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Stop! Do you have NHRC permit?

Stop! Do you have NHRC permit?

Author: Chandan Mitra
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 10, 2002

I can quite visualise this scenario actually unfolding one of these days: The police have encircled a group of terrorists attempting to unleash a bloodbath in a public place - could be the Parliament, a sports stadium, a shrine, a concert at India Gate, the Supreme Court or even the office of a media organisation, for that matter. The men in uniform are about to open fire when a beleaguered terrorist yells out: "Stop. Dont shoot. First show me your NHRC permit. And, have you informed the media? I dont see any TV cameras here. There are no journalists covering this live. So, dont start shooting. If you kill us without NHRC permission or media coverage, youll be in real trouble tomorrow." Pulverised by the impact of this declamation, policemen quietly drop their weapons and wait in stunned silence. Their officer tries desperately to contact the National Human Rights Commission headquarters on his cellphone. Some others start furiously dialing the offices of various 24-hour news channels and certain English language dailies. The terrorists, grinning from ear to ear, burst into an impromptu jig Chhod jayenge, ye galiyan, a derivative of a song from the pro-terrorist Gulzar film, Maachis. They also raise slogans like Justice Kerma Zindabad! Falana Kayar Zindabad! Dhikana Kidwai Zindabad! They triumphantly board the vehicle they had stolen earlier in the day, wave plastic Pakistani flags at benumbed onlookers and make good their escape with élan.

Next days newspapers run huge reports on the cowardice of the police amid massive pin-up size pictures of the victorious terrorists. At a Press conference that afternoon, the police chief deeply regrets the lapse on the part of his men. "We should have obtained the NHRCs clearance to go after the terrorists," he apologetically admits, disclosing that a dozen policemen have been suspended for this terrible oversight. At a parallel media briefing, the NHRC chief roars, twirling his salt-and-pepper moustache: "We have issued a blanket directive to the police, para-military forces and the Army. You cannot touch any terrorist without our prior consent in writing. You are not supposed to interrogate or arrest them, especially if they are Pakistani nationals. Pakistanis have human rights in India even if these are denied to them in their own country. We are not Pakistan. Anybody found harassing terrorists or violating their human right to kill shall be hauled over the coals," the former Mister Justice asserts. Then, he adds to good effect: "Ask some of the journalists who had the misfortune of being arraigned before me, about what I did to them."

Nearly 72 hours after the incident, several "eye witnesses" start crawling out of various obscure crevices of the city. "I was just a few kilometres away from the scene," one of them frantically avers before whirring TV cameras. (Nobody asks him the secret of the divya drishti that enabled him to monitor the event far away from the scene). So he continues to ramble: "And I saw the way the police were harassing some of those people. It was sickening. This wouldnt happen in the States, you know. I was there last year visiting my co-brothers second cousin who is an Environment Sanitisation Executive (read sweeper) with Microsoft. There I saw the police simply punch a guy half-dead because he was brown and sported a beard. They didnt intimidate the fellow with guns. Now thats the civilised way of doing things. In India, the police are uncivilised." His and various other "eye witnesses" accounts are thereafter carried by newspapers and TV channels with wide prominence for days on end.

In the Capitals cocktail circuit, this is the only topic of conversation for about a week after the incident. "Did you see those guys on TV yaar? They looked so innocent. How could they be terrorists? These cops, you know, pick up anybody and want us to believe they are terrorists. I tell you, the police are the biggest bunch of murderers in our country," declaims a Fad-India kurta-sporting MNC operative. "Youre dead right boss. That guy who yelled at the cops was so cute. Its correct, No! The police cant catch anybody without NHRC clearance, can they," asks a pretty not-so-young thing. At this point, a portly third cocktailer piped up: "I am afraid Maam, that isnt the law yet, but should be. My NGO has filed a PIL in the Supreme Court and Mr Hariman has taken up our case. Well win, because Mr Hariman and Mister Justice are known bum-chums. Also we have very good connections in the media. They have promised to give front-page publicity to our case."

A soft dissenting voice whimpers in the background: "Does that mean the police will have to line up outside the NHRC office every day to get slips of paper signed by some babus before they can catch a terrorist?" The NGO chieftain breaks into a guffaw: "Not just that, somebody from the NHRC will have to accompany the police whenever they want to pick up a terrorist. The NHRC will inform newspersons and the police will have to take the entire English media along to record everything." The doubting Thomas isnt convinced: "That might mean no terrorist will ever get caught." The jholawala almost chokes on his double Scotch: "Arre baba, that is the idea. Terrorists are a creation of the State. Why should they be allowed to become the States victims?" The assembly bellows in unison, "Exactly, exactly!" Buoyed by such extravagant support, the NGO supreme drones on about how nationalism is a 19th Century idea and borders have been rendered irrelevant in a 21st Century world. He vociferously argues that India would have drifted into fascism in 1998 but for the stellar performance of the Supreme Court, NHRC, Election Commission, and certain honourable sections of the media. A celebrity journalist, present at the gathering, is wildly feted for his consistent support for the cause of "human rights", a support thats won him over two-dozen awards and quarterly trips to Europe and the US. "We are very clear. The State is guilty unless proven innocent. If, perchance, it is proven innocent, we carry the report as a brief item on our 11th page," he announces amid applause. "But why must you carry it at all," asks a coquettish, pallu-dropping woman: "Shouldnt you just throw their denials into the waste-paper basket?" The journalist replies with a characteristic one-liner: "Id love to. But we are a paperless office and dont believe in environmental degradation. So we dont have waste-paper baskets, you see!"

Just then, the NGO bosss cellphone screeches voluminously and he listens with rapt attention for nearly a minute. "Kya bakwas karte ho," he manages to bellow before the line gets disconnected. Anxiously asked what the matter is, the ashen-faced man reveals it was his servant on the line reporting that his Noida house was being merrily burgled. Cutting short such inquisitive persons, he rushes into a corner and starts furiously dialing various numbers. When he emerges from the conversations, he is even more furious. "The b*******. Cops are saying that the burglers are carrying a megaphone on which they have announced that they arent robbers. They are terrorists. So the police cant do a thing till NHRC gives them a permit. The f****** NHRC fellows are sleeping, wont take calls till Monday. This bloody NHRC should be shot, the whole lot of them..."
 


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