LEGALLY SPEAKING: When will anti-Sikh riot victims get justice?

LEGALLY SPEAKING: When will anti-Sikh riot victims get justice?
4 May 2009, 0221 hrs IST, Dhananjay Mahapatra

"Right from the inception of the judicial system, it has been accepted that discovery, vindication and establishment of truth are the main purposes
underlying the existence of the courts of justice." The Supreme Court made this the cornerstone of its recent judgment directing fast-tracking of trials in key Gujarat riot cases.

This followed its earlier order asking the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe alleged roles of chief minister Narendra Modi and many others, then at the helm of affairs, in presiding over the 2002 communal pogrom.

In the judgment ordering day-to-day trial in Gujarat riot cases, Justice Arijit Pasayat noticed a disturbing phenomenon taking root in the minds of general public, which was nicely put by Jonathan Swift in his `Essay on the Faculties of Mind' -- "Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through."

Because of the continuous monitoring of the Gujarat riot cases by the SC, the alleged perpetrators are all set to face trial. But, can the same be said of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases? Have the `wasps and hornets', who after the assassination of Indira Gandhi organised mobs to butcher innocent Sikhs in broad daylight, broken through the judicial cobwebs weakened by the shoddy probe and prosecution.

Rajiv Gandhi, who took over as prime minister, was possibly caught unawares about the pogrom unleashed by the wasps and hornets who stung repeatedly till those at the helm of affairs finally called the Army, but not before allowing the dance of death to continue for full two days in November 1984.

The sentiments of Sikhs, cowering under the ferocity of the communal riot, dipped further when Rajiv, again unaware of the consequences of his statement, said, "When a mighty tree falls, it is only natural that the earth around it does shake a little."

Whether the earth shook or not, one thing is sure -- the families of victims are still, nearly 25 years later, awaiting a little shaking of the justice delivery system to bring to book the `wasps and hornets'.

The first of the nine Commissions of Inquiry that probed the 1984 anti-Sikh riots was headed by Justice Ranganath Mishra, who later became a member of Parliament. Justice Mishra conducted proceedings away from the media glare in closed rooms. His report, made public six months after it was submitted, found none guilty. The last one, headed by Justice G T Nanavati, pointed a needle of suspicion against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, who recently got a clean chit from the CBI.

After a quarter of a century, can something be done now to bring perpetrators of anti-Sikh riots, the brutality of which was matched by the communal mob in 2002 in Gujarat, to justice?

Justice Pasayat quoted a 1846 judgment of one of the most respected English judges, Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce, who had said, "Truth, like all other good things, may be loved unwisely, may be pursued too keenly, may cost too much."

But, is the nation not ready to pay every cost to wipe off a sense of betrayal from a generation by bringing to book the wasps and hornets? Can the Supreme Court help? Can it use the Gujarat experience as a judicial yardstick to provide complete justice?

with thanks: Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/LEGALLY-SPEAKING-When-will-anti-Sikh-riot-victims-get-justice/articleshow/4479397.cms

SikhsIndia
www.sohnijodi.com