Former Gujarat Judge Says He Quit Over Government’s Anti-Muslim Bias
Activist Teesta Setalvad may have had a bumpy ride from the
start in her attempts to fight for justice for the victims of the 2002 Gujarat
riots but recent cases foisted on her by the Gujarat police and Central Bureau
of Investigation are being widely seen as a last ditch attempt by the state to
stop her in her tracks.
Teesta’s defenders say accusations of embezzlement and
embellished accounts of what the CBI found when it raided her home are aimed at
diluting the potency of the Zakia Jafri petition her organisation is now taking
to the Gujarat High Court in its attempt to indict Narendra Modi for complicity
in the 2002 violence.
In the wake of claims made by Bharatiya Janata Party leaders
about Teesta being “anti-national”, a former judge of the Gujarat City Civil
and Sessions Court has reached out to Setalvad with a letter of support and
also disclosed how the allegedly anti-Muslim bias of the state government
during the Modi years prompted him to quit his job.
In a Facebook post, Himanshu Trivedi, who was a
judge in the City Civil and Sessions Court from October 2002 to May
2003 has explained the nature of events that enveloped the judiciary
in 2002 and after. His post highlights the structural coercion that has been
the reason why scores of victims have still not had the chance to get justice.
Trivedi was a former colleague of Jyotsna Yagnik, the judge responsible for convicting Maya Kodnani and
Babu Bajrangi for the Naroda Patiya massacre, before he resigned on moral
and ethical grounds and emigrated to New Zealand. His post reads as
follows:
“Teesta Setalvad. Hats off. I have always admired you and
your courage and outspoken-ness on these issues. I also take this opportunity to
state that I am indeed pained (and I am the one who had QUIT Gujarat’s
Judiciary. I was a district cadre judge in Ahmedabad City Civil and Sessions
Court – once a colleague of the bravest judge Ms Jyotsna Yagnik who handed out
the judgments to Babu Bajrangi and Kodnani and now lives in fear of her life) …
because they (the State of Gujarat) wanted us (the judges and the judiciary) of
Gujarat to be acting against the minority community (albeit with no written
orders but DEFINITELY communicated in loud and clear messages to us). I
could not be part of it as I was sworn to the Constitution of India …”
In a subsequent email to Teesta, Trivedi revealed that there
were many individuals who had communicated directly with members of the
judiciary telling them to rule in a manner that would teach “these people” a
lesson – a reference to the Muslim minority.
While Setalvad and Jafri intend to highlight before the High
Court crucial information that they say the Special Investigation Team had
ignored in giving Modi a clean chit for his role during the riots, Trivedi’s
statements suggest the Gujarat state machinery was deployed to protect many of
the perpetrators of the 2002 riots long after the violence had ended.
See also:
"The masterminds of the 26/11 attacks are treated like heroes in Pakistan. We are not there yet, but if hidden hands nudge the judicial system to free murderers of the saffron variety, we will be soon"
The psychology of hate: How we deny human beings their humanity
Travesty of justice - Bombay High court refuses bail to artists of Kabir Kala Manch in jail for two years without trial
Travesty of justice - Bombay High court refuses bail to artists of Kabir Kala Manch in jail for two years without trial
The Broken Middle (on the 30th anniversary of 1984)
[Interview]
The meaning very clearly was, don’t get us favourable orders: Rohini Salian
Retired Gujarat DIG Vanzara Demands Promotions for Encounter-Accused Cops (and threatens 'unknown consequences' in case his demands are refused).
DG Vanzara's letter - Times of India (2013)
Sumana Ramanan - Film-maker releases a dozen clips of controversial Modi speeches made just after Gujarat riots (2014)
Retired Gujarat DIG Vanzara Demands Promotions for Encounter-Accused Cops (and threatens 'unknown consequences' in case his demands are refused).
DG Vanzara's letter - Times of India (2013)
Sumana Ramanan - Film-maker releases a dozen clips of controversial Modi speeches made just after Gujarat riots (2014)
Terrifying implications of the Staines judgement
Shekhar Gupta - National Interest: Secularism is dead!
More on justice in India, the death penalty, etc.
Shekhar Gupta - National Interest: Secularism is dead!
More on justice in India, the death penalty, etc.
NB: I am adding a citation from an important book on Nazism written in the 1930's, Behemoth, The Structure and Practice of National Socialism; New York, republished
(The counter revolution) ‘…tried many forms and devices, but soon learned that it could come to power only with the help of the state machine and never against it… the Kapp Putsch of 1920 and the Hitler Pustch of 1923 had proved this.. In the centre of the counter revolution stood the judiciary. Unlike administrative acts, which rest on considerations of convenience and expediency, judicial decisions rest on law, that is on right and wrong, and they always enjoy the limelight of publicity. Law is perhaps the most pernicious of all weapons in political struggles, precisely because of the halo that surrounds the concepts of right and justice… ‘Right’, Hocking has said, ‘is psychologically a claim whose infringement is met with a resentment deeper than the injury would satisfy, a resentment that may amount to passion for which men will risk life and property as they would never do for an expediency’. When it becomes ‘political’, justice breeds hatred and despair among those it singles out for attack. Those whom it favours, on the other hand, develop a profound contempt for the very value of justice, they know that it can be purchased by the powerful. As a device for strengthening one political group at the expense of others, for eliminating enemies and assisting political allies, law then threatens the fundamental convictions upon which the tradition of our civilization rests…
