[Reader-list] JOINT STATEMENT ON TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE IN BATHANITOLA JUDGEMENT for endorsement

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*JOINT STATEMENT ON TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE IN BATHANITOLA JUDGEMENT*



We are deeply distressed and shocked at the judgment of Patna High Court
(Bihar) on 16th April 2012 acquitting the upper caste/feudal murderers of
the ghastly Bhatanitola Massacre in 1996. This is not only a severe
miscarriage of justice but a massacre of the very notion of justice. Thus
it is akin to the judicial massacre of the poor dalits and muslims of
Bathanitola. This Patna High Court judgment not only makes a mockery of the
lofty slogans of the Indian ruling classes like dignity , democracy, human
rights, justice right to life and dignity but also shamelessly exposes the
class/caste biasness of various organs of the Indian State including the
judiciary. The upper caste landlord, contractor, mafia, bureaucracy,
police, and political executive nexus is quite evident.



On 11th April 1996 Ranveer Sena, the private army of the upper caste
landlords cold bloodily murdered 21 people poor dalits and muslims in
Bathanitola in Bhojpur distict, Bihar. 3 toddlers (one of them only 3
months old), 6 children, 11 women were cruelly butchered by the Ranvir Sena
.



This barbaric massacre was done in broad daylights in the presence of a
large contingent of police; this clearly indicates the nexus between police
and upper caste landlords in Bihar. The day after this ghastly massacre
Kisun Choudhary registered a FIR in Sahar Police Station against 33 people
involved in the massacre. In 2010 the Ara Sessions Court  has convicted 23
people for this massacre sentencing three to death and 20 to life
imprisonment. But the Patna High Court has overturned the conviction and
acquitted all the accused.



The fact that, 16 years after this massacre not a single person stands
convicted for the brutal and barbaric slaughter of innocents, raises
disturbing questions about whether the oppressed and the poor victims of
massacres can expect justice in our courts.



It is relevant that the massacre was preceded by a series of attacks and a
campaign of open terror against the people of Bhathani Tola by the Ranveer
Sena, which enjoyed the support of several powerful politicians and
parties. In spite of repeated intimations and appeals to the district
police and administration no preventive action was taken. When the blood
bath played out for hours and the mob of perpetrators used swords and guns
to butcher people and set fire to homes, the police remained a mute and
passive spectator. This complicity of the police and administration within
the perpetrators continued after the massacre, leading to the weakening of
the case against the accused, as noted by the Patna High Court. Shamefully,
the three police eye witnesses to the massacre deposed in court as witness
for the defense.



The verdict of the Patna High Court, acquitting the butchers of Bathanitola
has shaken our faith in the judiciary and blatantly exposed its class/caste
prejudice in this case.



In the past, respected judges of various courts have given similar verdicts
of the cases of large scale massacres. In the decades of 1980s and 1990s
many dreaded private armies of the upper castes, such as Brhmarshi Sena,
Satyendra Sena, Savarna Libration front, Sunlight Sena, and Ranveer Sena
had committed dozens of massacres. The victims of these massacres were the
poor dalits and some of the most backward sections of the society. For
example, the Ranveer Sena alone killed 116 people (with a large fraction of
them being women and children) in 3 massacres of Laksmanpur Bathe (1997)
Shankar Bigha (1999) and Miya Pur (2000).



The nexus between upper caste landlords, police and the judiciary is
evident not only in the recent acquittal of the butchers of Bathanitola but
also the acquittal of dreaded upper caste gangsters in the past. Ranveer
Sena’s head Bramheshwar Singh had personally led over a dozen such
massacres in Bhojpur, Jahanbad, Gaya and Aurangabad districts. He even
admitted to his role to the police and the media. Even then he was released
from prison in July 2010. Similarly, the head of the Savarna Liberation
Front Ramadhar Singh alias Diamond, was also acquitted by the court. It
should be noted that Savarna Liberation Front was directly responsible for
brutal killings in Sawan Bigha (Jahanabad) and Main–Barsimha (Gaya). At
present, most of the leaders of these criminal gangs have either been
acquitted or granted very nominal punishment by the courts.



With immense anxiety and concern we underline the oppressive class/caste
nature of the Indian state and its various organs like police, bureaucracy,
and judiciary. Right to life, dignity and equality have proved to be a joke
since the day one these rights were proclaimed by the constitution.



For decade we have been watching with horror the anti poor, dalit, women,
minority judgments of various courts in India. Some glaring  example are
like the Tamil Nadu High Court verdict in the Kilve mani massacre of 1969,
which had found it astonishing and difficult to believe that rich men,
owning vast extents of land, one of whom even possessed a car, could be
guilty of burning alive 42 dalits. In the Bhawnri Devi case the learned
judges of Rajasthan had said how upper caste men  can rape a lower caste
women like Bhawnri Devi. The Durg Sessions Court had convicted Paltan
Mallah and the owner of Simplex group for the murder of Shankar Guha Niyogi
but the Jabalpur High Court let them scott off. The class and caste
character of the Indian Judiciary is crystal clear.  On one hand while the
perpetrators of Bhathanitola massacred are acquitted, on other hand the
Indian State has witnessed brutal repression on the struggle poor like the
Adivasi, dalits, minorities, women and oppressed nationalities. To sell of
the natural resources to the national and international big business the
Indian state has brutally launched Operation Green Hunt against the poorest
of the poor who are struggling to save their land, forest, water, mines,
dignity and livelihood.



We are watching with horror thousands of encounter deaths, torture,
custodial rapes from Kashmir to North East and from Jangal Mahal to the
forests of Odisha, Chhhatisgarh and Jharkhand. What happened to Soni Sori
in police custody is a chilling reminder of this reality.



We condemn the blatant class and caste prejudice of the Bathanitola
judgment and appeal to all the sensitive sections of the society to raise
their voice against it.



*STUDENTS   FOR   RESISTENCE-  DELHI*

*INDIAN SOCIAL ACTION FORUM- (INSAF)*

Chittaranjan Singh-               National organising secretary PUCL

Arjun Prasad Singh-             PDFI

Ajit Jha-                              Samajwadi  Jan Parishad

Kiran Shaheen-                    Media Action Group, Delhi

Vijay Pratap-                        Socialist Front / Lok Rajnitik Manch

Kamayani Bali Mahabal-       Lawyer, Activist Mumbai

Nayan Jyoti-                        Krantikari Naujawan Sabha

Sourav Banerjee-                  Bigul Mazdoor Dasta

Sunil Kumar-                        Pragatishil Mazdoor union, Delhi

P.K. Sundaram-                    Research Scholar JNU

Mohamed Usman-                Research Scholar JNU

Anand Krisna Raj-                 Research Scholar JNU

Rashid Ali                            Independent Film Maker, Delhi

Shah Alam-                          Independent Film  Maker, Delhi

Shahnaz Malek-                    Armaan Mahila Sanghathan, Ahmedabad

Asit Das-                              Writer Activist, Delhi





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