Letters

Judiciary’s ‘FAtwas’
Some judges in both India's High Courts and Supreme Court are behaving like the fundamentalist mullahs who claim to be above law and issue 'fatwas' commanding their followers to behead Muslim dissidents (e.g. the threat against Salman Rushdie). The latest example of a similar 'fatwa' type arbitrary judgment by the apex court and its implementation by a collaborative administration is the beheading of Afzal Guru, against whom the prosecution failed to prove its allegation of his direct participation in the terrorist attack on Parliament. The judge who sentenced him to death, justified the sentence by asserting that it was necessary to satisfy the 'collective conscience' of the Indian people—an argument that goes against the very tenets of law. There is a need to organize a mass campaign against these members of the judiciary, demanding the setting up of an independent tribunal to examine their judgment and seek ways and means whether they can be brought to trial for culpable homicide. Needless to say, such a campaign should also take note of the role of the President who rejected the mercy petition, and the Home Ministry officials who concealed the date of the execution of Afzal Guru from the public and his relatives (thus preventing them from approaching the judiciary for reconsideration on the ground of inordinate delay between the passing of the death sentence and its implementation—a ground which allowed the alleged assassins of Rajiv Gandhi a reprieve from execution). No one can escape accountability—however important they may be.

It is about time that human rights activists, lawyers, social activists—as well as judges who still adhere to the norms of strict juridical impartiality—put their heads together and chart out a programme for the cleansing of the judiciary of judges who are corrupt, and biased in favour of, or in opposition to one community or another. A mass campaign for the reformation of the Indian judiciary on these lines is urgent to prevent a repetition of the miscarriage of justice that people witnessed in the case of Afzal Guru.
Sumanta Banerjee, Dehradun

Hyderabad blasts
Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee (CLMC) strongly condemns the blasts which took place in Dilsukh Nagar area of Hyderabad .It is an inhuman act and it should be seen as crime against humanity. This committee expresses its grief and conveys its solidarity with families of victims of these blasts. It is a matter of deep concern that state administration and its agencies completely failed to maintain law and order situation and to curb the anti-social elements who are involved in this blasts strike from time to time.

This Committee demands Govt. to investigate bomb blasts cases in fair manner by keeping in view all the angels so that real criminals should be brought to book.

This Committee strongly believes that present political situation in Andhra Pradesh is so bad that anything gruesome would have been expected. Whenever a political turmoil occur in Congress Party this kind of horrific incidents do get crop up.

One thing can be said clearly that due to these blasts mind of general public is being diverted from the real important issues. Separate Telangana movement which was going to be started from 24th February by "Sadak bund" has suffered a big setback.

CLMC urged media to be sensitive in reporting the blasts, halt their self investigation and stop targeting a particular community in their media room trail. CLMC strongly condemns irresponsible reporting of media quoting unnamed Intelligence sources jumping to conclusions.This kind of reporting is also an act of terror which is aimed at targeting muslim community.
Lateef Mohd Khan
General Secretary, CLMC

Frontier
Vol. 45, No. 34, Mar 3-9, 2013

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