The Vacation Bench of Justice B N Karia partly allowed Bajrangi’s bail plea by giving him seven days relief from jail against 30 days which he had sought.

Babubhai Patel alias Babu Bajrangi, Courtsey: The Indian Express

The Gujarat High Court on Thursday, October 27, three days ago,  granted seven days bail to Naroda Patiya convict Babu Bajrangi after he sought relief for treatment of his ailing wife. Just months ago, he had pleaded for lenient treatment because he reportedly stated he was going blind. This is the 14th time that Bajrangi, who is said to have lost his eyesight, has been granted interim bail, mostly on the ground of his own and his wife’s health.

The Vacation Bench of Justice B N Karia partly allowed Bajrangi’s bail plea by giving him seven days relief from jail against 30 days which he had sought. Earlier in May, Justice Karia had granted him bail for seven days on similar ground.

Interestingly, just four months ago, another bench of the Gujarat High Court, had, in June 2016, (the division bench of Justice Harsha Devani and Justice Biren Vaishnav) refused his temporary bail plea, stating, “A perusal of the jail record of the applicant reveals that he has undergone three years, seven months and two days of imprisonment. During the said period, the applicant had availed of temporary bail on as many as 13 occasions.”

While rejecting his plea, the bench had ordered, “Considering the period undergone and the number of times the applicant has availed of temporary bail, the court is not inclined to exercise discretion in favour of the applicant.” In February this year, the same bench had granted him seven days bail for treatment of his eyes.

Bajrangi, an ex-Bajrang Dal leader, was sentenced to life for his role in the Naroda Patiya massacre, along with former BJP minister Maya Kodnani and 29 others, in 2012.Last year, Bajrangi had sought mercy from the Gujarat governor through his wife. He had said that he has lost his eyesight and pleaded to be freed from the jail.

The Curious Case of Maya Kodnani's Bail
The bail applications of Maya Kodnani, once a minister in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat government, had taken curious turn in 2015. She first filed her plea for bail in February 2014. She was first refused bail by the Gujarat High Court and then, inexplicably, granted it by the same court in July 2014. Witness survivors, backed by Citizens for Justice and Peace, then filed a special leave petition challenged the judgement granting her bail. Despite this challenge by survivors backed by CJP to the granting of bail by the High Court, the Supreme Court did not reverse the High Court's decision.

 An elected representative in 2002, Kodnani was found guilty by a special court (set up by the Supreme Court) of not only being the kingpin in a conspiracy to launch a physical attack on sections of the minority populace in her constituency, but also of physical presence during the attack; eye witnsees testified to Kodnani instigating the mob at Naroda and even distributing of swords during the brutal attack on the morning of February 28, 2002. Officially, the charge-sheet said 96 persons were killed in Naroda Patiya. This was the single biggest massacre of 2002. The death count of the survivors and human rights groups is closer to 124.

Not long after, another round of drama began: attempts to speed up her appeal in the Gujarat High Court. One such bid in April 2015 year was objected to by survivors in the Supreme Court, as there were reservations about the manner in which the appeal was being rushed through. The Supreme Court listened and the hearing of the appeal was stayed for two months. Then on July 13, 2015 one of the two judges of the division bench assigned to begin hearing the case from that day recused himself, saying ‘not before me’.

Four months later, on July 15, 2015, yet again, there was a unexpected brake to efforts to push through an early hearing of the appeal.  A two-member bench of the Gujarat High Court, for the second time, recused itself from hearing appeals in the Naroda Patiya case. This time it was not a simple ‘not before me’. Justices MR Shah and KS Jhaveri stated in open court that while, under normal circumstances, reasons are not given by judges recusing themselves, this time they were constrained to state that some of the accused had approached them. This revealed how far the perpetrators of 2002 were and are ready to go to subvert justice. 

Historic Conviction
On August 29, 2012, a day that should be commemorated within India’s human rights movement, 32 persons were sentenced to life imprisonment in the Naroda Patiya case. Judge Jyotsna Yagnik, who delivered that verdict, has been threatened over the past one year (2015, 2016) and the security given to her, withdrawn. Twenty-nine accused people have filed appeals in the Gujarat High Court. This appeal is pending hearing. 

Related articles:
1. Judgement in the Naroda Patiya case 

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A Spark and the Blaze
On July 13, a 14-year old school girl belonging to the Maratha caste was brutally gang raped and murdered by allegedly four drunkards who belonged to a Dalit caste at Kopardi village in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, infamous otherwise for caste atrocities on the Dalits. All the four culprits were arrested almost immediately. The incident evoked the state wide condemnation as it deserved. But during the monsoon session of the assembly, leader of the opposition RadhakrishnaVikhe-Patil who comes from Ahmednagar stressed the caste angle and attributed the incident to the lack of protection (for Marathas) such as provided to the Dalits under the PoA Act. It was ludicrous, to say the least, as it suggested that the Marathas were vulnerable to atrocities by Dalits, and mischievous because his own district has had a shameful history of most infamous atrocities on the Dalits by the Marathas.

In recent years, a 17-year-old Dalit boy at Kharda in Jamkhed tehsil was brutally lynched to death in April 2014; in January 2013, three men of a family in Sonai village were murdered; in October 2014, three members of a Dalit family were killed at Javkheda; just to name a few of them. The Kopardi incident as such is an exception in terms of Maratha being a victim. 
Several protests and bandhs were observed across Ahmednagar district to demand the speedy arrest of and death penalty to the culprits. Several social and political organisations also staged protests. But after a month, the protests assumed a very different form and content under the banner of Maratha Kranti Morcha. The demand for speedy justice for the victim was overtaken by the demand for reservation for Marathas in education and jobs and repeal of the PoA Act. New demands like implementation of the Shiv Smarak in the Arabian Sea and taking back the Maharashtra Bhushan award from a Brahmin bard Babasaheb Purandare for allegedly insulting Jijamata, were added as demands. The people collected in hundreds of thousands and marched silently. No leader, no speeches and no slogans. Several such silent rallies have taken place, each being larger than the previous one; the last being planned with 100 lakh people at Mumbai. This novel way of the show of strength sans leader and sans organization has stunned political observers.

Politics of Silence

These silent rallies are supposedly supported by individual professionals like doctors, engineers, lawyers, etc., and are executed by the faceless youth who would not allow any established politician. But the sheer scale of them makes this theory unconvincing. News of some NCP politicians admitting logistical support has already been leaked. The people who conceived this form of struggle and maintain its integrity may not show up but they do exist. It is a very creative strategy that used the spark of Kopardi to create a blaze among the fragmented Marathas across parties. Its silence effectively communicated their anger and more importantly, it forged the consciousness of victimhood, which would be lasting political asset for the coming days. The violent protests that the Marathas normally resort to, priding on their warrior pedigree, could not have accomplished these objectives. Violent protests are not scaleable, replicable over the large areas, controllable and are prone to be repressed by the inimical government. This strategy, however, does not obviate the need for huge finance which is not possible without support of political parties.The party that backs it is the one that expects to benefit most.

The Marathas who are almost one third of Maharastrta’s population, are not a homogenous community. Historically they evolved from the farming caste of Kunbis who took to military service in medieval times and started assuming a separate identity for themselves. Even then they claimed a hierarchy of 96 clans. But the real differentiation has come from the post-independence development process, creating classes within the caste.

A tiny but very powerful section of elites that came to have control over cooperatives of sugar, banks; educational institutes, owning factories and politics, called gadhivarcha (topmost strata) Maratha, has its own political outfit in the NCP. The next section comprising relatively populous section of owners of land, distribution agencies, transporters, contracting firms, and controlling secondary cooperative societies, are the wadyavarcha (well-off strata) Maratha, is with the Congress and the BJP. And the third, comprising the balance of the population of small farmers, are the wadivarcha (lower strata) Maratha who is with Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), etc.

Enthused with the Patidar agitation that forced the removal of Anandiben Patel, the NCP that faced its worst humiliating defeat in the last election saw an opportunity to use Maratha anger over the Kopardi incident for mobilizing them through seemingly apolitical protests. The consolidation of the Marathas across strata is bound to benefit the NCP the most, which is seen as exclusively Maratha party. But other parties too, would imagine an enhancement in their vote share. Only the BJP has a big reason to worry, about likely erosion of its Maratha vote base and share because of the incumbency factor, and the fact of its chief minister being Brahmin, particularly in the short term: the impact on the forthcoming civic polls. It would hope to recover grounds partly through coalition partners like Shiv Sena and partly through the vote of Dalits due to their increased sense of insecurity.

Dalits themselves are a fragmented lot left with little political choice and hence may not be a significant factor. BJP has Athawale as its agent; Congress is complacent that Dalits would not see the Hindutva forces as their friends politically, and the other bunch, the rest  do not care a damn about Ambedkarite Dalits as it thinks that ‘other’ Dalits are with them.

Toxic Logic
The demand for reservation for the Marathas has been around since 1997. The government-first appointed committee under the retired judge R M Bapat, who had rejected granting them OBC status in its July 2008 report. The state government instead of rejecting or accepting that report appointed a new committee under the retired judge B P Saraf. Whatever happened to that committee is not known but the state government set up another special committee in the run up to the last elections headed by then minister for industry, Narayan Rane, himself a Maratha. Rane predictably recommended 16% reservation for the Marathas. The eager Congress-NCP government got it accepted by the cabinet and hurriedly issued an ordinance to ensure swift implementation. To its misfortune, the Bombay high Court stayed this decision when a public interest litigation (PIL),  objecting to the grant of OBC status to the Marathas, simply because total reservations in the state would go up to 73%, exceeding the limit set by the Supreme Court.     

The technicalities apart, the main argument of the Marathas is that the majority of them are backward. This argument is axiomatic, applicable to any caste or community including Brahmins and pricks at the logic of backwardness as the basis of reservations. It is true that majority of the Marathas are small land holders, and while taking pride in their socio-political dominance, have been neglected in access to education within the changing environment.

Over the years, with the mounting agrarian crisis, mainly due to neoliberal policies of the government, accentuated by the crop failures in Maharashtra in previous three seasons, they have experienced severe erosion of their status. In contrast, the Dalits who had little or no land, got educated following the leadership of Babasaheb Ambedkar and his sharp and repeated emphasis on getting educated before getting organized (shiksha, sanghatan aur sangharsh) got jobs and live a relatively secure life. The Marathas grudge this as their suppression of the Dalits no more remains unchallenged. They do not see that their elite (Marathas) who dominated the state power (12 out of 18 chief ministers of the state were Marathas), and the economy and educational sectors under their leadership is now responsible for their misery. As a community, they still own most lands (32% of Marathas owning in excess of 75% of land) and dominate all spheres of public life. They do know that it is not easy to establish themselves as a socially and educationally backward community to be included into the OBC. If they do, the OBCs who are already up in arms against them will agitate further. Therefore, they are subtly demanding scrapping of the entire reservation system itself.  And that seems to be their real agenda.

The other demand asking for the repeal of the PoA Act is a demand directly pitted against the Dalits and is not at all sustainable. The oft-repeated argument of its misuse based on acquittal(s) is self defeating. The fact is that the entire state apparatus is directly dominated by them, which has rendered this Act toothless in implementation as case after case reveals. The rest of the damage has been inflicted by the judiciary. The conviction still hovers around single digits within Maharashtra. These abysmal figures are testimony enough to see the impact (or lack of) this law. The very fact that the Dalit victim of atrocity, unless backed by their community, finds it impossible to get his/her complaint registered, shows up the argument of its misuse to be mischievous. There are, on the contrary, few cases where Marathas bigwigs have resorted to misusing this Act using some Dalit as a proxy to settle scores against their/his caste rival.
When the dominating community develops a grievance it could lead to systemic change provided it transcends its narrow community identity. If not, it could signal a civil war. One hopes that Maratha youth would avoid the latter.

(The article first appeared in the Economic and Political Weekly and is being reproduced here, with some editing, with the permission of the author)
 

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राजस्थान की पुलिस अब दलितों की हेयर स्टाइल भी तय करने लगी है। अगर कोई दलित ज्यादा फैशनेबल हेयर स्टाइल रखे मिलता है तो पुलिस उनका सिर मूंड़ देती है। वसुंधरा राजे की पुलिस लंबी मूँछ और बड़े बाल रखने की इजाजत देने को तैयार नहीं है।

दलितों के साथ हो रहे इस अमानवीय और अपमानजनक व्यवहार की शिकायत अलवर जिले के एसपी से की गई है। बहरोर के दलित कार्यकर्ताओं के संगठन मेघवाल समिति ने  मानधन पुलिस थाने के एसएचओ रवींद्र कविया की शिकायत की और बताया कि वे दलित युवकों को फैशन में हेयर स्टाइल रखे देखने पर उनकी पिटाई करता है और बाल मूँड़ देता है।

समिति के अध्यक्ष बनवारी लाल गोठवाल ने आरोप लगाया कि 28 सितंबर को चार दलित युवकों के साथ रवींद्र कविया ने ऐसा ही किया। ये युवक यो यो हनी सिंह की स्टाइल में बाल रखे थे। एक युवक की लंबी मूंछ भी एसएचओ को पसंद नहीं आई और उसने उसकी मूँछ भी काट दी।
बीएड के छात्र रोहित ने बताया कि 19 सितंबर को उसे भी एसएचओ ने रोक लिया। उस समय वह अपने मित्र के घर से लौट रहा था। एसएचओ को रोहित के मित्र दीवान की मूँछ पसंद नहीं आई और उसे वह पीटता हुआ पुलिस थाने ले गया और वहाँ उसकी और पिटाई की तथा मूँछ कटवा दी।

एक और बीएड छात्र जयपाल के भी बाल 24 सितंबर को पुलिस थाने में कटवा दिए गए।

यहाँ तक कि हेयर ड्रेसरों से भी कहा गया है कि वे दलितों के बाल यो यो हनी सिंह या किसी अन्य स्टार की स्टाइल में न काटें। हेयर ड्रेसर सैफ अली ने तो पुलिस के डर से एक माह से अपनी दुकान तक नहीं खोली है।

एसपी से शिकायत के बाद अब एसएचओ कविया अपने ऊपर लगे आरोपों को बेबुनियाद बता रहा है। हिंदुस्तान टाइम्स से उसने कहा कि वह इलाके के समाज विरोधी तत्वों पर कड़ाई कर रहा है जिस वजह से उसके खिलाफ शिकायत की जा रही है।
 
 

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Photo Courtesy: Indian Express

VADODARA: Vadodara, sensitive from having had several bouts of communal violence, was witness to one more as clashes erupted at Kotiyarknagar near Panigate on Sunday,October 2, Gandhi Jayanti, compelling the police to open fire in air. The conflict began when the Muharram Tazia procession was attacked: a brick was hurled at the processionists. Teargas shells were lobbed to disperse the mobs that gathered after a man was stabbed on Waghodia Road on Sunday afternoon.

The city has seen a series of incidents since Septmeber 29, that is over four days. One person was reportedly stabbed in Champaner Gate even as the city police struggled to maintain peace in the communally sensitive areas that have been witnessing rioting since last Thursday. Two more SRPF companies were deployed to contain the situation, police said. The administration then tried to control matters by blocking internet services but this too did ot work.

Communal violence had erupted in Yakutpura, Panjrapole, Fatehpura and Kumbharvada on Thursday after some derogatory posts about a religion were put on social networking site Facebook. The police department's step of suspending mobile internet services and bulk text messages didn't help much as riots kept spreading from one area to other on Saturday night. City police commissioner, E Radhakrishna had cited rumour-mongering as the reason behind suspending mobile internet services. With police struggling to quell riots, Director General of Police P C Thakur had to rush to the city and hold a meeting with senior police officials, the Times of India reported.

Thakur was forced to hold a meeting at 2am near Mandvi Gate in the city. While situation appeared normal on Sunday morning, when trouble began in Kotiyarknagar in noon when Shailesh Rajput, a tea-vendor was stabbed at Kala Darshan crossroads. Rajput was stabbed in the back by some unidentified persons who came on a motorbike. He was rushed to SSG Hospital and admitted to the ICU.

Soon after, mobs belonging to both predominant communities gathered at Kotiyarknagar and started pelting stones. Policemen fired one round in air and lobbed teargas shells to disperse the mob. Tension prevailed in Wadi, Fatehpura, Yakutpura and Gendigate.State finance minister Nitin Patel also rushed to the city and attended a peace committee meeting organized by the police department. "We have identified persons involved in rioting and the process to arrest the accused is on. We have formed several teams to investigate the cases and nab the accused," Radhakrishnan told TOI.

According to eye witnesses speaking to the Times of India, stone pelting ensued after a brick was hurled at a Tazia procession undertaken by local Muslims near Koyali Faliya area of Fatehpura in the walled city. Soon, groups from both communities came face to face and attacked each other.
 
Several units of the city police also rushed to the site to calm the situation. A senior officer said, “The incident occurred after 10:30 pm when a Tazia procession was passing close to a Hindu neighbourhood. Locals claim that a miscreant hurled a brick at the procession and the misunderstanding led to a clash. However, due to prompt police action and heavy rains simultaneously, the crowds dispersed and the situation was brought under control.”
 
 

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Daily newspaper Kashmir Reader said on Sunday said that the Jammu and Kashmir government had ordered a ban on its publication, after passing an order saying it "tends to incite acts of violence". The ban on the newspaper was also reported by CNN-News18.

The paper said that five policemen had visited the Kashmir Reader's offices directing the printer, publisher and owner to issue them an order from the Srinagar District Magistrate telling them to stop publishing.

"On the basis of credible inputs it has been observed that the daily newspaper namely Kashmir Reader published within the jurisdiction of district Srinagar contains such material and content which tends to incite acts of violence and disturb public peace and tranquility,” said the order, according to a post on the Kashmir Reader's website.

The post included a scanned copy of this order, which also says, "it has been observed that the contents published in the above Newspaper is of such nature that can easily cause incitement of acts of violence and disturbance of public tranquillity in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and Srinagar District in particular."

Hilal Mir, editor of the newspaper, said, “The government first needs to tell us how we are inciting violence.”

He added: "They have said it is banned till further orders. So they can revoke order themselves, if better sense prevails. We will obviously contest the ban but we are exploring how.”

It was Kashmir Reader that had carried stories on Kashmiri students being beaten up in Haryana last week. 

References:
Kashmiri Students Beaten Up in Haryana 

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