Julio Ribeiro - Burying Karkare: I cannot let these forces go unchallenged
NB: The 'Parivar' government's grim
determination to pervert India's criminal justice system gains new
manifestations every month. They are doing it in full light of day and they
count on popular prejudice and bias to neutralise any opposition that might arise.
Thus, the appearance of the RSS chief alongside Ex-DIG Vanzara (out
on bail after nearly 8 years in prison on fake encounter charges) on April 10,
2016 was a theatrical occasion for the 'Parivar' to proclaim its support
for extra-judicial killings. The NIA's blackening of Hemant Karkare's name is a
clear message to all decent and unbiased police officers (and other gazetted
officials) that in the hands of this government, your name and
reputation are in danger even after you are dead and gone. We should be
grateful to Julio Ribeiro, a much respected senior retired police officer for
his forthright defence of his late colleague.
Won't Let Hemant Karkare's Memory Be Tarnished: Former Top Cop
Ipsita Chakravarty: The BJP is afraid of saffron terror probes because they point to the RSS
Ipsita Chakravarty: The BJP is afraid of saffron terror probes because they point to the RSS
Julio Ribeiro - Burying Karkare: I cannot let these forces go unchallenged
Hemant Karkare laid down his life for his friends. Every man and woman in the land was his friend. He did not discriminate between man and woman, Hindu and Muslim, this caste or that. He was a professional policeman. And he was a patriot. And that is what people expect of their public servants. Karkare belonged incidentally to the topmost tier of the pecking order in the hierarchy of castes. That factor became irrelevant when he donned the uniform. Traditional culture was subsumed by a new “police” culture, which demanded that all citizens are treated equally. In the eyes of the law all are equal. Any policeman true to his salt would follow this maxim, which becomes his “dharma”.
I knew Karkare well.
He was one of the — now, unfortunately, diminishing number of — IPS officers
who enjoyed an unsullied reputation for integrity, both financial and
intellectual. People who wanted true justice would gravitate towards him. He
did not know what it was to speak anything but the truth (or what he felt in
his bones was the truth).
He came to meet me on
November 25, 2008, a day before his life was extinguished by jihadi terrorists.
He came to tell me he was disturbed. He was disturbed because L.K. Advani had
the previous day, or a couple of days earlier, accused the Maharashtra Police
Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), of which he was then the chief, of framing Sadhvi
Pragya Thakur and others in the Malegaon blast case. He said he would not dream
of framing anyone and I believed him because I knew he would do nothing wrong.
I told him I would speak to Advani personally as I had faith in his integrity.
Karkare had brought
the case papers to show me that his investigations had nailed the real
culprits. I did not look into those files for lack of patience. I am sorry
today that I did not take more interest in his findings. If I had done so I
could have attempted to defend that good and honest man with concrete facts. He
is not alive to defend himself against all the forces that have been unleashed
against him in his absence.
But I cannot let these
forces go unchallenged. I will not be able to refute them on the details but
the police officers who knew him are sure that he was not one to concoct
evidence. Investigations were conducted first by Karkare’s predecessor in the
ATS, then by the dead man himself and now by the National Investigation Agency
(NIA). The investigators seem to be hopelessly at odds with each other: The
first set actually arresting the usual suspects, the second collaring a more
plausible group with concrete proof in the shape of telephone intercepts and
recorded conversations, and then the third watering down the evidence and
charges against the alleged culprits named by the Karkare team. It is highly
unusual for later investigators to weaken evidence in this manner. They are
expected to strengthen cases, not do the opposite.
When the
well-respected public prosecutor, Rohini Salian, bemoaned the attempt by the
NIA to influence her to soften the case against the Hindutva ultras, I expected
them to be let off. But, even in my wildest imagination, I could not have
dreamt that to achieve this objective a national hero like my friend Hemant
Karkare, would be sacrificed. His reputation was all that was left of him and
that is being buried.
Hemant’s wife died a
natural death not many years after his assassination. The pain was too much for
her to endure. If she was around she would have fought. I have no doubt about
that. But in her absence and in the absence of his daughters who are abroad, it
is left to old colleagues like me to come to Karkare’s defence.
I have spoken to many
officers and policemen who were disappointed with the NIA’s decision to sully
the fair name of a trustworthy and fair-minded colleague. It smacks of an
attempt to snuggle up to those in power. I had sensed a similar disenchantment
in the force when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in the Ishrat
Jahan case, named some Intelligence Bureau (IB) officers in the conspiracy to
eliminate Ishrat. For the first time I saw one Central police agency trying to
rope in a sister agency’s operatives in a criminal conspiracy when the ways of
working of the latter agency are well known to the rank and file. “Snuggling”
was apparent there too. If a law is in place to prevent “post- retirement”
sinecures the tendency to “snuggle-up” will reduce.
The developments in
the Malegaon blasts case have shown that the Hindutva forces are succeeding in
widening the Hindu-Muslim divide. When Karkare came out
with his list of culprits it was easy for us Indians to proclaim that India was
different from Pakistan. In that benighted country, jihadi terrorists are
always protected if they act against the “enemy”, that is us. We proudly
proclaimed that ours was a land governed by the “rule of law”. Hindus killing
Muslims would be dealt with as sternly as Muslims killing Hindus.
But that pride has to
be discarded now. This emperor, too, has no clothes. We are slowly but
relentlessly moving towards being bracketed with Pakistan in our attitude
towards the law, terrorism, and the minorities. I doubt if we will ever get to
sit on the high table if the law is not enforced equitably and fairly.
see also
Sadhvi Pragya escapes the law, Hemant Karkare's image takes hit
Malegaon blast case: ATS cited Sadhvi’s phone call, strategy meeting and a bike, NIA rejected all
Malegaon blast case: ATS cited Sadhvi’s phone call, strategy meeting and a bike, NIA rejected all
Public Appeal - Resist degradation of Indian criminal justice system
Smruti Koppikar - Maharashtra CM has no will to pursue my father’s murder
Petition in Supreme Court Accuses NIA of Soft-Pedaling Hindutva Terror Cases
After Malegaon, Ajmer Blast Case Faces Allegations of Sabotage // Witnesses turn hostile in Samjhauta case
Smruti Koppikar - Maharashtra CM has no will to pursue my father’s murder
Petition in Supreme Court Accuses NIA of Soft-Pedaling Hindutva Terror Cases
After Malegaon, Ajmer Blast Case Faces Allegations of Sabotage // Witnesses turn hostile in Samjhauta case
"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 Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: Inquiry Commission Report (1969)
The Abolition of truth
RSS tradition of manufacturing facts to suit their ideology
The Abolition of truth
RSS tradition of manufacturing facts to suit their ideology
