Author: Sandhya Jain
Publication: Pioneer
Date: February 11, 2003
The two-day lightening strike by
Government and private doctors in Bihar, following the abduction of orthopaedic
surgeon Dr. Bharat Singh by suspected extortionists, is only the latest
instance of lawlessness in the eastern badlands of India. The almost simultaneous
arrest of a CPM activist in a scandal of alleged rape and assault on a
marriage party in West Bengal has taken the sheen off another honourable
ally of the Congress party at the Centre.
Both instances are serious enough
to warrant street level agitations against the respective State Governments
for their failure to protect the lives and honour of ordinary citizens.
Were Congress the main opposition party in either State, it would have
demanded the imposition of President's rule in both. It would also have
demonstrated its contempt for both regimes with high voltage decibels and
public demonstrations.
Not so the BJP. In Bihar, Mr. Sushil
Modi is renowned for his armchair leadership and allegedly cozy relationship
with RJD leader Laloo Yadav. In West Bengal, the BJP state leadership is
celebrated for its near invisibility on the political spectrum. It is a
crying shame that the BJP central leadership should tolerate the complete
failure of the local units to articulate the anguish of people in both
states. A senior party leader should be despatched to Patna and Kolkata
forthwith, and effect immediate changes in the local units.
It is understandable that Mr. Venkaiah
Naidu should wish to concentrate his energies upon states going to the
polls this year. However, if he wishes to realize his ambition of the BJP
winning a majority on its own in the general elections of 2004, he cannot
afford to ignore popular sentiments anywhere. In fact, states with unpopular
regimes and where elections are not on the anvil can provide an ideal environment
for the BJP to strike roots if it proves responsive to the concerns of
the common man there. It would therefore be a grievous mistake to leave
the local units of such states in the charge of leaders lacking the vision
and tenacity to lead a grassroots movement.
Bihar under the Yadav couple is
witnessing the growth of anarchy in algebraic proportions. Only last Saturday,
the banned Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) beat two persons to death in Gaya,
according to the district Superintendent of Police, Ravindran Shankran.
At the same time, the daylight killings of innocents in so-called police
encounters have ignited public rage as never before. The extortion industry
is in full bloom, and as demonstrated in the case of Dr. Bharat Singh,
concerted public pressure on the Chief Minister and RJD chief can bring
about the miraculous release of the abducted person, unharmed. This growing
public perception that the state administration can directly communicate
with underworld goons, is no small indictment of the Rabri Devi government.
Clearly the iron is hot; the question is whether the BJP is willing to
strike.
The state BJP joined the protest
against the police killings. But the party has by and large not stood by
the people on all issues attracting public odium against the government.
This is most apparent in some high profile cases of crime against women.
The first is the abduction and 'nikah' of a married woman, Ms. Kanchan
Misra, by a notorious gangster, Sultan Mia, who enjoys the backing of powerful
RJD leaders. Her family members told the National Commission for Women
that they feared for their lives.
But despite a strong direction from
the NCW, the Rabri Devi government has taken no steps to produce Kanchan
Misra before the Commission, and the lady continues to languish in illegal
custody because the family is too poor to approach the courts for redressal.
If the NCW ultimately fails to provide relief to the abducted woman and
her family, the National Commission on Human Rights must step in without
further delay. I must add that I am amazed at the studied and sustained
silence of women's rights groups and human rights activists, not to mention
the mainstream media, in this case.
Anther controversial case involves
Ms. Champa Biswas, the wife of a senior IAS officer, who was repeatedly
raped over a period of three years by one Mritunjay Yadav, son of an RJD
MLA, Hemlata. Recently, the Patna district and sessions court sentenced
Mritunjay Yadav to ten years rigorous imprisonment for the crime. Hemlata
was let off as she had already spent three years in jail pending trial.
The verdict has understandably left
the victim dissatisfied, as she feels that the mother had encouraged her
son to rape her (Champa). She also feels that the court did not take due
cognizance of her allegations against prominent RJD bigwigs who, she alleges,
raped her between 1995 and 1997. Champa's ugly ordeal, which includes the
alleged rape of other women members of her family and her maid, as also
her own abortion and forced sterilization, have been widely reported in
the press and make depressing reading. Throughout this torment, the Biswas
family was friendless in Patna as neither the State Home Secretary nor
Director General of Police would agree to take up the matter. It was only
when the family moved to Delhi that it could approach the National Human
Rights Commission, the SC/ST Commission and the then Bihar Governor Mr.
S.S. Bhandari, who took the matter up with the Union Home Ministry.
During the trial, three witnesses
went 'missing' and a key prosecution witness, Kalyani Biswas, died in mysterious
circumstances, but the Patna Police did not even register a case! In such
a scenario, it is truly commendable that the prosecution managed to secure
a conviction of the principal accused. At the same time, one cannot but
agree with Champa Biswas that justice will only be partial until the other
powerful persons who oppressed her are punished. In this situation, for
Mr. Sushil Modi to suggest that it is the job of the (disinclined and disinterested)
women's organizations to take up cudgels on Champa's behalf is quite reprehensible.
A political party cannot shun responsibility so lightly.
Neighbouring West Bengal, meanwhile,
has been shaken by an armed gang that attacked two buses carrying a marriage
party, shot dead a bus driver who resisted them, looted the passengers
at gunpoint and allegedly gang-raped several young women. The incident
occurred in Nadia district, and the same gang probably looted two other
cars the same day.
As the arrested persons included
a CPI-M worker, the local party unit rushed to the defence, claiming the
activist was being framed due to a verbal dual with the district police
superintendent. As the Bangladesh border is barely sixteen kilometres away,
it is being speculated that the culprits may have come from there. If so,
we may be in for a spate of such crimes against unarmed civilians in coming
days, as Bangladesh expresses hostility to India's pressure against illegal
immigrants.
So far, the state BJP has been fairly
somnolent. It would do well to seize the initiative and form citizen's
vigilance committees in border villages and highways to face any planned
atrocity. Else, more Indian citizens may suffer the fate of the sixteen
Border Security Forces' jawans in April 2001. Bangladesh, we must acknowledge,
is as unfriendly a neighbour as Pakistan.
