HUMAN RIGHTS IN INDIA: A CASE STUDY OF THE ROLE OF POLICE IN GUJRAT COMMUNAL VIOLENCE-SINCE 1992 ABSTRACT THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Boctot of $t|tU)s(opI)p in political Science BY AMAN MOHD. KHAN Under the Supervision of Dr. IFTEKHAR AHEMMED DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) 2010 2 6 JL. 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS IN INDIA: A CASE STUDY OF THE ROLE OF POLICE IN GUJRAT COMMUNAL VIOLENCE -SINCE 1992 At the time of freedom struggle from the British rule, there was a mass ideological support with Mahatma Gandhi, which completely shared his vision of a strong secular India, with equal rights to all jg^ple irrespective of their religion, region, caste, colour and gender but atfiht.same time there were also some radical ideologies backed by religious fervor which are against the concept of egalitarian society. On the one hand Muslim extreiiiisf leaders demanded a separate nation based on their concept of two-nation theory and they secured it by carving out from the Muslim majorft^'^^eas of the then India. On the other hand extremist Hindu organizations, opposed to Gandhiji's humane and inclusive Hinduism and nationalism, assassinated him just months after India became free. The constitution of India, drafted by one of India's most revered leader Dr B. R Ambedkar, from a community which is traditionally subjected to the most savage caste discrimination, established the secular, socialist and democratic foundations of the new nation. Secular democracy is our constitutional ideal, but it is well known that 'ideal is not real and real is not ideal'. There is a large gap between the two, yet we invoke ideal from time to time to measure our weakness or even our failures. In India human rights, entitled a citizen to live a dignified life, make their presence felt in the form of various fundamental and basic rights, which are legally binding. But due to the presence of widespread poverty, illiteracy, corruption, unemployment, religious strife and intolerance, the violation of human rights in various forms are rampant throughout the length and breadth in this part of the World. After the blood-drenched partition of India in 1947, that resulted in the loss of over a million lives and the largest dislocation of human population on grounds of diverse human faiths, also created a great deal of bitterness and distrust among the people of the country belonging to different religions. Muslim elite of north India led by Jinnah to serve their own interest divided this country and left large masses of Muslims* in staggering situation to face the burnt of blame for partition. It also communalised the political process of our country in post-independence India to a large extent. Contemporary sectarian politics in India is both a hangover of British policy of divide and rule and the consequence of partition. Communal political and social strife mounted fiirther, since the 1980's, due to the mobilisation which was organised predominantly around the symbol of a medieval mosque, the Babri Masjid, which is claimed to be constructed after demolishing a temple built at the birthplace of Lord Ram. In recent decades, this incendiary intensely sectarian dispute over a tiny (disputed) patch of land in Ayodhya has come to dominate national public life in India, successftilly hegemonising until recently electoral politics, thus displacing authentic people's democratic struggles for a more just, egalitarian, developed and humane India. It gave birth to a dangerous and unethical concept of polarisation of votes, for electoral gain, on the religious lines by instigating the religious sentiments of the people by utilizing communal riots as its mean. The dispute has propelled many horrendous communal clashes. The most heinous demonstration of human rights violation took place in India, during the riots, between the communities like Hindu and Muslims, in which life, property and dignity of the citizens were openly destroyed. India is country which has got the history of Communal violence. According to a yearly figure released by the Ministry of Home affair that the number of communal riots in the country that takes place since independence are in thousands and in which thousands of innocent people lost their lives. Some of the infamous riots that took place after independence of India are: (1)- Ahmedabad, 1969. (2)- Bhiwandi, 1970. (3)- Moradabad, 1980. (4)- Delhi, 1984. (5)- Meerut, 1987. (6)- Bhagalpur, 1989. (7)- Bombay, 1992-93. & (8) - Gujarat, 2002. The Police force, state or central, is the first organised institution to face the brunt of communal violence. It is involved very actively in all the three stages i:e incitement, violence and rehabilitation of victims. Since the law and order is a state subject in India, the state police is first pressed into service to quell a communal riot. After it is found that the local police is not able to control a communal riot, central para-Military forces like C.R.P.F, B.S.F and I.T.B.P or the Army are called-in to aid and assist the state law enforcement agencies to carry out their task. Various commission of enquiry, appointed after communal riots have in general pointed out that the police were partisan in favour of the majority Hindu community, or they failed to anticipate the trouble or had acted indecisively at the begiiming of trouble to bring the situation under control. They use excessive force, when strictly not wanted, and failed to maintain a posture of neutrality between the two communities. Since the person manning the police are from the same society that is infected with the virus of communalism, they carry along with them the prejudices, suspicion, hatred prevalent in their community for the people of other community. It is firmly held by many upright police officers that 'Wo riot can continue beyond a few hours without the active connivance of the local police and magistracy. The police remain quite communalised and govenmients at the center as well as in states have hardly done anything to de-communalise the force. The Mumbai riot of 1992-93 and the Gujarat riots of 2002 have amply proved this. India is yet to develop a professional police force. We are still governed by the Police Act of 1861 drafted by the British rulers in the 19"" century. This antiquated police act was meant to suppress people fighting for freedom and hence the police even today is used by politicians to suppress people's agitations, and not to help. Over and above, it is highly communalized force and acts as Hindu force during riots and at times goes to extent of leading mobs against Muslims and in many cases a communal riot turns into a battle between the Police and the Muslims. In the year 2002, once again the Ayodhya issue became the cause or epicenter of communal violence, India experienced its greatest human rights crisis in decade, orchestered violence against Muslims in the state of Gujarat that claimed at least two thousand lives in matter of days. Gujarat is a state situated in the south of India, it is governed by the right wing Hindu nationalist party BJP for more than a decade The hindutva groups, emanating from RSS, like Bajrang Dal, Durga vahini are aggressively operating throughout the state and enjoy state government patronage. They are fearlessly working on their fascist agenda and police have little or no control over their activities. On Feb 27,2002 an allegedly Muslim mob attack on a train near Godhra railway station carrying Kar Sevaks from Ayodhya on board in which 58 people were died though the investigation are still going on for this incident. In the days to follow Government officials and local media branded the Muslim as terrorist while armed gangs were set out on a four day retaliatory spree. Muslims homes, places of worship and business were systematically destroyed. Hundred of women and girls were gang-raped and sexually mutilated before being burnt alive. Police is the only main visible organ of the state on whose shoulder responsibility lies to control these riot but the role of police in controlling all this lawlessness is highly objectionable and they on many instances abetted the rioter to do their act fearlessly. Many victim of the violence have reportedly said that they heard the slogan from the rioter that ''Yeh Andar ki Baat Hai Police Hamere Sath Hai" (This is inside story that police is with us), attackers roamed with impunity threatening more violence if any one dared to speak against them. The role of state Government of Gujarat under the leadership of Chief Minister Narender Modi in dealing with this communal riot is also highly controversial and outrageous. The whole Goverrmient machinery is under severe criticism for its partisan role to tackle the situation during and after the riot from both national and international media, right activists, politicians and other Government officials. There were complaints that a few senior police officers who acted firmly to protect Muslims were transferred out on unspecified grounds, thereby transmitting the message that the state Government was not in favour of safeguarding the minority community. This study will try to explore the change in the role of police, in a decade time-period post-Ayodhya, 1992 Gujarat and post-Godhra, 2002 Gujarat, came from the change in leadership within the same state. Chapter 1 of this study titled Police and Human rights in India, which shed light on the historical concept of human rights from its evolution and Indian condition of human rights in general as well as concept of police and policing in India.