[Reader-list] fwd:An Open Letter to Hon'ble Prime Minister

[Rakesh Iyer]

Hi to all

The forum now seems to be a way of glorification and vilification of ideas
and ideologies, which is fine provided there is a rationale based on such
extremist attributes being given to the posts. Anyways, as per different
cultures, including the Indian one, extremeness of anything is considered to
be bad.

Regarding this case, I have read some of the reports in 'The Hindu', and
from what it seems, there is a lack of legal understanding among those who
don't believe in the report, as well as those who believe in the report, up
to a certain extent. And on top of that, this extremeness in attitude is not
going to help any cause of knowing the truth and the correct facts as well.

Ishrat Jehan, the girl whose encounter has created a storm, was aspiring to
become a teacher when this encounter happened. Ironically, this encounter
happened on June 15, 2004. The man considered to be responsible for this
encounter is D.G. Vanzara, which has also resulted in allegations and
attacks on Narendra Modi, because Vanzara is attributed to be close to Modi,
and is considered to have significant political and financial clout. (There
are allegations of corruption against Vanzara as well). Vanzara has already
been in the eye of the storm created over another (proved) fake encounter,
the Sohrabuddin case, which created further controversy when Modi mentioned
it in one of his speeches, which seemed in complete disrepect and
contravention to the SC verdict in this case, of considering it fake. What
one also forgets here, is that there was also the fake encounter killing of
Prajapati, another criminal who was taken and murdered in cold blood, in
addition to Sohrabuddin and Kausar-Bi, so this may not necessarily be a case
of targetting only Muslims necessarily, it goes way beyond that to put
police as the biggest gunda or thug of the society.

The problem in all this is actually the central govt. affidavit, which
states that Jehan is a member of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, the dreaded
organization supposed to have engineered terror attacks within the country
on numerous occasions, like the Parliament attacks and the Akshardham temple
attack. This is ironical because this is a Congress-led govt, and the
encounter was carried out, as stated by a Gujarat minister (Mr. Vyas), on
the basis of information received from the central intelligence agencies.

Another issue which has been raised is that the inquiry by the Metropolitan
Magistrate, can't be acceptable because not only has the High Court
instituted an inquiry into the case by constituting a SIT (special
investigation team) for a fresh inquiry (and hence the matter is
sub-judice), but also because the Metropolitan Magistrate had no business in
inquiring into the matter. Mr. Vyas, who raised this issue, probably forgot
that it was an amendment to the Cr. PC that gave the authority to the
Metropolitan Magistrates to hold inquiry into cases which were unnatural
(like this police encounter). (as per Hindu report).

What is interesting is that the report was prepared within 25 days, which is
a kind of record for a country where judicial and inquiry reports fail to
see the light of the day, and even if they are submitted, are never made
public.

I feel instead of the High Court instituting an SIT and then the matter
going round and round again, the High Court should first find out if the
report is fine or if it is of a dubious nature. If the latter turns out to
be true, then of course the SIT must be allowed. Otherwise, allowing SIT to
inquire is simply a wasteful expenditure of the public money.

Most importantly, a magistrate inquiry is not enough, what needs to be seen
is whether it has substantial evidence to prosecute those who were involved
in the act. And if yes, then there needs to be an apology from the Gujarat
Govt., infact from Modi himself (in whose protection's name, the encounter
was conducted). On the other hand, I think blaming Modi for all the ills may
also be far-fetched, for there is no substantial proof to prove that Vanzara
did all he could because Modi protected him, unless one has minutes of a
meeting or recordings where Modi shouted down the idea of not protecting
Vanzara from the crimes he committed.

Here I would like to remind all those who are classifying Modi as wrong, the
injustice which can be perpetrated by the idea of perceptions. One shouldn't
go by perceptions, because it can be dangerous. Don't forget that the VHP
perceives Muslims as traitors, which is why anti-Muslim propaganda is one of
its major contributions to the Indian society post-independence. That too is
based on perception. Should that too be accepted?

The BJP protests against Valentine's day based on its perception that
westernization of society is a sin. That too is based on a perception. Is
that acceptable?

Perceptions do form, and they do change with time as well, but as far as
possible, they must be based on rational decision making and facts which are
proven, which are there before the public. Blaming Modi without any evidence
is not going to solve any problem, particularly when Modi himself enjoys
being portrayed as a victim to win on the basis of sympathy votes, which
further leads to more distance amongst those who believe him and those who
don't. All this hatred amongst ourselves just for a leader whom we may have
not even met in our lives. Is this what we have come up to as human beings?

What is important is getting the truth about Ishrat as well as others, two
of whom the Indian govt. claims, are Pakistani citizens. Are they Pakistanis
really, or is there something fishy going on? That has to be analyzed. And
that can't be done by glorifying Modi or villifying Modi. That has to be
done by thorough debates and discussions on the report, both in public and
in the court. Let the truth come out, that's the major issue, not Modi or no
Modi.

Regards

Rakesh