Bilkis Bano's quest for justice and Hi-tech BJP campaign in Gujarat
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Bilkis Bano's quest for justice
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070031945&ch=11/6/2007%204:51:00%20PM
Radhika Bordia
Tuesday, November 6, 2007 (Gujarat)
As the storm rages on the Tehelka expose on the Gujarat riots the focus could soon be on another battle for justice - the case of Bilkis Bano, who witnessed a group of rioters butcher her family before they went on to gang rape her.
Three years ago the Supreme Court intervened to ensure her case was transferred out of Gujarat to Mumbai.
Now, as her case reaches a critical stage Bilkis breaks her silence. She spoke to NDTV in an undisclosed location in Gujarat to describe the threats and dangers, she faced for daring to tell the truth.
''The pain in the past five years has been endless. We have had to shift our home time and time again,'' said Bilkis Bano.
She is one of the faces of the Gujarat riots but for Bilkis Bano to give an interview is rare.
Bilkis is under threat because her case is of immense legal significance.
She was five months pregnant in 2002 when she was brutally raped and saw 14 members of her family being butchered by the same mob that raped her.
But Bilkis has not given up the fight telling her story before the court despite the threats.
''They killed 14 of my family and even snatched by two-year-old daughter from me and smashed her on the stone. I kept telling them to stop, reminding them that they were from my village but they wouldn't stop. They raped me repeatedly,'' said Bilkis.
Because of her testimony it's the one of the few cases in the riots where the prosecution has managed to get 12 of the accused, including six policemen, behind bars even as the case continues.
''When I reached the police I thought I would get support but instead I got threats. They told me that if I named people they would give me a poison injection to kill me,'' said Bilkis.
But it's been a terrifying journey - threats, dodgy medical check ups and the Gujarat government closing her case.
Except that the evidence was just too powerful the Human Rights Commission heard her case.
The CBI got involved and along with the Zaheera Sheikh her case became one of the few to be transferred by the Supreme Court to Mumbai.
Drawing cynicism
Even then the pressure didn't let up. Zaheera did many U turns drawing cynicism and there was immense pressure on Bilkis to also retract.
Adding up the intimidation, the defence lawyer in the case, Gopal Gandhi is a strong contender for a BJP ticket from Godhra.
''People threatened me, others advised me to drop the case or that I could risk losing the rest of my family. But how can I forget, my whole family was killed, so much has happened with me, how can I just leave it,'' said Bilkis.
But now, her case has reached a critical stage. The Mumbai sessions judge hearing the case has been transferred but the Supreme Court has stayed the transfer for two months saying he has to finish the case before he leaves.
Will her courage and her resilience be rewarded with justice?
Even if it is, what of the human costs of the fight for justice, that she has had to endure and what of her haunting question on why the search for justice had to be taken out of Gujarat, away from her own home.
Hi-tech BJP campaign in Gujarat
In an elaborate plan drawn up by the ruling BJP, the party envisages to use both the traditional and modern tools of communication to reach out to the voters.
The Gujarat assembly elections are to be held on December 11 and 16.
''The campaign plan was finalised during the two-day visit of BJP's election in-charge Arun Jaitley, who left for Delhi later today. It will be put into action after the Diwali and Gujarati New Year holidays,'' the party sources said.
''The campaign theme rests on things like Chief Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, his image, Hindutva ideology and developmental issues and work completed during the BJP's rule,'' sources said.
''We will try to reach out to the people by using the traditional as well as modern tools of communication'', they said.
''Audio and video CDs with BJP's message will be shown and distributed to the people. We will be sending material to the Election Commission for clearance by tomorrow,'' they said.
''Advertisement on television channels and newspapers will be based on our theme issues. Besides, FM radio channels too is being thought as a good medium to propagate the party's message,'' they said.
''Internet and mobile services will also be widely used for campaigning. MMS and SMS will be sent to voters urging them to vote for the BJP,'' the sources informed.
Pamphlets like always will be made use of in good measure, they said.
From: ShivaShankarIW
"... There was another pertinent question: if people rushed to vote for
Mr. Modi, enthused by images of extreme violence done to one community,
what sort of a people were they? .."
The sting in its social and ethical context
Vidya Subrahmaniam
The Tehelka sting on Gujarat 2002 is a credible effort. Yet it is
difficult not to question its timing and the exploitative manner of its
presentation.
One of the ironies of the Tehelka sting on the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in
Gujarat is the way it has been received. Narendra Modi's supporters,
though denouncing it as a "Congress-secular conspiracy," seem nonetheless
convinced that it will strengthen him before a crucial election.
In the case of Mr. Modi's detractors, the logic works in reverse: They
worry that images of the riots, made worse by the insensitive manner of
their presentation, will revive the raw passion of 2002, helping to seal
the widening cracks in Mr. Modi's Hindutva vote bank. Civil rights
activists find the reaction unfathomable and are distraught that so
courageous and spectacular an investigation should be measured for its
immediate, rather than long term, impact.
In one sense the activists are right. For years those who felt revulsion
at the 2002 pogrom had fretted about the apparent hopelessness of it all.
In Mr. Modi's Gujarat, the calendar might have stopped at Godhra 2002,
judging by the prevailing notions of justice and injustice. In this
narrative, the horror aboard the Sabarmati Express was injustice but not
the horror that followed it. Consequently, the victims were always those
killed on the train, never the thousands brutally, revengefully killed in
the aftermath.
For years, those despairing of the situation had waited for just the kind
of clinching, incontrovertible evidence that Tehelka produced to establish
the macabre truth of that time ? a truth known to everybody, documented
previously, acknowledged by the apex court, and yet unfailingly dismissed
as so much fabrication by the Modi administration and the Chief Minister's
legion of admirers. Now finally it was out in all its gory detail ? told
by the perpetrators themselves in their own words. With frame after
chilling frame of the pogrom dramatically unspooling before them, those
claiming to be "politically conscientious" ought to have rushed to embrace
the Tehelka team. Instead, they reacted in dismay. The questions, "why
now?" and "why like this?" soared above the audio-video effect of the
sting, undercutting what was billed by Tehelka as "the most important
story of our time."
Rights activists feel let down by the reaction. Yet there are aspects to
the sting that are discomfiting. For those of us in the media who go by
the label "pseudo-secularists," the Tehelka scoop was a difficult moment
to confront. The swirl of emotions we were caught in spawned questions and
counter-questions, all springing from within, each with its own unclear
answer. Surely, the dilemma underscored the complexity of a problem that
was inseparable from its political and ethical dimensions.
Overused phrase
Tehelka unveiled its latest sting at a time when the phrase was in bad
odour from overuse. Too many fake stings had damaged way too many
reputations, and it was with some trepidation that viewers approached the
latest script, theatrically narrated television-style. By the end of it,
though, there was no doubt that the investigation was first-rate; the
footage was the end product of a search that led from one gut-wrenching
story to another, each unashamedly told to a camera candidly capturing the
depravations of that time.
The journalist behind the veil was the anti-thesis of the high-flier,
armed, as he was to recollect later, "with nothing more than a couple of
spycams and some daredevilry." Ashish Khetan had been part of several of
Tehelka's operations, yet few knew him. He put his anonymity to good use,
spending six tortuous months under cover, fearing all the while that the
lid would be blown off his impersonation of a Hindutva sympathiser. What
started as an aimless quest turned into a most astonishing discovery, as
quarry after quarry turned up to speak to the camera ? from the Bajrang
Dal, from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, from the State Government's legal
department.. The men were unrestrained, almost garrulous, as they narrated
how cold bloodedly they committed their crimes.
Some of us watched this incredulously. Why would anyone go this far to
implicate himself? But then strange things happened in Gujarat. In an
environment where support for the 2002 pogrom was treated as a given,
confessions of this kind were presumably quite in order. Asked about this,
the Bharatiya Janata Party did not allege the tapes were doctored. The
spokesperson dismissed the evidence as "bragging." This prompted a
journalist to ask: "What sort of people do you harbour that brag and boast
about committing heinous crimes?"
The unease about the Tehelka sting does not stem from doubts about its
credibility. It stems from the timing of its release, and the exploitative
manner of its presentation. The Tehelka tapes hit the television screens
just when Mr. Modi's Hindutva base appeared to be splintering. Five years
after the pogrom, the parivar's disillusionment with the man, once beloved
of them all, seemed near-complete. In 2002, the VHP and the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh hailed Mr. Modi as a hero, and conferred upon him the
title, "Hindu hriday samrat." The same parivar now threatened to boycott
him, led by the VHP's fire-breathing Pravin Togadia, and joined in by a
myriad other saffron outfits, all accusing Mr. Modi of straying from the
Hindutva path, and issuing daily bulletins on his misdemeanours.
The anti-Modi rebellion in Saurashtra, previously made up of a handful of
BJP malcontents, and therefore easily containable, was now a full-blown
threat to Mr. Modi, having become the focus of any and all discontentment
in the region. The rebels, always blessed by the former Chief Minister,
Keshubhai Patel, and now fortified by the entry into their fold of veteran
Suresh Mehta, were in the middle of evolving a joint strategy with the
Congress, when Tehelka aired the sting.
Operation Kalank revisited the wounds of 2002 and in the process held up a
mirror to the Congress which had taken the rebels in its embrace,
forgetting the role they played in the riots. The sting unarguably saved
the Congress from a major folly: Gordhan Zadaphia, Minister of State for
Home in 2002, and leader of the BJP rebels, was among those expected to
join the Congress. He retreated. But the sting also closed the window of
opportunity provided by the division in the saffron ranks. In 2007
Gujarat, the only way to undermine Mr. Modi was to separate him from his
post-Godhra image. Indeed, the parivar's annoyance with Mr. Modi flowed
from his perceived departure from the path he had himself shown in 2002.
In reviving the memories of 2002, Tehelka revived the memories of saffron
togetherness forged on a felt need to fight Muslims. The sting clubbed the
guilt of Mr. Modi with that of the VHP and the Bajrang Dal at a time of
debilitating tension between the Chief Minister and his ideological
family.
Flawed argument
Undoubtedly, this line of argument is repugnant to the very notion of
justice. This amounted to consciously, premeditatedly excluding Muslims
and the injury done to them from the election debate. There was another
pertinent question: if people rushed to vote for Mr. Modi, enthused by
images of extreme violence done to one community, what sort of a people
were they? The Tehelka team made a persuasive case to view the sting from
a larger perspective: the aim of any investigation was to bring out the
truth, and this truth could not be sacrificed at the altar of electoral
calculations. Yet others said if the sting strengthened Mr. Modi, enabling
his re-election, it had also caused long-term damage to his national and
international image.
Perfect reasoning. However, it was also in some sense lofty and removed
from the reality of Gujarat ? where Muslims faced the prospect of five
more years in isolation. Of what use was a journalistic investigation that
brilliantly captured their suffering yet expected them to endure it in
their own alleged interest?
Finally, there is the matter of how the sting was presented. The
television channels chose the thriller format for a footage that was so
graphic in itself that it required no further embellishment.
Yet in the hand of its exploitative anchors, the gore and death became a
voyeuristic melodrama, complete with teaser-trailers that promised more
and commercial breaks that stretched on and on ? in evident admission that
somebody's misery was somebody else's bottomline.
Perhaps the sting will make no impact. Perhaps the rebellion against Mr.
Modi was illusory anyway. Nonetheless, there is no getting away from the
singular important question the sting has posed: can you separate an
investigation, however important, from its social and ethical context?
GUJARAT KA SACH
by
B. P. SINGHAL, IPS. (Retd.), Ex-MP Rajya Sabha.
They-THE SECULARISTS - are at it once again.
"It was a well planned 'GENOCIDE'", "it was 'POGROM'", "it was state sponsored 'TERRORISM'", is what they had said in screaming headlines day after day after day in 2002, in the Delhi based "SECULAR" English dailies and the "SECULAR" electronic media. So complete was the Goebblesian propaganda and so effective was the concealment of truth, that even the Supreme Court lost its judicial balance and without verifying what steps the Government of Gujarat had taken, it went on to write on page 72 of its judgement in the Best Bakery Case that, "The modern day NEROS were looking elsewhere when Best Bakery and innocent children and helpless women were burning ...........".
It was media power at its worst that caused this unwarranted outburst from the Hon'ble Supreme Court. All the Gujarat language dailies were giving truthful accounts which were at complete variance with the Delhi based Media.
"The Hindu", the leading-most South India daily reported on 1st March 2002 : "The Chief Minister Modi frantically asked for the Army units to be called in." On 2nd March 2002 'The Hindu' reported : "Unlike February 28 when one community was entirely at the receiving end, the minority backlash on 1st March has further worsened the situation .......... and the Army staged a flag march in Ahemedabad on 1 st March 2002 at 9.00 A.M."
It was therefore truly shocking that on 25.8.2007, "Aaj Tak" harped on the same old refrain that "Modi did not call the army until three days had passed". Even more outrageous was their insistance on this point. When "Aaj Tak" contacted me on phone to get my response, I told the anchor that the GODHRA carnage took place on February 27th 2002, that the Hindu backlash commenced on February 28th and the Army was doing flag march on the forenoon of March 1st ............ He cut me short by saying that "this is exactly what we had said, no action was taken by Modi on 29 th, 30th and 31st thus giving three clear days to the murderers ........" I had to cut him short by reminding him that the date 28 th was 28th of February 2002 and there was no 29th, 30th or 31st in that month. The phono was of course disconnected. However, it has to be said to the credit of "Aaj Tak" and "Headlines Today" that they called me for a full length studio debate from 9.15 P.M. 11.45 P.M. next day. But the details of that debate shall have to wait. For the present, however, it is imperative that certain facts are stated to prevent perpetuation of the LIES propagated in 2002.
Fact 1: That SHOOT AT SIGHT ORDERS had been given by the Government on 28th itself.
Being an Ex-DGP and also a Member of Parliament at that time, I was personally in touch with the office of DGP Gujarat and the Commissioner of Police Ahemedabad. I was keen to tell them, (a) To call in the Army atonce and (b) To issue "SHOOT AT SIGHT" orders to all officers of the rank of Sub-Inspectors and above. It was very comforting to learn that the Government of Gujarat had already taken both those steps by 2.30 P.M. on 28 th February itself. In fact the State Government had also requested for Armed Police reinforcements from neighbouring states, besides calling for the Army.
Fact 2: On the 28th February itself 10 Hindus had been shot dead and 16 Hindus had been wounded by POLICE BULLETS.
Fact 3: On the next day i.e., 1st March an additional 24 Hindus were shot dead and 40 Hindus wounded by POLICE BULLETS.
Fact 4: In the entire period of riots total Hindu casualties were 80 shot dead, and 207 wounded by POLICE BULLETS alone. (But no Delhi-based media showed any interest in giving coverage to these casualties.)
Fact 5: The Muslim counter attack which commenced from 1st March 2002 was no less ferocious. In the first three days alone, out of a total of 611 deaths, 101 were caused by POLICE FIRING. Of these, 61 were Hindus and 40 were Muslims.
Fact 6: As on 5th of March, as many as 40,000 Hindus had had to be given shelter in Relief Camps. (There was plenty of media coverage given to the plight of Muslims in relief camps but no Delhi-based media covered any Hindu relief camps.)
Fact 7: In answer to the Parliament questions, the UPA Home Minister gave the figures of casualties during Gujarat riots. There were Muslims killed 790, Hindus killed 254, wounded 2500 in all missing 223. Thus this proves the lies that what happened in Gujarat was a one-sided affair for every three Muslims who died in Gujarat, one Hindu was also killed.
Such heavy casualties in riot control are UNPRECEDENTED in the entire history of Indian Police. The figures of casualties caused by Police firing in the first three days alone indicate the FEROCITY of Police action. (And the "SECULAR" PARTIES and their MEDIA cohorts even to this day proclaim unabashedly that Modi ordered the Police "to look the other way" to give a free hand to murderers for three days). If they have any respect for TRUTH, they can cross-check the casualties with the records of the concerned hospitals. The Police is duty bound to carry the dead or the wounded in Police firings to the concerned Government hospitals.
With the Muslim counter attack commencing from 1st March onwards till the riots were quelled altogether, what took place in Gujarat was a full-fledged Hindu-Muslim Riot. It was no GENOCIDE, or POGROM, or STATE TERRORISM against the Muslims of Gujarat. "No modern day 'NERO' was looking elsewhere". The modern day Chief Minister was dealing with the situation as best as was possible with the highly limited forces at his command.
Because of the spontaneous conflagration at scores and scores of locations, it is entirely possible that the Police or Fire brigade may have failed to reach a scene for hours, OR, having been spread so thin, the posse of Police that did reach the scene was deterred from intervening by the sheer ferocity of violence at that point in time. But to say that Police was restrained as a measure of Government POLICY is completely belied by the sheer immensity of casualties caused by Police firings.
The insane FEROCITY and BRUTALITY with which Ram Bhaktas including "innocent children and helpless women" were roasted alive at Godhra set the benchmark for the equally insane ferocity of the Hindu backlash and the ferocity of the Hindu backlash was followed by an equally insanely ferocious counter attack by the Muslims.
The Delhi-based media made out as though the whole of Gujarat was in flames. It concealed the fact that out of 18,600 villages, 240 Municipal towns and 25 Districts, the number of locations that were affected by riots was just 60. Not a single man-day was lost in the 200 odd Industrial townships by any Industry in Gujarat because of the riots. The examinations in Schools, Colleges and Universities were conducted as per schedule during the period of riots.
Irrefutable confirmation that it was a Communal RIOT and not a GENOCIDE or POGROM, came from the verdicts of Courts in POST-GODHRA riots cases:
(i) Deccan Herald reported on May 2004: Conviction of 3 confessing Muslims for 7 years for attempted murder.
(ii) Indian Express dated 19.03.2006 reported: 7 Muslims convicted for life for the murder of Mukesh Panchaal.
(iii) Indian Express dated 29.03.2006 reported: 9 Muslims convicted for attempted murder and Arms Act with sentences ranging from 10 years to 18 months.
(iv) Indian Express dated 19.05.2006 reported: 4 Muslims nailed by DNA tests and convicted for LIFE.
While the "SECULAR" PARTIES and the "SECULAR" Delhi-based Media singled out the Hindu backlash for mega-publicity, they BLANKED OUT the Godhra carnage, as well as the Muslim counter attack for reasons best known to them. Nevertheless, not only the MINORITY community of Gujarat, but the entire population of Gujarat had been well aware of "GUJARAT KA SACH", ALL ALONG. As a result, all the Goebblesian propaganda had to bite the dust when the BJP was not only returned to serve Gujarat for a second term, by an overwhelming majority in the legislature, in the Post-Godhra-Post-Gujarat elections, but also continued to win the Corporation, the Municipal and the Gram Sabha elections with overwhelming margins. In a DEMOCRACY, THE PEOPLE KNOW WHO IS WHAT. AND THE PEOPLE ARE THE FINAL ARBITERS.
Tehelka and the sponsors of Tehelka have once again tried to vitiate communal harmony not only of Gujarat but of the entire country. People overwhelmingly believe that the Tehelka "sting operation" was sponsored by the Congress. If it is so, then, this would be the third major attempt of the "SECULAR" Congress to stoke the communal flames in the country. The first major attempt was made through the Sachar Commission who ordered a headcount of Muslims in India's Defence Forces. Thanks to the Army Chief who firmly put his foot down to prevent the communal virus from infecting the Army. The second attempt was made when the Government of India filed the affidavit in the Supreme Court, in the Sethusamudram case wherein it QUESTIONED the very existence of Sri Ram. Now by sponsoring Tehelka, "Sting operation" it made a despicable third attempt to communalize the Indian Polity. What Tehelka "Sting operation" has done, clearly attracts Section 153A of the IPC and if Congress has not sponsored this "Sting operation" then it should not hesitate to prosecute Tehelka u/s 153A IPC. As Tehelka as well as the T.V. Channels who aired those tapes are headquartered at Delhi, it is the Delhi Police and consequently the Government of India to take the legal action against them u/s 153A IPC.
Nobody could have had any grouse if "Tehelka" and the T.V. Channels had passed on those tapes to the Supreme Court, for suitable action, or even telecasted the so-called confessions of VHP activists or the BJP MLA for the information of the people. And, if indeed, those confessions are genuine and have any evidentiary value in them, then the law must take its course against those whose guilt is stablished. The real MISCHIEF that attracts Section 153A IPC is the JUXTAPOSITION AND INTERSPERSION of rising flames and bellowing smoke with the earlier recorded bytes of the Gujarat riots, accompanied with crashing cymbals, beats of drums, screaming voices, and the highly provocative comments of the 'anchors' of the channels that aired those tapes.
There is a clear intention to inflame communal passions through what all was telecast in the name of "Gujarat ka Sach", and it would be dangerous for the future of the country if such a nefarious act goes unpunished by default of the UPA Government.
Date: 29.10.2007
(B. P. SINGHAL)
IPS. (Retd.), Ex-MP Rajya Sabha
All those who want to know the full identity of the criminals who were responsible for massacre of Sikhs in 1984 must read it. It is reproduced from the book-UNDOING INDIA: THE RSS WAY
Shamsul Islam.
In the following is reproduced in full a shocking document justifying the massacre of Sikhs in October-November 1984, authored and circulated by a luminary and veteran of the RSS, Nana Deshmukh. In the aftermath of the killing of Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by her two security guards who happened to be Sikhs, hundreds of innocent Sikh men, women and children were burnt alive, butchered, and maimed throughout India. Hundreds of Sikh religious places were destroyed, with countless commercial and residential properties owned by Sikhs.
It has been a general belief that the Congress cadres were behind this mayhem. This may be true but there were other fascist and communal forces also which actively participated in this massacre, whose role has never been investigated. This document may help in unmasking the whole lot of criminals who played Holi with the blood of innocent Sikhs who had nothing to do with the killing of Indira Gandhi. This document may also throw light on where the cadres came from, who meticulously organized the butchering of Sikhs. Those who were witness to the genocide and mayhem of 1984 were stunned by the swiftness and military precision of the killer marauding gangs (later on witnessed during the Babri mosque demolition, burning alive of Dr. Graham Steins with his two sons and recent pogrom of the Muslims in Gujarat) who went on a burning spree of the innocent Sikhs. This was beyond the capacity of the Congress thugs. Nana