[Reader-list] Fwd: If Pakistan bans JuD, we should demand banning of saffron outfits

[Prem Chandavarkar]

Is it not important to differentiate between banning an organisation versus
recognising the importance of the due process of law?  If someone has
committed a crime of terrorism (or any other crime for that matter), then we
should have the legal system to ensure that the person is prosecuted and
punished after receiving a fair trial.  It is our unwillingness to insist on
a proper standard here that is the problem.  Perhaps in one sense we have
set a reasonable standard in the fact that we are also prosecuting the
terrorism of the majority community, as in the Malegaon case (and let us
also remember that according to due process of law the accused must be
presumed innocent until proven guilty).  But that is one case, and there are
too many other cases where we have just looked the other way.  Raj
Thackeray's recent antics in Mumbai, the 2002 riots in Gujarat, the 1992/93
riots in Mumbai, the Babri Masjid demolition, the 1984 Delhi riots: all
these incidents and more are cases of violent actions that are blatantly
illegal, done in full public view and largely captured by cameras.  Yet we
do not have a will to prosecute the perpetrators.  We do not seem to be
bothered by the fact that there has been little attempt to upgrade the
judicial apparatus to deal with the large volumes of cases.  We seem to have
accepted the pervasive corruption that impedes any significant
professionalism and public accountability in governance.  We do not make a
noise about a largely unprofessional and politicised police force that
routinely indulges in preventive detention and custodial torture.  We do not
make a noise about the poor standard of human rights embodied by the Indian
state, particularly in dealing with insurgency in Kashmir, the North East
and in parts of central India.

If we bypass these systemic issues and jump immediately into passing
judgement, then we get trapped in the endless subjectivies foregrounded in
this discussion thread so far, and many other discussions on this list.
Perhaps we would be better served if all the members of this list
collectively resolved to refrain from passing judgement, and instead devoted
effort towards broader systemic issues such as the standards of inclusive
ethics and justice that should guide our actions, and the institutional and
political structures that we should demand to achieve this aim.