SHOULD NOT THE SUPREME COURT of India, which is known for having taken suo motu cognisance of matters of great public interest in the past, have responded by this time? Being seized of the matter, the SC is legally and constitutionally expected to take prompt action against those the exposé has unmasked. It could even have recommended the dissolution of the Gujarat government under Article 86(2), read with Article 356(1), of the Constitution of India for the failure of the state’s constitutional machinery, in case there is no immediate action ordered against the accused this sting has exposed.

Muslim leaders and all those who sympathise with the victims should move the SC with prayers that:

• In view of the large-scale complicity of the Gujarat police and administration in these crimes, as revealed in the TEHELKA exposé, the entire matter should be
handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The CBI should also be directed to seek necessary sanctions from the appropriate authorities under Section 197 of the CRPC for initiating criminal proceedings against accused public servants.

• The SC should order the arrest of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, former Minister of State for Home Gordhan Zadaphia, MLA Haresh Bhatt, former Police Commissioner PC Pandey, vHP and Bajrang Dal activists Rajendra Vyas and Babu Bajrangi, government counsel Arvind Pandya etc. After all, this is how murderers and their accomplices all over India are treated under criminal law for cognisable, non-bailable offences.

• After filing this petition if the SC does not take prompt action against these persons, proceedings of criminal contempt should be initiated against the presiding judge/judges under Section 16 of the Contempt of Court Act, in their court itself for their self-trial.

When the perpetrators of such heinous crimes are allowed to remain free by law, it greatly demoralises the public. This is what ensures the electoral victory of such persons as Narendra Modi who not only handsomely won the post-riot polls in 2002, but also campaigned for the BJP in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where the party won precisely on the plank of such aggressive Hindutva. If the people TEHELKA has exposed are not punished, then all those who are shedding crocodile tears over this investigation can expect to see Narendra Modi in power again with a resounding victory in the coming Gujarat elections, for the simple reason that this time the voters will hold Modi in still greater awe.

Any one of these — the President of India, the Governor of Gujarat, the Chief Justice of Gujarat, the Government of India and the Parliament (by calling a special session) could have initiated action in this case. But, alas, that was not to be! Or is this precisely the way Hindu-majority “secular” India subdues Muslims, by turning a blind eye to their State-sponsored massacre?

With the benefit of hindsight, it now appears that India in 1947 should not have promised Muslims that they would be protected and treated at par with Hindus.

Rather, it should have asked Muslims to go to Pakistan after Partition, if this is the conduct secular India’s various constitutional authorities intended to adopt.

Hem Raj Jain, New Delhi