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Editorial
Subverting the course of justice
 Now
that the decibel level about killer leaders Jagdish Tyter and Sajjan
Kumar has come down a few notches, it is time to reflect on what was
the real problem this time around. For 25 years, the Sikh community
has been watching the shenanigans of the Indian nation state and its
justice dispensing system. For 25 years, it has watched its own
leaders bartering away the community's interests. For 25 years, it
has watched the Akali Dal or the SGPC not showing any particular
exasperation over the injustice being meted out to the victims of
the 1984 pogroms.
Jagdish Tytler
and Sajjan Kumar got the tickets in 2004 too. Both won. Tytler was
made even a Union Minister, that too under a Sikh Prime Minister.
But there was not the kind of agitation that the country saw in the
last few days.
What then had
changed? Were the exasperation levels at some kind of a threshold
that has been crossed? Did the shoe make the difference?
It is time we
pay attention to why this turn came about.
Hundreds of
thousands of victims of pogroms, riots, crime, accidents, petty
fights, financial frauds and government apathy knock at the doors of
justice in India for decades. New Delhi has been deaf, dumb and
blind to the plight of millions of dalits and rank poor. India's
tribals have been forced to live a life of subsistence and surviving
on the edge of despair. But this kind of agitation comes along once
in a while.
It comes along
when people refuse to let go of blatantism that is a challenge to
their deprived selves. Jarnail Singh’s shoe was about as relevant to
the issue as a slogan shouted by the many agitators in Punjab or in
the streets of Delhi. They have been doing so for years. The shoe
and the protests worked this time because the damage was done by the
CBI.
That was the
real issue this time.
The CBI's report
to the magistrate’s court that no case could be made out about the
involvement of Tytler or Sajjan Kumar was blatantism. The CBI had
actually submitted such a report in November 2007. But even after
the eyewitness accounts of Jasbir Singh and Surinder Singh who had
seen Tytler exhorting his followers to kill Sikhs and burn a
gurdwara were presented to the court, and even after the court's
directive to the CBI to re-examine the entire case, the CBI remained
adamant and simply chose to be deaf, dumb and blind to the reality.
Clearly, it was
being used. Misused.
The victims of
such misuse of the CBI have not only been the Sikhs. If Manmohan
Singh has said he was not consulted on this matter, he is most
likely to be believed by many people. Even by many Sikhs. Perhaps
rightly so. The man has little record of telling unnecessary lies.
that cannot be said of those who also have a major say in his
government. Besides, the justice dispensing machinery in India is
subverted by the vested interests at every level.
The lesson that
the Sikhs must learn from the episode is that they need to multiply
their force with other engaged forums in fighting against those who
subvert the processes that can ensure the rule of law. Our
community's anger must not die down after Sajjan Kumar or Tytler are
withdrawn. It must now focus on all those who exposed themselves.
What about the CBI Director who said he told no one because this was
a report the court wanted, and so it was submitted in a “routine”
manner.
The truth is
that the system is subverted at the
thana
level to the PMO. It is time we understand what kind of ruling
forces give patronage to such a system, and work towards launching
the real big fight.
22
April 2009
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