws under state subjects vary from state to state. Also, since
Criminal Procedure Code is joint subject in India, CrPC in different states does
vary. Also, since the procedures to appoint judgfes in lower courts is left to
HC chief judges, they vary from State to State. So we do NOT have uniformity
today. So my proposed setup DOES NOT destroy uniformity, as we dont have
uniformity anyway.
To enact Jury based procedures in India, I have proposed following procedures :
1. CT.01 - Jury for/against an employee staff of Municipality
2. CT.02 - Jury for/against Junior Policemen
3. CT.03 - Jury for/against State Govt officers related to taxation
4. CT.04 - Jury for/against State Govt officers related taxation
5. CT.05 - Jury in courts under Executive such as court of Executive Magistrate,
District Magistrate, SSRD etc)
6. CT.06 - Jury in Lower Courts
7. CT.07 - Jury in High Court
8. CT.08 - Jury in Supreme Court
________________________________________
Summary
The officers and private citizens in India are supervised by judges who have a
tenure of 15-30 years and a term of 2-3 years in a given court. Such a long
tenure and term is quite a long time for criminals/lawyers and judges to
establish nexuses amongst themselves and benefit at the cost of nation. We, the
commons of India, MUST abandon this system for good. Instead, we MUST use a
rotating group of 5-10-15 citizens, chosen at random from citizenry to decide
upon a case. Unless we use this Jury System in departmental inquiries,
quasi-courts and courts, the problem of judge-criminal nexus and judge-lawyer
nexus will remain in our courts and will contitue to corrode the nation. Earlier
we switch to Jury System, better it is for India.
Udit Raj's Fast For Reservation In Private Sector
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Udit Raj on fast unto death against non implementation of reservation in private
sector
Jantar Mantar in Delhi is witnessing numerous hunger strikes and fast unto
deaths these days. The Telengana verdict has suddenly focused on the power of
self sacrifice for people's cause. Though essentially a Gandhian tool, fast unto
death is becoming a new instrument to highlight the issue and compel the
`insensitive' authorities to activate it.
In the post globalised India, when the government job sector is shrinking, it is
important the challenges are tackled in the new way. The reservation debate can
not remain the same as it used to be. Now, private sector constitutes a big
chunk and the government has itself disinvested many of its public sector
companies. Though Dr Udit Raj and the organization that he is president off,
namely All India Confederation of SC/ST Employees Associations have always
opposed privatization and globalization, yet they feel that despite their
political opposition, it is time that government accepts their demand for
reservation in private sector.
Associations of SC-ST employees under the banner of Confederation as well as
Indian Justice Party, are sitting on Dharana since November 19th in Delhi for
speedy implementation of the quota, particularly completing the backlogs which
are not being promoted. So, far no government official has visited them. Not a
single member of parliament thought of this issue and political parties have not
felt it an issue to be responded. ` it is rather unfortunate and painful, feel
Dr Udit Raj, who decided to sit on fast unto death for this cause, which he feel
is much bigger than being a prime minister or chief minister of a state. It
empowers the entire community, it is not for some time and it does not just
empower an individual, he emphasized.
Udit Raj has been in the forefront of campaign to save reservation. The
Confederation has been organizing rallies and protest marches, meeting
ministers, planning commission members, Member of Parliaments and Group of
Ministers. The UPA government formulated a bill in the fag end of its previous
term which was produced in Parliament in February 2009. It was passed by Rajya
Sabha but the Lok Sabha did not pass it. There were many objectionable points in
the bill which again re-emphasized the issue of `merit', for the `creamy'
positions. So, according to the bill, many of the `expert' positions would not
have reservation in the name of `compromising' with merit. The Confederation
opposed it but now the government in the new term is not interested at all to
bring the bill. Udit Raj feel that the bill for ensuring reservation must come
in parliament but not in its original form. They have given their suggestions to
the government.
In 2004, when the UPA government came to power, it had a lot of intention to
listen to us. It started a dialogue on this with industries which were not
supportive of quota but promised the following :
Creating 100 entrepreneurs
Supporting 500 professionals from SC-ST in better institutions
nationally-internationally,
supporting 10,000 students for coaching.
The prime minister's office had been monitoring this for long but now, feels
Udit Raj, one does not know what the status of these promises made by the
industries. What have industries done so far voluntarily which they emphasised
so much? That is why, he says, we oppose to these voluntary efforts which end up
voluntarily without any accountability.
`Now, Congress party does not want to speak on the issue. The Dalit parties are
unable to go beyond their castes and Muslim reservations. No question is raised
in parliament. The issue is completely suppressed. CII and ASOCHAM, FICCI became
proactive against quota and emphasized on voluntarism again.'
Udit Raj feel that government should bring reservation act in this session only
after correcting anomalies in it particularly no reservation in class I post in
the name of compromise with merit. Reservation is not a compromise with merit,
he says. The government must implement reservation as per law and there should
be no dilution in it. Now, we have information that it has dropped filling
backlog posts which is in lakhs. Its various departments and bureaucrats are
playing dirty games to stop implementation of reservation.
Udit Raj plunged into politics after much struggle for SC-ST employees and their
rights. But the political games are different. At the grassroots, lot of issues,
contradictions comes up and he too had to face these dark realities of caste and
sub caste. Today he feel disgusted with all this though he continues to fight.
He says ` Fighting for reservation in private sector is most important than
fighting for becoming PM and CM, as it gives strength to entire community and
not one individual. Secondly, it is permanent solution to our issues and all
other positions are time bound and you may not be there the next time. He gives
example of Sahara company which employ nearly 10 lakh persons. How many of them
are Dalits ? If there is no fixed quota and no constitutional guarantee, there
will not be many SC-STs. They may recruit one or two voluntarily but then who
will stop the discrimination? Most of the HR people in private sector are
dominated by high caste Hindus who have their own prejudices against us.
`Why has he not been able to get political success', I ask. `Sub- castism and
blackmoney are the factors that are influencing activists and leaders today. He
complaint against Mayawati government in Uttar-Pradesh is that it is promoting
predominantly belong to one community and now helping the upper castes.
Secondly, due to consumerism, radicalism is lacking among people. He challenges
those who claim to be Ambedkarites and still promoting their own caste interests
and talks of caste identities. He says that Ambedkar stood for total
`annihilation' of castes and caste identities do not help the Dalits at all. It
may help them at first one to consolidate but at the end it helps the upper
castes only. Dalits should come together under one identity of Dalits and not
consolidate their own castes, as it would defeat Ambedkar's broader perspective
of a common struggle against brahmanical system.
He says that those who talk of identity politics among Dalits must understand
the social struggles and movements and should not speak from ivory towers. `Do
not divide dalits on caste and sub-caste identities as it will kill the
movement? He feels those who are talking of sub caste identities are actually
making irresponsible statements. They do not face ground reality. They should
see it and then talk. Caste identity helps individual leaders but at the end of
the day it harms. Dalit community is emotional and any appeal on caste identity
is based on that emotion and the political leader is not responsible for any
other work.
One of the major point of our discussion in the Jantar Mantar was about
globalization. What do you think of globalization as many of our friends
perceive it helping the Dalits, I ask. Udit Raj is very clear on these issues,
actually much more then those who claim to have understood Ambedkarism. He says,
not only as an individual but the Confederation and Indian Justice party is
oppose to globalization and economic liberalization. Initially, some of us felt
that globalization would help change in mindset of the people. People are
adopting new technologies but not really changing their mindset. Secondly, the
fact is that it is the Dalits and tribal who are losing their livelihood, their
lands, their work, their forest, water and their jobs. So, how can we be
insensitive to not think of this massive onslaught on our right by them?
International corporate works in close cooperation with their Indian
counterparts, so where is Dalits in this entire agenda. He admits that it is the
similar mistake that we made in understanding communism. We thought caste and
class was same but it did not happen. We felt that the same would happen with
globalization that it would lead to change in mindset and liberate them but mind
never got globlised and upper caste hatred and prejudices remained same against
the Dalits.
Udit Raj also feels that the talks of smaller states are fraught with danger.
How can any body who claim to understand the issue of Dalits think of dividing
Uttar-Pradesh in to so many regions and disempowered them. Today, Dalits in
Uttar-Pradesh are organized and can stand despite all our differences but if a
Harit Pradesh come into being, will the Dalits remain the same. A Harit Pradesh
is nothing but a dominant idea of a kingdom of high caste farmers who have
always exploited Dalits and been ruthless in their violence against Dalits.
Similarly it will happen in Bundelkhand where the Dalits remain predominantly
landless. Both, western UP and Bundelkhand has high oppression of Dalits by the
powerful farming communities. If these regions are made states, Udit Raj, says,
the Dalits will go back to their early stages. Situation in Telengana is
different then these areas. In Telengana, there is substantive Dalit presence
and they have been part of the movement for long, fought different battles hence
a demand for a separate state in Telenagna can not be equated to that of Western
Uttar-Pradesh, Eastern Uttar-Pradesh and Bundelkhand. Dalits will have nothing
in their hand politically, if these states come into being.
Today Udit Raj decided enough is enough. The government does not listen to the
genuine demands of Dalits and their empowerment. One must not ignore the cause
of Dalit representation. Like land, reservation is a potential weapon to empower
the Dalits. It gives them leverage to power structure. So, far only upper caste
used to sit on fast unto death for their cause, what is wrong with Dalits doing
the same for their cause. It is important Dr Udit Raj as cause of reservation in
these times, when the government is diluting and political leaders remain
conspicuously silent to get upper caste votes, some body has to do the needful.
Time has come for the government of India to make the private sector accountable
for the cause of Dalits. We must have reservation in private sector.
Reservations and the Dalits at the Crossroads by Christophe Jaffrelot
India's Dalits (the former "untouchables") have risen considerably since
Independence. The country has had Dalit chief ministers (such as Mayawati),
Dalit ministers in the central government (beginning with Ambedkar as early as
1947), Dalit party presidents (like Bangaru Laxman of the Bharatiya Janata Party
and Jagjivan Ram of the Congress), and one Dalit President of the Republic (K.R.
Narayanan). Last year for the first time a Dalit (K.G. Balakrishnan) became
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. This is all the more remarkable as the
judiciary is one of the few Indian institutions without an affirmative action
policy. Recently, Dalits have also acquired new positions of power in the
university system, with S.K. Thorat at the helm of the University Grant
Commission, and Narendra Jhadav as the vice chancellor of the University of
Pune. This is a remarkable achievement that requires an explanation.
The emergence of some elite groups among the Dalits of India is primarily due to
positive discrimination programs that have reserved a percentage of government
jobs for Dalits (as well as Scheduled Tribes) since Independence. This is
obvious in the case of the administrative and intellectual elites, but to some
extent it is also true of the political elites. For instance, Kanchi Ram (the
late founder and ideologue of the pro-Dalit Bahujan Samaj Party) was a
beneficiary of the reservation system as a civil servant before turning to
politics, and former President K.R. Narayanan was a member of the Indian Foreign
Service before joining the Congress. The creation of such elite groups is
precisely the first avocation of positive discrimination programs. Such programs
are not aimed at developing a mass effect but to help the tiny "creamy layer,"
consisting of the wealthiest and best educated members of the target group.
Quotas, which reserve fifteen percent of central government jobs for Dalits,
remained unfulfilled for decades in the upper classes of the administration,
allegedly due to an insufficient number of qualified candidates. Since the
1980s, however, quotas are gradually being filled in the top three categories of
the administration, as evident in Table 1.
Table 1: The Representation of Dalits in the Central Bureaucracy 1991 1991
1991 2001 2001 2001 Class Total Dalits % Dalits Total Dalits % Dalits A 62,560
5,689 9.09 104,642 11,950 11.42 B 102,532 12,115 11.82 158,154 20,274 12.82 C
2,402,089 376,015 15.65 2,468,060 400,978 16.25
This system of reservations has been extended over the course of time, such as
the extension of reservations for promotions. Most recently, the Constitution of
India has been amended three times in this respect.
If the reservations are to continue to sustain the rise of the Dalits, however,
they will have to address three issues. Since quotas have only been observed in
the public sector, Dalits have tended to become state-oriented and have turned
their back on the private sector, where they could have instead shown some of
their entrepreneurial skills (in the leather industry, for instance, which is
the traditional occupation of the Chamar caste). This is all the more
problematic as the number of employees in the private sector has expanded since
the process of liberalization was initiated in 1991, whereas the public sector
has shrunk. In 2002, the latter employed 18.2 million persons, against 19.5
million in 1995. During the same period, the private sector has slightly
increased from 8.1 million people in 1995 to 8.4 million in 2002. This is only
the beginning of a new trend that foreign direct investment will reinforce in
both industry and the services.
The policy of positive discrimination, therefore, must target the corporate
sector if it is to retain some meaning. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said
so more than once.
Two strategies may be adopted in this domain. The first one is the introduction
of quotas in the different categories of personnel, transposing the pattern at
work in the public sector to the private sector. The second strategy would be
the state's purchase of a certain percentage of products and services from firms
owned by Dalits. That was one of the items of the Dalit Agenda that Digvijay
Singh, the then chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, started to implement in 2000.
Such a policy, aiming to stimulate the sense of entrepreneurship among Dalits,
directly draws its inspiration from similar American initiatives. But will the
Indian capitalists, who are so fond of the United States these days, look at
this component of their model as "relevant for India"?
The second problem posed by the reservation policies can be captured by one
word: co-option. As mentioned above, these policies aim at generating elite
groups; as a result, they are very vulnerable to the strategies of dominant
groups, which can deprive the Dalits of their leaders by offering lucrative and
prestigious posts in the establishment. This mechanism has been observed for
decades in the political domain where the ruling party, the Congress, minimised
the competition coming from Dalit parties by attracting the leaders of the
latter in its rank. In the early 1970s, Indira Gandhi seduced B.P. Maurya, the
most important leader of the pro-Dalit Republican Party of India, this way by
promising him a ministerial portfolio. In one go, the Republican Party lost its
momentum in Uttar Pradesh, the state where it had made its maximum gains in the
1960s. When the elite are tiny, such things can happen. And generating a tiny
elite is in the nature of the positive discrimination programs.
The third issue concerns the ambivalent relationship that the beneficiaries of
the reservations entertain with their caste fellow. The reservation programs
enable Indians of lower castes to join the privileged classes at university and
in the administration. Their lifestyle changes- not only in terms of material
gains, but also in terms of values. They tend to be cut off from their original
milieu; moreover, successful Dalit men tend to marry upper-caste women. Today,
some Dalits who behave this way are no longer ashamed of their attitude.
Instead, they argue that by their personal ways and means, they prove that a
Dalit can be like any upper-caste individual. While that may be a great
achievement, severing links with their caste may deprive them of any substantial
leadership.
This last issue pertains to the notion of the "creamy layer." Today, quotas are
cornered by those Dalits whose father and/or mother have already benefited from
positive discrimination policies. These Dalits often come from one special jati,
or subcaste, in a given region. In Uttar Pradesh, the Jatavs are in the
forefront; in Maharashtra, the Mahars play a similar role. Such a situation
tends to defeat an important part of the whole purpose of quotas, since it
prevents other Dalit jatis from gaining substantial access to the reservations.
Bhangis and Khatiks in Uttar Pradesh, Mangs and Chambhars in Maharashtra remain
massively under-represented in the state apparatus. In February, the Supreme
Court suggested excluding the "creamy layer" of Dalits from the quotas. The
whole political class objected to this move. However, to be fair to the
non-elite Dalit groups, special provisions will eventually have to evolve.
Private Sector – Its obligations to Dalits
-- By Rajindar Sachar
A lively but in my view, ill-informed, discussion is taking place in public on
the question of job quota in the private sector. The controversy has become
sharper by the weight of legal opinion of the Attorney General that it was not
possible to provide reservation for SCs and STs in the private sector without
amending the Constitution. I have my reservation on the correctness of this
view. I realize that emphasis is made on job quota possibility because of our
feudal and hierarchical social system which puts a job in an office whether in
private or public sector as the highest achievement. However, I feel that though
emphasis on job may be kept up, the real battle dalits need to fight is to have
a share in the expanding business opportunities and that too in proprietary
capacity. It is in this context that I put forward an alternative which is
immediately available and which can give more affluence, recognition and
opportunities to dalits not only for jobs in private sector but for expanding
the opportunities to share in the growth of Indian economy, and that too without
amending the Constitution.
It is well known that Central and State Governments award thousands of crores
worth of public works and contracts to the private sector. All these activities
flow from the Government playing a very crucial and significant role either to
make a particular avenue open to the private sector like the privatization and
modernization of airports, express highways Public Works Department, Delhi
Development Authority (DDA), Delhi and similar ones in number of other States
for roads or even construction of Govt. properties which are to be executed by
the private contractors. I am of the view that if proper steps available even
under the present legal set up are taken, a very large segment of dalits
population can be absorbed and can take benefit of the rising economy.
It is in this context that a reference to USA legislation called the "Public
Works Employment Act of 1997" would be apt. That Act had a minority business
enterprise clause which provided that 10% (minority population of USA) of the
federal funds granted for local public works projects must be used by state and
local grantees to procure services or supplies from business owned and
controlled by "minority group members", the latter being defined in the Act as
United States citizens who are "Negroes, Spanish-speaking, Orientals…….".
This provision was challenged as denying an equal protection clause provided
under the 14th amendment of the US Constitution (from which Article 14 of our
Constitution has been adopted). The Court upheld the validity of the legislation
as it contained provisions designed to uplift those socially-economically
disadvantaged persons to a level where they may effectively participate in the
business mainstream of USA economy.
The arguments raised as to why the private contractors should be compelled and
limit their choice in this particular manner as to from where the supplies will
be received and whom they will sub-contract was rejected, by holding that
"legislation When effectuating a limited and properly tailored remedy to cure
the effects of prior discrimination, such "a sharing of the burden by innocent
parties is not impermissible".
Question of constitutional objection is totally off the mark. After 44th
amendment Right to Property is no longer a fundamental right. Only Parliamentary
legislation is necessary to deprive a person of it without compensation. It is
also well settled that Article 19 confers no right on an individual to carry on
business with the Govt. – if it wishes it has to be on terms settled by Govt. As
such, no objection can be taken by the private sector to the provision making it
incumbent on it to share proportionately with Dalits the funds given to it by
the Govt. or local body agencies.
Similarly, governments could prescribe conditions as a part of scheme of
disinvestment of public sector. It would then be permissible for the Central and
State Governments to provide that out of these amounts the private contractor
will have to ensure that a certain percentage which, to start with, could be
fixed at 10% (though it is low as compared to the dalits population of 15-16%)
to be made available to them either in the matter of sub-contracting or
executing some works or in the matter of employment. Such a course would require
not only no constitutional amendment but not even an Act of Parliament. The
reason being that the Government, being the spending authority, it is
permissible for it by executive orders to direct that a certain portion of this
money available will be utilized either for providing employment or for
sub-contracts to the dalits. This is what was done in USA and which while
upholding the said legislation very eloquently observed – "if we are ever to
become a fully integrated society, one in which the colour of a person's skin
will not determine the opportunities available to him or her, we must be willing
to take steps to open those doors." The same principle aptly applies to the
position of dalits in our country.
Our Supreme Court has held that "economic empowerment of the poor, in particular
the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, as is enjoined under Article 46, is a
constitutional objective as basic human and fundamental right to enable the
labourer, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to raise their economic
empowerment."
I see no reason why our Supreme Court which is far more progressive and
poor-oriented than the USA's Supreme Court, will not reject similar challenge.
But of course the overriding question still remains – is there a political will
and determination in the Central and State Governments to take on the combined
forces of Big Business.
I am convinced that it is not only jobs but business opportunities that need to
be opened to Dalits, to make a real change in their social and economic set up.
India Is Divided Into Three Nations:
Manhattan, India And Bharat By Devinder Sharma
At a national seminar on 'Challenges of Growing Rural-Urban Disparities' in New
Delhi the other day, I met a very impressive line up of distinguished economists
and policy makers. The more opportunities I get to meet them, the more I become
disenchanted. I think most of them have no idea of how the country looks like,
and probably have no clue as to what needs to be done. For them, it is business
as usual.
Speaking briefly in a session on 'Challenges of Accelerated, Diversified and
Inclusive Growth', I drove home the point that the fundamental cause behind the
worsening urban-rural divide (as well as climate change) is the model of growth
economics itself. Unless the economists demonstrate courage to challenge the
prevailing economic paradigm, it is futile to talk of inclusive growth.
In fact, mainline economists, like the agricultural scientists, have also failed
the society.
The urban-rural divide in India is no longer to be seen through the lense of the
popular two-nation concept: India and Bharat. The geographical borders of the
country now comprise three nations: Manhattan, India and Bharat. Manhattan are
the Special Economic Zones (SEZ), an euphemism for princely Estates that are
being carved out in the name of economic growth. India comprise the urban
centres, and Bharat of course denotes the poor and backward rural countryside.
While all resources (including natural wealth) of Bharat is being diverted to
feed the growing demand of Manhattan and India, the nation feels satisfied that
it has given the poor in the 600,000 villages of Bharat a magic potion in the
form of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (popularly called
NREGA), promising assured employment for 100 days in a year to the poor.
In other words, NREGA has become the Surf Excel for all ailments that the
urban-rural divide exhibit. If you have seen the advertisement for the Surf
Excel detergent, you would understand what I am trying to say. A child falls
down and his clothes get dirty. He looks upto his mother, and she says: "Don't
worry. Surf Excel hai na." Similarly, the poor have nothing to worry from the
continuous onslaught over their resources, from increasing marginalisation,
being pushed deeper and deeper into the cesspool of poverty and deprivation.
NREGA hai na.
`The Battle Of Bhima Koregaon'
By Pardeep Singh Attri
"If we wish to be free, we must fight. Shall we gather strength by irresolution
and inaction? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the
price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course
others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death."
– Patrick Henry (March, 1775)
History of India is nothing but the fight/struggle between untouchables and so
called upper castes. Historians those are ought to be rationalist, have always
misled masses and never showed the true face of Indian History. Hence, this
battle has also been lost into history and no reference is found in any history
book.
January 1st 1818, when everyone around the world was busy in celebrating the
`new year', when everyone was in cheerful mood, but not for a small force of 500
untouchable soldiers were preparing them to for battleground. Who knows this
battle is going to write future of `Brahmin Peshwa Baji Rao-II'? It wasn't just
another battle; it was a battle for self respect, esteem and against the
supremacy of Manusmriti. This battle is important in history, as everyone know
that after this battle rule of `Peshwa Rao' ended.
In the early 19th century, the Maratha Empire led by Peshwa Baji Rao II was
gradually diminishing due to internal dissents and setbacks in the previous
Anglo-Maratha wars. Maharashtrian society under Peshwas had followed nastiest
kind of social discrimination wherein the lower strata of society such as
untouchables were confined to the stringent Brahmanical laws and subsequently
their mobility and development were impaired. The untouchables had suffered the
most in the 2000 year old caste system. But regimes such as of the Brahmincal
Peshwas are the best examples where untouchables and the lower caste groups
experienced horrendous and nastiest form of social humiliations to carry broom
sticks on their backs and earthen pots hung on their necks wherein they released
their spit.
This battle took place on January 1st, 1818, near the banks of Bhima River in
Koregaon (north-west of Pune) between small forces of `500 untouchables'
(Mahars) soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 1st regiment of `Bombay Native Light
Infantry' and Peshwa soldiers. `Bombay Native Light Infantry' was headed by
`Caption Francis Staunton'. Compared to the `500 untouchables soldiers' Brahmin
Peshwa Rao's force was large in numbers, they were more than 20,000 horsemen and
8,000 infantry soldiers. After walking down more than 27Miles distance from
Shirur to Bhima Koregaon without rest or reprieve, without food or water `500
untouchables' fought so bravely for 12 hours and won the battle. Battle ended
not only with `victory' over Peshwa but it become responsible for the end of
`Peshwai' in Maharashtra.
This battle had unusual significance for many reasons. First, British army
fought this battle with a minuscule army expecting the worst, especially after
their experience of the Pune Regency. Secondly, the battle of Koregaon was one
of the most important events which helped tear down the Peshwa Empire and
subsequently the Peshwa had to abdicate. Thirdly and most importantly, it was an
attempt by the untouchables of Maharashtra to break the shackles of the age-old
caste order.
The Peshwa's troops inexplicably withdrew that evening, despite their
overwhelming numbers, giving the British an important victory. The men of the
2/1st Regiment Bombay Native Infantry, who fought in this battle, were honored
for their bravery. The official report to the British Residents at Poona recalls
the "heroic valour and enduring fortitude" of the soldiers, the "disciplined
intrepidity" and "devoted courage and admirable consistency" of their actions.
Much praise was showered on the Mahar Sepoys of the Bombay Army who endured the
rigours of difficult marches when rations were low and disease was high among
men and animals. Whether they were charging ahead or were besieged or taken
prisoner-of-war, whether they were storming fortresses or making tactical
withdrawals, they always stood steadfast by their officers and comrades, never
letting down the honour of their Regiments. Similar anecdotes are recorded in
the written histories of the Mahar Regiment and Bombay Army. All demonstrate
that most Mahars soldiers were dedicated and courageous.
This Battle was commemorated by an obelisk, known as the Koregaon Pillar (Vijay
Stambh), which featured on the `Mahar Regiment' crest until Indian Independence.
The `Vijay Stambh' reminds us `together we can achieve anything'. The monument
has names inscribed of twenty two untouchables (Mahars) killed there, erected at
the site of the battle and by a medal issued in 1851. Today, the monument still
"serves as focal point of Untouchable (Mahar) heroism". Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
used to visit Bhima Koregaon (Shaurya Bhomi) every year on 1st January to pay
homage to great Mahar soldiers of The Bhima Koregaon Battle.
On New Year eve, rather than visiting pubs, dancing and enjoying over beer
bottles, pay rich tribute to the heroes of `Battle'. This all will show respect,
our commitment, courage and awareness towards our rich history. One step ahead
we can suggest or request all of you that in remembrance of untouchable soldier
who fought and died for self respect and esteem in `Bhima Koregaon Battle' over
the haughty, superior and arrogant `Savarnas'.
