Law and order getting lynched by groups
Two gruesome incidents that can cost India its name have occurred in Delhi and Maharashtra. While the first incident shows the country still seeped in superstition, the second one shows the denigrating law and order system of this country.
Eleven members of a family, including seven women have ended their lives in Delhi. All their bodies were found in the state they had hung themselves. All of them have followed a similar thought and operation process. The whole incident is very mysterious. Books relating to black magic and supernatural powers were found in the house. They all probably died with the hope that some divine superpower would save them at the last minute. The family not only firmly believed in god, but also had great interest in paranormal practices. Either one of them has killed every one and ended his own life; or all of them ended their lives by their own will. Investigations have pointed fingers towards such truths. The family was well educated. If such families have to fall prey to ending lives seeking divine powers, it shows that people still live in the illusion of superstition.
Television channels broadcast programmes relating to paranormal techniques or such practices for higher TRP. They also evoke fear and sense of uncertainty among people. Faith is different from blind belief in superstition. But here, both seem to have been mixed up. This incident has taken place owing to those who thought they’d make everything work to save them. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened.
Everyone including media, politicians and industrialists are guilty of perpetuating this belief. They keep following false gods to fulfil their greed, and this mislead innocent people. Agents of superstition such as black magic and voodoo practitioners, self proclaimed gods, vaastu experts and other perpetuate such unsubstantiated beliefs. For them, it is mere business. But for people, it is the only lifeline they hang from.
Faith in god should save us, instead of finishing us off. Such beliefs never take us to god. In such cases, it is better being an atheist than a believer. Today, government is directly involved in propagating such beliefs. Every politician follows a swamiji who dictates his life like a remote controller.
All their faith is to clinch power during this lifetime, and not for some spiritual realization. This could be the failure of our education system too that it couldn’t create awareness. The incident in north Delhi is a testimony of this. Our education couldn’t convince people that their search of Jihad is similar to this and it does not lead to heaven at all. While we speak against Jihadis, we also need to address this issue of blackmagic through the language of law.
In the recent times, a lady had severed her tongue to earn the affection of her goddess. One would wonder who gave her this impression that her god would be pleased with this. If those people are not punished, their numbers will increase with passing time. Though a war has been waged against superstition, intellectuals didn’t invest themselves in this to ensure it was implemented. The government isn’t willing to admit self proclaimed babas harm the image of this country more than anything else because government is caught in their web.
In another incident, five people have been beaten to death by mobs which assumed they were child traffickers. This happened in Dhule in Maharashtra. While people are unabatedly engaging themselves in such rumour based crime, assumed to be a ‘quasi government’ by themselves, gau rakshaks have also ruined things for worse. They work like police force with no hesitation of being caught doing wrong. They are responsible for new found appetite for human blood powered by technology. A lot of people have died owing to this and even more lives would be lost soon. Gau rakshaks work as an inspiration to many what with their power structure and privileges they enjoy.
These assaults cleverly employ the loopholes in legal system to carry out with their lynching. Most of the times, it is their communal feeling that pushes them into such behaviour. Most of the migrant laborers have been victims of their sporadic violence and they are usually dalits. The mobs know killing someone in a group can help them escape punishment. While superstition is claiming lives, on the other, communal forces are killing people by giving their verdict by spreading rumours and egging people on through unsubstantiated whatsapp forwards that have ended many lives by now. If central home minister prefers to maintain silence and not open his mouth to condemn it, even cops may lose their lives at the hands of such vilified forces.
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'Even Ajmal Kasab was given a fair trial': SC remarks in Yasin Malik case
New Delhi, Nov 21: Even Ajmal Kasab was given a fair trial in our country, the Supreme Court on Thursday remarked and indicated it may set up a courtroom inside Tihar Jail for the trial of J&K separatist leader Yasin Malik in a kidnapping case.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih was hearing a CBI plea against the September 20, 2022 order of a Jammu trial court that directed Malik, serving life term in Tihar jail, to be produced before it physically to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses in the kidnapping case of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of politician Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
The bench, however, remarked, "How will cross-examination be done online? There is hardly any connectivity in Jammu... In our country, a fair trial was given even to Ajmal Kasab and legal assistance was given to him in the high court."
Kasab, the lone Pakistani gunman caught alive after the Mumbai terror attack, was hanged till death at the Yerawada Central Prison .
The bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, to take instructions on the total number of witnesses in the case.
Mehta pointed out security concerns and said Malik couldn't be taken to Jammu for the trial.
The law officer accused Malik of "playing tricks" for having asked to appear personally and not engaging a lawyer. Mehta said Malik was not an ordinary criminal and showed a purported photograph of Malik sharing the dais with terrorist Hafiz Saeed.
The top court said it could order trial to take place inside the jail premises and ask the judge to come to the national capital for the proceedings.
The bench, however, noted all the accused persons in the matter had to be heard before it passes an order.
Mehta said Malik appearing in the Supreme Court physically raised security concerns previously.
The bench said Malik could be allowed to appear virtually in the apex court proceedings and posted the matter on November 28.
The CBI in the meantime was directed to amend its petition and implead all accused persons as respondents.
In 2023, Mehta wrote to then Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla flagging a "serious security lapse" after Malik was brought to the Supreme Court to appear in a case.
Malik, serving life sentence in a terror-funding case, was brought to the high-security apex court premises in a prison van escorted by armed security personnel without the court's permission.
Expressing surprise at his presence, Mehta informed the apex court there was a procedure for high-risk convicts to be allowed into the courtroom to argue their case personally.
The CBI said Malik, the top leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was a threat to national security and cannot be allowed to be taken outside the Tihar jail premises.
The apex court on April 24, 2023, issued notices on the CBI's appeal following which the incarcerated JKLF chief wrote a letter to the registrar of the Supreme Court on May 26, 2023 seeking permission to appear in person to plead his case.
An assistant registrar took up his request on July 18, 2023 and said the apex court would pass necessary orders -- a decision the Tihar Jail authorities reportedly misconstrued to allow Malik to appear and argue his case.
Mehta referred to the CBI's contention in its appeal against the trial court order to bring Malik to Jammu for the in-person examination of the witnesses in the kidnapping case, and said under Section 268 of the CrPC a state government may direct certain people to not be shifted from the confines of a prison.
On September 20, 2022, a special TADA court in Jammu directed Malik to be physically produced before it on the next hearing for him to cross-examine prosecution witnesses in the kidnapping case.
The CBI challenged the trial court order before the Supreme Court as appeals in TADA cases are only heard by the top court.
Rubaiya was abducted near Lal Ded Hospital in Srinagar on December 8, 1989 and freed five days later after the then BJP-backed V P Singh government at the Centre released five terrorists in exchange.
Mufti, who now lives in Tamil Nadu, is a prosecution witness of the CBI, which took over the case in early 1990s.
Malik is lodged in Tihar jail after he was sentenced by a special NIA court in May, 2023 in a terror-funding case.
