JYOTI PUNWANI: For licence to hit and run
It was a perfect scenario. Horrific violence by Muslims against policemen and the media, handled sensitively by a police force known for its anti-Muslim prejudice. The entire community apologetic for the violence of a few. Revulsion against rabid ‘religious’ leaders. Respect for a courageous Police Commissioner. This was the scene in Mumbai immediately after a meeting on August 11 - called by some Muslim religious leaders - turned violent midway. Called to condemn the violence against Muslims in Assam and Myanmar and the inaction of the government, the meeting attracted a 20,000-strong crowd, carrying placards with inflammatory and abusive images and slogans.
Two months later, things are back to square one: Muslims are bitter about the police and the government, all signs of remorse have disappeared & the Urdu press is at its irresponsible best. If there’s any ray of hope, it’s with the courts. The blame for this has to be laid at the door of the Maharashtra government. Two days after Raj Thackeray took out an (illegal) rally demanding the ouster of the Police Commissioner & the Home Minister for allowing “Marathi” policemen and women to be attacked by “Bangladeshi Muslims who had come to Mumbai from Bihar & U.P.,” Commissioner Arup Patnaik was sent packing (to a punishment posting). The message to Muslims couldn’t have been clearer - no cop worth his uniform can be ‘soft’ when you guys riot. The second but equally important message was that a known instigator of communal violence like Raj Thackeray could call the shots with the ‘secular’ Congress.
That wasn’t all. No arrests were made at the spot of the violence but Muslims who returned at night with friends to collect their bikes parked there were pounced upon, assaulted, arrested and charged with offences ranging from murder, to rioting with arms, to molestation. Twenty of them are still in jail, with the police vehemently opposing bail, though by their own admission, they do not figure in the videos of the violence. A magistrate found that 12 of them were so badly assaulted in Arthur Road Jail by jail staff that three days later, their bodies still bore marks of injury. His report, submitted more than six weeks ago, is yet to be acted upon.
It was only after the Bombay High Court observed during the bail hearing of two of these 20, that prima facie charges of murder and attempt to murder were not made out against them, that the new Police Commissioner acknowledged publicly that these charges had been wrongly applied — before he took over, he added pointedly. He took over on August 23. What was he doing since then? The parents of these 20 youth and social workers have since made umpteen trips to the police asking that these particular youngsters be let off on bail. Why didn’t the Commissioner order that Sections 302 and 307 of the Indian Penal Code be removed, so that bail could be granted?
Then there’s the glaring inequity of the rabble-rousers being left untouched. The organisers of the August 11 rally were named as accused in the FIR filed on the day of the incident. They made inflammatory speeches, to which the crowd responded with slogans, says the FIR. It even names the man after whose speech 3000 from the crowd started moving out excitedly. But none of these organisers has been arrested... Read more:
