State of Our Nation - Eradication of the Crime or the Criminal

Take 1:                       Mumbai, November 16, 1991 --- A Special Task Force, led by Additional Police Commissioner of Mumbai, Aftab Ahmed Khan, surrounded & killed Dawood Ibrahim’s henchmen, Maya Dolas and Dilip Buwa, along with four others. They were holed up in an apartment in the Lokhandwala Complex, which was owned by Shiv Sena criminal-politician Gopal Rajwani for mega-mobster Dawood Ibrahim. It was later alleged that Dawood, who wanted the Police to wipe off these traitors in a fake encounter, had tipped off Khan.

Take 2:                       NCR, September 22, 1998 --- Shri Praksh Shukla, the dreaded Uttar Pradesh criminal, involved in 26 cases of murder and abduction, was killed during a joint operation of the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police and the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police at the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Noida border.

Take 3:                       Mumbai, April 7, 1999 --- Two gangsters were killed in encounters with the Police in separate incidents. Santosh Shetty, a member of the Manchekar gang was shot dead by the Kalyan Police at Lokgram in Kalyan (East) at 4.10 pm. At around 7.45 pm, Mangesh Dhotre of the Chhota Shakeel gang was killed in an encounter with the Anti-Extortion Cell (North-West squad) near Nanavati Hospital at Santacruz (West).

Take 4:                      Delhi, November 3, 2002 --- Delhi Police (Special Cell) shot and killed two men, reportedly Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives at New Delhi’s AnsalPlaza shopping complex. The Police claimed the two men were Pakistani terrorists and were killed in an ‘encounter’. However, a local doctor, Dr. Hare Krishna, claimed to have witnessed the event, and alleged that the encounter was fake one.

Take 5:                       Chennai, July 27, 2003 --- K. Veeramani, a local hero and an alleged rowdy, who had more than 30 cases against him, met a bloody end at the hands of the Police on the afternoon of July 27. The Police sources said two Sub-Inspectors opened fire at Veeramani in self-defence after he and an accomplice attacked them with knives.

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            “Where the suspect poses no immediate threat to the officer and no threat to others, the harm resulting from the failing to apprehend him, does not justify the use of deadly force to do so.”

            - Byron R. White, J.

INTRODUCTION

            Perhaps, when Justice White said these words, he could not have contemplated the implications of his words in the contemporary Indian democracy. Police are agents or agencies empowered to use force, other forms of legal coercion and legal means to effect public and social order. The term is most commonly associated with Police departments of a state that are authorized to exercise the Police power of that State within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. The word comes from the Latin politia (“civil administration”), which itself derives from the Ancient Greek word, πόλις, which stood for polis (“city”). The first Police force, comparable to the present-day Police, was perhaps established in 1667 under King Louis XIV in France, but the first modern Police force is also commonly said to be theLondon Metropolitan Police, established in 1829. Policing has included an array of activities in different contexts, but the predominant ones are concerned with order maintenance and the provision of services. Alternative names for Police force include constabulary, gendarmerie, Police department, Police service, or law enforcement agency, and members can be Police officers, constables, troopers, sheriffs, rangers, or peace officers. The notion that Police are primarily concerned with enforcingcriminal law was popularised in the 1930s with the rise of the Federal Bureau of Investigation as the pre-eminent “law enforcement agency“ in the United States; this however has only ever constituted a small portion of policing activity.

            The quantum of “force” used has been long regarded a yardstick of the policing abilities of a Police force. Force, here, goes much beyond the standard use of force doctrine employed by Police forces, as well as soldiers on guard duty. The aim of such a doctrine is to balance security needs with ethical concerns for the rights and well-being of intruders or suspects. In the event that members of the public are injured, this may give rise to issues of self-defence as a justification. In the event of death, this may be a justifiable homicide. However, the recent policing trends have been more than inclined and determinate to employ the excessive force to fulfil their duties. To reduce the crimes and the attached duties, Police organisations all over the globe have often been accused of resorting to use of more than necessary force for the execution of the same. These indictments have even gone to the levels declaring that these enforcement agencies have been the cause of eradication of criminals rather than the attached crimes. Police encounter, as these executions are commonly known as, is the term used to explain the killing of an individual, by Police or law-enforcement agencies, who was either a declared offender or a militant or curiously a “subject of interest”. The term legally points towards the phenomenon of extra judicial killings or executions, which haven’t been duly authorized by a Court or by the law. Although these encounters are effectual in culminating both, the crimes and criminals, their legal and moral implications cannot be ignored. Are the Police well within their legal limits while conducting such extra-judicial killings? Are they violating any of the Human Rights of those who are killed in such encounters? Are these criminals humans at all, who should be entitled to any Human Rights whatsoever? Should the eradication of crimes or elimination of the criminals be the ultimate Police goal? And last but not the least, what should the law shelter: the criminals’ Human Rights or the Police’s criminal acts? By the means of this article, an effort has been made to afford an insight into these intricate but viably pertinent issues.

           

The chilling fact that a human being can kill another one; that too in broad daylight without the fear of being apprehended, is a Human Right nightmare. Police encounters or extra judicial killings are not a new phenomena for Indian democracy. Though, this not-so-legal act has changed its position of acceptability in the public psyche within past few years, it is still viewed as a legal taboo in the Police fraternity. Recently all of the India viewed how Gujarat Police officials took a supari to ‘legally’ murder an alleged terrorist by the name of Sohrabuddin Sheikh. Nowadays, Police taking law into their own hands has become common place.  The policemen are trained officials, who crack open the cases by just holding onto a thread of clue. Though this may sound like a ‘Sherlock Holmes’ novel, but it is upon those clues that policemen investigate and apprehend the accused behind the crimes. But what happens if the case is a high profile one or there aren’t enough clues available for the Police? What if the mounting public and administrative pressure takes its toll on these trigger-happy Policemen? What this results in is the evidently visible use of force and brutality coupled with a blatant misuse/violation of both humanitarian and legal norms. The consequential employment of ‘illegally’ legal Third Degree torture techniques and the draconian encounters is a clear indication of the steep fall of morals and discipline in the Police forces all over the country. Be it Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Mizoram, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, or more recently, Gujarat, Policemen and their atrocities have left no State of India untouched.

           

THE GUJARAT GHOSTS

Coming to the hottest incident on the media’s anvil, the Gujarat encounter cornered the State Government, along with the concerned officials of the joint operation by Gujarat’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Rajasthan Police Force. A journalist Prashant Dayal, first broke the story in November, 2006. According to him, it was alleged that Sohrabuddin was a big goon in Rajasthan, involved in extorting ransom from big marble merchants and rich builders. It was alleged that some Rajasthan-based businessmen arranged for Rs. 2 Crore supari to be given to the Policemen for killing Sohrabuddin. But the stage was set in Gujarat, instead of Rajasthan. The Police picked up Sohrabuddin and his wife, Kausarbi, along with a close aide, Tulsiram Prajapati from a APSRTC bus near Sangli, Maharashtra onNovember 22, 2005. The inquiry led by IPS officer Geetha Johari brought out some important facts. Police officers, led by DIG D.G. Vanzara, SPS R.K. Pandian & Dinesh M.N., took three of them to one Girish Patel’s Disha farmhouse in Illol (Vanzara’s home village near Himmatnagar town of Gujarat), tortured them and then killed Sohrabuddin in a fake encounter at Narol Juhapura (outside Ahmedabad) on November 26, 2005. Then, the Police officers feared that Kausarbi would spill the beans. The involved officers killed her and then burnt the body near a river on November 28, 2005. Tulsi was let off at that time, as he was an (Police) informer. But when newspapers started reporting the fake encounter, expectedly, the news about Tulsiram being killed on November 28, 2006 in Banaskantha district also came out. Curiously, the Police at that time had claimed that Sohrabuddin, belonged to the Pakistan linked terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba and was planning to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in order to avenge the death of Muslims killed in the 2002 Gujarat violence. More recently, the Gujarat CID filed a charge sheet against three IPS officers — D.G. Vanzara, R.K. Pandian and Dinesh Kumar M.N. — and 10 other policemen in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. Incidentally, an incident of ‘encounter killing’ was reported on January 13, 2003 in the Gujarat. Police in Ahmedabad shot dead 25-year-old Sadiq Jamal Mehtar, who, they alleged, was on a mission to kill the Chief Minister. Police claimed they fired at him “in self defence”. In October 2002, another ‘militant’, Samir Khan Pathan, who had allegedly planned to “kill Modi” had been killed in an ‘encounter.’ One cannot help but wonder as to how popular Modi is with Pakistan and its sponsored terrorists!

INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE AND NATIONAL STATUS

            Fake encounters, a common trend in India and its neighbouring nations, is a legal sin in many-a-developed nations. The U.S. State Department has maintained that although the Government of India “generally respected” the human rights of its citizens, “numerous serious problems remained” pointing, among other things, that Police and security forces “were sometimes responsible for extra-judicial killings, including ‘staged’ encounter killings and custodial deaths.” Washington has taken the position that security officials who committed human rights abuses “generally enjoyed de facto legal impunity”, although there have been numerous reports of investigations into individual abuses and punishment to those responsible. This US report and its statistics are a noticeable evidence of the blotched Indian policing systems. As observed by the US State Department, “court action in cases of extra judicial killings is slow and uncertain.” Human Rights Watch (HRW), a United States-based international non-governmental organization, has urged the Government of India to launch a credible and independent investigation into all “disappearances” and fake “encounter killings”, particularly in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, since militancy began there in 1989. India’s neighbours, especially Pakistan, are not too far behind India in this race for the ‘coveted’ title of a heartless State. Amnesty International’s 1998 Report elaborates the same sorry state of affairs within Pakistan. At least 120 possible extra judicial executions were reported. At least 428 people were sentenced to death and at least four were executed. In at least 30 of these supposed “encounter killings”, the victims were reported to have been in police custody before being deliberately killed. In other cases, police shot dead criminal suspects rather than attempting to arrest them. State officials colluded in abuses by private individuals and religious groups. Armed opposition groups were responsible for deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians.

           

International human rights law prohibits the arbitrary deprivation of life under any circumstances whatsoever. Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that “everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) provides that “[e]very human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.” Article 4 of the ICCPR states that this right cannot be waived “even in times of public emergency threatening the life of the nation.” Moreover, under Article 2(3)(a) and (b) of the ICCPR, State parties are obliged to ensure that remedies are available to the victims of human rights violations and that those remedies are effective. Extra judicial killings clearly contravene the right to life. The Indian Government ratified the ICCPR in 1979.  By ratifying an international treaty, which enshrines the right to life, India is obliged not only to respect that right in principle, but also to take effective measures to ensure that extra judicial killings do not occur in practice. Although the right to life is enshrined in Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, the increasing incidence of extra judicial killings in India demonstrates that the Government has failed to take effective measures to ensure that the right is respected in practice.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in 1996, submitted a report to the Supreme Court that established that in just three crematoriums of Amritsar, as many as security forces between 1984 and 1995 carried out 2,097 illegal cremations. Of these victims, the CBI identified 582 who were all non-terrorists. The Committee for Coordination on Disappearances in Punjab (CCDP) identified over 1700 victims and their families. According to the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT), the police and paramilitary forces have killed at least 53 innocent tribals in fake encounters in the past three years and in each case the errant personnel got away scot-free. In April 2007, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) indicted five army officers for the extra judicial killing of five villagers at Pokhribal in March 2000. The officers were charged with fabricating evidence to support their claim that the men were foreign fighters killed in an “encounter” with security forces. On January 4, 2006, a National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) cadre, Raja @ Sukanto Debbarma was allegedly killed by combined force of policemen and Tripura State Rifles (7^th Battalion) Jawans in an alleged fake encounter at Golaghat under Bishalgarh subdivision of Tripura. On May 24, 2006, one Sohanveer was killed by police in an alleged fake encounter at Mawana in Meerut district. In April 2006, the Supreme Court taking cognizance on a letter written by co-accused Shailendra on the killing of one Brahmpal, in a staged encounter in December 2005 sought a detailed enquiry report from the Uttar Pradesh Police to be filed in the court. In November 2006, a fast-track court in Basti district of UP sentenced 17 policemen including then Station House Officers of the Dudhara and Mehndawal police stations, P.K. Rai and Ram Bishun Yadav respectively, to life imprisonment on the charge of killing 11 innocent persons in a fake encounter in Karhana village of Basti district on the night of July 28-29, 1986. Recently, the persons accused of staging and executing Bhagalpur mass-encounter, which preceded the notorious riots, were brought to book when Additional District and Session Judge Shambhunath Mishra awarded them life sentences. However, India, especially Mumbai, in 2004 did see encounter killings tapering down, with Mumbai’s cops gunning down only 13 alleged criminals in the past 11 months!

It is quite pertinent to note that National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations (NCHRO), in association with Amnesty International (India), had convened a National Convention on Encounter Killings, on 26 June 2007, (U.N. Anti Torture Day) in Mumbai. Amongst the expected deliberations, the issues of State’s responsibility and the extra-judicial killings by members of the police forces, the Armed Forces and Para-military security personnel in Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Manipur and Tripura and by the State armed police in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat in the name of eliminating naxalites, terrorists or criminals was also discussed. Unlawful preventive detention statues such as Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958; Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967; Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002; National Security Act, 1980; Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987; etc. and derivative state legislations were also denounced. Furthermore, the Convention’s report formed a part of the suggestions submitted to the Central Government.

 

NOOSING THE TRIGGER: A CONCLUSION, SOME SUGGESTIONS AND REMEDIAL MEASURES

            It is quite noticeable that these encounter killings are motivated by pecuniary, political or even personal profits. However, the Indian legal systems incapability to put a noose on the same is a shameful, yet alarming fact. But what are the real, or moreover so, the legal factors behind these killings remain unexplored. Following reasons are the principal contributors to apathy of our legal system:

1.              The Indian Government has failed to ensure the adequate investigation of all complaints and reports of extra judicial killings. Without adequate investigation, there can be no hope of prosecuting and convicting the perpetrators. Moreover, India’s national human rights body, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), has not proved to be an effective body in combating these killings. Its ineffectiveness is exacerbated by the Indian Government’s failure to give adequate consideration and attention to the NHRC’s recommendations in this regard.

2.              The Indian Government has failed to ensure the prosecution of culprits behind these executions. The government’s failure extends beyond the mere failure to prosecute. Moreover, under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the sanction of the Central or State Government is required to arrest or institute criminal prosecutions against public servants, including police officers and members of the civil or armed forces.

3.                The deeply entrenched problems within India’s judicial system contribute to the climate of impunity that allows extra judicial killings to occur. As observed by the US State Department, “court action in cases of extra judicial killings is slow and uncertain.” Such delays impede the process of bringing to justice, the accused in many cases, making conviction impossible due to the length of time that has passed.

4.                The successive governments have failed to establish an adequate compensation system for the victim’s kith and kin. There is no statutory right to compensation for families of victims of extra judicial killings. In failing to provide adequate compensation, the Indian Government is failing to meet its obligations under international law.

5.              It is well documented that the armed and security forces are rarely held accountable for the commission of these killings. Moreover, a perpetrator is more likely to be caught by way of an internal disciplinary hearing than under the general law.

6.              The Indian Government has failed to satisfactorily demonstrate its opposition to extra judicial killings. Indeed, it is being suggested that both the Central and State Governments actively encourage the practice. For example, it is being alleged that Central and State Governments have funded auxiliaries and rewarded police officers, who commit these encounters. Such actions strengthen the conclusion that the Indian Government has adopted an official policy sanctioning the commission of these killings.

These discussed heinous executions have been taking place right under the nose of our legal system and its guardians, but they have done nothing more than act as mere mute spectators to this constitutional evil. Instead, the executive functionaries involved in these have been elated to the demigod status in the policing fraternities. ‘Celebrated’ policemen such as Daya Nayak, Pradeep Sharma, Rajbir Singh, Suresh Manchekar, Praful Bhosale, Ravindra Angre, Vijay Salaskar, Pradeep Sawant, Sachin Vaze, etc. are some examples of the kahki­-men spilling blood to gain fame and power. Many Indian films have also been made depicting police encounters as the lead actor, who is portrayed as a borderline ‘vigilante’ and doesn’t hesitate to cross professional, legal and ethical boundaries in pursuit of his own vision of ‘justice’.  Movie such as Ab Tak Chhappan, Encounter: The Killing, Vaastav, Kagaar, Garv, Risk, Shootout at Lokhandwala, a Kannada film, Encounter Daya Nayak and a Tamil film, Kaakha Kaakha have glorified these encounters but none of them has bothered to point out their dark sides. Hollywood’s Dirty Harry is another example of the hyped up fictional, yet encounter-specialist cop, Harry Callahan.

Be it Ansal Plaza shootout in New Delhi, or Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, more or less every encounter, the Police story or the logic provided by the State to the people, is too innocent to compared only with the Aesop’s fables. It seems that statement, ‘there was a ‘bad man’ who fired at the police, and police in retaliation fired back to him and he died on the spot’, is one that the Police officers are made to learn by-heart at Police Training Academies throughout the country. The right to life is the most elemental right of a citizen, and its continued abuse in India through the commission of extra judicial killings is intolerable. Adhering to the following suggestions may check these excessive and flagrant intrusions of an individual’s most fundamental right:

1.              Implementation of urgent and effective measures to stop fake encounters, disappearances, custodial violence, custodial death and extra-judicial killings by police, special squads and security forces;

2.      Reforming the criminal justice system and the Indian Penal code, by beginning the process to repeal all special legislation that enable a culture of torture and impunity;

3.       Preventing cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments by authorities;

4.      Stopping discrimination and violence against women, indigenous peoples, dalits and minorities;

5.      Strengthening the status of the NHRC, State Human Rights, Minorities Commission and other statutory bodies;

6.      Protection and rehabilitation of the victims of encounter killings and other police atrocities by offering them affirmative compensations;

7.       Ratifying UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention Against Torture) by amending Indian statutes;

8.       Maintaining a National Register of the Missing persons, victims of torture, custodial deaths and encounter killings under the supervision of the NHRC;

9.       Establishing Public Grievance Redressal mechanisms to take cognizance of excesses committed by police and armed personnel;

10.     Prosecuting executive officials who have been accused of executing fake encounters, illegal detentions and custodial violence and other inhuman crimes; and

11.     Ensuring that departmental promotions, in pursuance of encounters by an official, are effected only after a through intra-departmental enquiry in each case.

Each nation must strike a fine ethical and political balance between protecting its security and the rights of its people. In India, the choice of the executive, and even the judiciary, have tilted mostly in favour of permitting the uniformed forces to break the law of the land with impunity, even to kill, especially in times of perceived threats to national integrity cheered along by most segments of the middle classes. Policemen themselves often claim that are motivated by a higher love for the nation. Many are, but not those who kill unarmed people in defiance of the law of the land. A faked killing is not an aberration of a few runaway miscreant police officers; it is an integral if shadowy element of the system itself, one in which the State eliminates people outside the process of the law, as an instrument to tame civic dissent. These bullets indeed crush with State terror and lawlessness, the weakest and most disenfranchised of our people, particularly if they are restive - religious and ethnic minorities,dalits and tribal people, agricultural workers and slum dwellers. These are the very people who are excluded from that ‘nation’ which the trigger-happy police forces claim to defend. The moral of the ‘story’, thus, is, “its time to wake up”.

“There are only two choices: A police state in which all dissent is suppressed or rigidly controlled; or a society where law is responsive to human needs. If society is to be responsive to human needs, a vast restructuring of our laws is essential.”

-          William Orville Douglas

State of Our Nation - The Day I Became a Hindu!

“A Hindu is a dvij or a ‘twice born’. He is born once when he enters this world from his mother’s womb and the second time when he learns the Gayatri Mantr during his Upnayan Sanskar ceremony. ‘Upnayan’ refers to the opening of the other eye. The eye of knowledge or awareness. The knowledge of this world and the other one too. So a Hindu is supposed to be possessed of the knowledge that emancipates him from a mere human to a being of higher spiritual and worldly knowledge. This is what ‘separates’ him from other people, who live in this world of sin and materialistic pleasures, for the mere sake of survival and gaining worldly pleasures. Thus, a Hindu is above and beyond other normal humans who live in this world.” said the Guruji during my Upnayan Sanskar ceremony. He then pocketed a cool 20k from my father and left at the completion of the ceremony. So much for being an emancipated Hindu, who is beyond worldly pleasures. Such was the day when I became a Hindu.

The ceremony above initiated me into my religion of birth. I have always wondered as to why man felt the need to have religion. It surely must have been due to the social disorder & hostility prevalent in those times. In the desperation to control social behavior, he must have set out rules which he pretended were pre-ordained by the Supreme Being himself. This he did to ensure fear and consequent compliance of the same. Fear. It ought to be fear. The reason of compliance. There! Mystery solved. The reason of birth of religion. Fear!! And the reason for its involuntary following too. This has been so for millennia. Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Jainism. These and all other major religions in the world teach, amongst other things, the consequences of deviance from norms and codes set by them. They teach in the language of fear. Hell, Narak, Dozakh, Underverse, Necropolis. The fear of being subjected to these underworlds ensured the compliance & following of these religions certain. The worst part. We have been following such religions! Unquestionably. And that is our biggest mistake.

Every religion brags incoherently about tolerance and respect for one another. We constantly hear religious leaders going on and on about respecting one another religions and beliefs. We can read innumerable texts discoursing on the topic of how world peace is heavily dependent on tolerance amongst followers of different religions. But the very fact that the world is not at peace is the very proof that makes us realize that we, the citizens of our respective countries, do not respect one another or one another’s religions and beliefs. Jews hate Palestinians. Indians hate Pakistanis. Chechens hate Russians. South Koreans hate North Koreans. Tamils hate Sinhalese. Afghans hate Americans. Iraqis hate Americans. Vietnamese hate Americans. And American hate everyone who hates them. Move aside religion. This is war of hatred. And greed. Greed for more land (read, area of dominance) and resources (read, non-renewable sources). And this very war has engulfed the world since times immemorial. Leading to chaos. Leading to need for order. Leading to need for tools to do that. And ultimately, leading to the creation of religion. So this vicious circle has been running constantly and is amply fueled by our ignorance and lackadaisical attitude of not caring enough. Our tolerance levels are down to zero and our tempers can be set soaring even by the slightest of provocations. Why did China post soldiers on their side or Arunanchal border? Why is Iran conducting nuclear tests? Why are Iraq and Korea developing WMDs? Why are Tamil demanding a separate state? Why are Afghans sheltering Osama? Why aren’t Pakistanis coming clean about their allegiance in the war on terror? Why are Indians unable to defend their cities against any terrorist attacks? We are angry about anything and everything. And man! Do we want to express our anger or what! And the way we do it. ‘Awe inspiring’. Babri Masjid. 1947 riots. Munich Olympic massacre. Russian theatre hostage drama. 9/11 USA. 7/7 London. 26/11 Mumbai. 13^th December Delhi. Gulf wars. Two world wars. Examples abound, we won’t leave any opportunity of showcasing our displeasure of someone else’s beliefs. Justified or not, their beliefs are ruthlessly pushed, shoved and crushed by us.

Power corrupts. And absolute power corrupts absolutely. This Aristotelian adage holds true in the contemporary world as well. A religion is regarded powerful by the factor of number of its followers. As the followers increase, so does the area of dominance of the religion alongwith the egos of its principle propounders/teachers. These ‘God men’ then denounce any path to proposed salvation other than theirs. This leads to despicable feelings towards other propounded beliefs and thoughts, which in turn leads to their public disapproval. This provokes retaliation and animosity. Egged on by the desire to obtain higher public fellowship, increased geographical dominance and better monetary reserves, the animosity soon turns into open violence against followers of the opposite faction. From the ‘Holy’ Crusades to 26/11, Earth has witnessed numerous instances of people fighting over religions. Is a set of belief really worth fighting over? Is spilling innocent blood over a holy book justified? What is the relevance of a God that teaches destruction of love and innocence? Did Bible/Christ really propose Crusades/Witch hunting? Did Koran/Allah/Mohammad really support Jihad in its present form? Did Bhagvat Gita/Ram/Krishan truly inspire Babri Masjid debacle or the Godhra riots? Does Torah really propound killing of Palestinians?

The historians divided time into two parts. B.C. and A.D. But in September, 2001, we created another time division called 9/11. And the world has been divided eversince. Not that it was united prior to that. Sikhs did away with their beads and turbans. Muslim women gave up hijabs. South-East Asians, especially Muslims, were made to suffer the burnt of American fury and suspicion. Humiliation at the hands of the same Mike, Sam and George (read, Americans) who some years later went on to choose an Afro-American man of Muslim descent as the POTUS (Google it, dearies). Take India for example. Here is a country ravished by fundamentalism for millennia. Plundered and looted by followers of different religions for centuries, this nation has withstood numerous religious zealots and uncountable communal atrocities on innocent men & women. From Kashmir to ‘Tamil Eelam’. From Godhra to ‘Gorkhaland’. Indians have fought over religions like chicken fight for the last worm. And the end result. A divided nation. Still, a nation where a Christian widow of a deceased Hindu leader, steps aside to allow a Sikh to take oath of premiership of the nation from a Muslim commander-in-chief. But nevertheless a nation where a whole community is pushed to the verge of extinction in Delhi just because one of its members happens to kill the Iron Lady of India (Google again!), who was the then PM of India. Bullshit!

Islam. The religion of peace and tolerance. Its followers, Musalmaans. Who is a Musalmaan? One who believes that none but Allah is the one true God and reads His Holy Koran, as given to mankind by His prophet, Mohammad. I disagree. A Musalmaan would be someone who has ‘Musalam Imaan’ or unshakeable belief. And that belief has to be based on the tenets of humanity, compassion, peace and tolerance as propounded by Islam. Like Haj, Jihaad is also a holy duty as per Koran. But what is Jihaad? The destruction of Kaafir! Who is a Kaafir? The infidel who doesn’t believe in Allah as the one and only God. Disagree again. A Kaafir ought to be an atheist who does not believe in the existence and supremacy of the Almighty, not necessarily Allah. And his destruction signifies his emancipation by destruction of the atheist in him and opening his mind to the world of spiritual and religious knowledge. This is what the interpretation of the word Jihaad ought to have been. Not 9/11s, Nairobi bombings, 7/7 London, etc. Islam is the best religion in the world. But it also is the most misinterpreted religion. That is why not every Muslim is a terrorist. But most of the terrorists are Muslims. Sad but true!

Not to be deterred, Hindus aren’t far behind. The Gita, Upnishads, Purans, Jataks. None teach us to do what we did at Babri Masjid. Neither do they teach the carnage at Godhra. Neither were the post 1993 riots justified. Nor were the attacks on Sikhs in 1984. The fundamental Hindu is the progenitor of the Hindu terror. They take pride in their Babri, Malegaon and Godhra. These are the emancipated beings, who are supposed to have undergone the Upnayan, read the Vedas & Gita and swear by Gandhi’s Ahinsa doctrine. As the majority populace, they consider India as their personal fiefdom and abolish social ideas of Valentine’s and Friendship Day. The Hindu brigades (RSS, Bajrang Dal, Sri Ram Sena, MNS, etc.) have simply turned into politico-religious zealots who love to rampage across the country twice a year to gain political mileage and 15 mins of fame of national television. Shame on such Hinduism. Shame!!

India was once a golden land of peace and tolerance. All individuals, irrespective of their faith and beliefs, existed in harmony. Society and its members willingly accepted every religion with open arms & hearts. Why did we drift away from those values? Why the sea change in the acceptance of different faiths of different individuals? Why such utter disregard for the ancient proverb of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”? Why such animosity with your neighbor just because he sees God in a different form than you? Why such hatred towards one another just because we are Khanna, Khan, Kirsten or Khatri? Why raise eyebrows at Sam, Sameer, Sukhwinder or Sajid? Why cant we just live in peace? Why can’t we survive as Indians? Why can’t we just love and respect each other for what we are and what we believe in? Wonder if these questions will ever be answered in the positive sense!! I so wish my name was Khan. I would have definitely not been a terrorist. Such a future will come. One day. Till, then ladies and gentlemen, this is the State of Our Nation. Signing off... For now… 

State of Our Nation – Chalti hai kya?

“Tan tana tan, tan tan tara. Chalti hai kya nau se barah?”

Examples abound, the above quoted songs and their apparent use on the lean mean streets of a super-metro like Delhi or Mumbai is as common as a traffic jam in any of these cities. Being subjected to a daily dose of eve-teasing, molestation, stalking, receiving lecherous comments / gestures, etc. are one of the most common features in day of a contemporary woman and the city she chooses to reside in. While the woman cringes even at the thought of all this, the stone-hearted cities in which they live continue to turn a deaf ear to their pleas and cries. Who is to be blamed? As usual, all fingers point to the one omnipresent, omnipotent, all powerful being. No no. Not God almighty. It’s the modern day God. The God made up of deplorable but manifest notions of power, money, greed and lust. The SYSTEM. But is the system alone to be blamed for the mess? Although I agree to this accusation in principle but I happen to have a rather different perspective about the said issue.

To begin with, let us first make an attempt to try and decipher the two fundamental causes of this problem. MEN and WOMEN. Parting with the chivalry, let us first try and understand the “simpler” gender, MEN. Men will be men, so goes the notable adage. But what is with Indian men that makes them so vulgarly attracted with anything and everything that has to do with sexuality; more particularly the other gender. I couldn’t agree more with one Ms. Dhupia, who was famously quoted for saying that only sex and one Mr. Khan sell in this country of ours. Our country, known for its cultural heritage and diverse historical flora & fauna, is also the birth cradle to the ancient “arts” of eroticism and sexuality. Our fixation with the same is almost justified, ain’t it? Well, almost. How dare Late St. Valentine and Archangel Cupid run amok in a country “virtually run” by our very own and respectable religious fanatics and ecclesiastical extremists? India has developed a self-imposed code of moral and social conduct off-late. We take pride and rather specialize in vandalizing screenings of ‘objectionable’ movies / paintings, creating ruckus on V-Day, running uncountable ‘Operation Laila-Majnu(s)’, deploring any ‘DK Bose’ and reducing any PDA (not a Personal Digital Assistant; I meant Public Display of Affection) to smithereens. Our Senas, Mutaliks, Sanghs, Deobands, etc. have proven to display extreme skill and admirable expertise in demolishing any public waiver from their set of idealistic and cultural behaviour. We might drool over the the “Sheila(s)” and “Munni(s)” privately in our bedrooms, watch MTV Grind Late Night edition, see vile Sisters / Mothers-in-law stoop to unimaginable levels in daily soaps, enjoy mobs lynching petty thieves / pickpockets, gyrate on remixed versions of bhajans on the tunes of ‘obscene’ Bollywood items numbers in late night Jaagran(s), but any ‘deviation / drift’ from our “Indian’ culture would not be tolerated.

This reminds me of a recent incident. I was at home one evening and was watching TV with my parents. A Hollywood flick was playing on HBO and the lead actors were busy cuddling up to each other, in bare minimal clothes. While my mom got a little uncomfortable and left for the kitchen, my dad & me continued to watch. Although the physical intimacy between the couple was on showcase for just over a minute, I changed the channel. I started watching a reality-based stand up comedy show on Sony. They were introducing the contestants and my parents began watching rather attentively as they liked the show. A certain Ms. Raina (a Kashmiri Pandit, we guessed) was also introduced. Ms. Raina wore a flaming hot red-coloured dress as she came on the stage. As soon as her name was announced, my dad went like, “Chi! Chi! Chi! Look at what she is wearing despite being a Kashmiri. I wonder what her parents must be feeling like. They would be so ashamed of her.” I was shell-shocked. I wondered if my dad was the same person who was watching the Hollywood couple making love, wearing just bare necessities. And now he had problems with this Kashmiri (read Indian) girl wearing a knee length dress. Wow! My parents had to be the most hippocratic people in the whole world. But I am wrong. Its not them. The whole freaking Indian social scene is like that. Everyone in India is so obsessed with their religion, its ‘values’, ‘culture’, ‘morals’ and ‘codes’ that they do not even tolerate elemental dynamism that goes naturally with any set of social values or ethics. Girls should sit at home and boys shall earn the bread. That has been the forlorn Indian mentality since times immemorial. Although the Indian social arena is opening up to the idea of girls working but the same is chiefly due to need to reach economic stability at family level rather than emancipation of our social ideas. If we had our way, we would still have our sisters and daughters sit at home and draw a pallu at the mere sight of an unknown person.

Anyways, coming back to the original topic, I was trying to decipher the hidden connection between Indian men and their lecherous outlook towards the fairer gender. Let us begin with a confession. I am a self confessed admirer of the other half of God’s human creativity and simply adore the beauty Almighty bestowed in them. I am a Cancerian and have a rather natural inclination towards women. Be it my mother, my cousin sisters, my girl friends (read, my friends who happen to be girls), my ex-paramours (Yes! There were more than one), etc. I have always been more of a ladies man. I am a man and am surrounded by women. But does that mean that I have a birthright to disrespect, demean, deplore or dishonour women in and around my social circle? Most vehemently not! If a girl walks on the road, she is checked out (read scanned) by at least a thousand eyes, every single minute. I confess that even I check out girls. But I have seen the look on people’s faces and in their eyes. Their eyes are ready to rip apart and ravage the girl at a moment’s notice. And God forbid, if the lady in question is dressed in a provocative or even in a slightly ‘modern’ outfit. Men love to devour her with their eyes and minds. We don’t even need to touch her to outrage her modesty. I am disgusted when I come across men / boys teasing women / girls on the roads, passing lewd comments and sniggering suggestively. I am abhorred by the fact that a father / uncle in our so-called moralistic society have the guts to rape his minor daughter / niece. I am shocked to read news concerning women being subjected to the same treatment as Phoolan Devi received at the hands of her villains. I am rather dumbfounded when I am told that a women can be ‘picked’ and raped in a moving vehicle in a city that boasts of a day-time population of over a crore and has a Police force established directly under the Union Government. I am disgusted that a Chief Minister, being a woman herself, has the audacity to blame a rape victim for “inviting it” by travelling late night in a cab, dressed in a ‘modern’ outfit. And we are still vying for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, when we can’t even ensure a permanent security mechanism to our women citizens!! Villages in India are fast being brought under e-governance systems but no heed is being paid to social governance. In a scenario like I have discussed above, what is the use of cracking down on illicit activities like prostitution and soliciting it? I would rather say that the same should be legalized and licensed, so as to curb the ill-effects of menacing mentalities of Indian male mindsets while emancipating the general work & health facilities amongst sex workers as well. There are several other reforms that can be implemented but what needs to change radically is the mindsets and the inherent depravities that have come to settle in the minds of Indian men since time immemorial.

Let us now also turn our heads to the fairer sex (not that we don’t pay them any attention as such). Let me not be taken as a feminist. I am all for equality of sexes but strongly opposed to any kind of reservation for either. In the contemporary India, women have admirably risen to scale previously unimaginable heights. They have breached open the sanctum sanctorum of the most impregnable occupations and professions. They have turned the tables at the men and are now ready to take on the world at their own might and wit, shedding all inhibitions and reservations. However, in this process, most women have also shed their integrity and ethical / moral ideologies that are elementally associated with womanhood. Women today are more than willing to mortgage their modesty and values for a higher pay-scale or a better professional opportunity. Casting couches in art industries thrive not only because of loose-moraled men but also equally characterless women. I do not condemn the use of one’s beauty or skills to climb the professional ladder but the threshold of moral / cultural turpitude should be borne in mind while making a wild dash for success. Further, although I am a whole-hearted supporter of contemporary attires (for the simple reason, that women look way hotter in them), I vehemently suggest the use of the same after the exercise of due care and caution in regard to the place, occasion, company, time, means of commutation, etc. Wearing a hot mini would definitely grab a lot of eyeballs for you, Miss Hot Legs. But the same mini would land you in enough soup that the men around you would love to grab much more than your eyeballs. Be it Dhaula Kuan, Mumbai, U.P., Goa, Bihar or Jhumri Taliya, India is not a safe place for women. After all, Indian women should remember what kind of a lecherous male population they cohabitate with. The above may be true for city women but the same cannot possibly be suggested for the village folk. Those unfortunate women have to fend for themselves as the ‘wolves’ surrounding them are much more ravenous and voracious. Effective policing and law reforms have so far not turned a pebble in the rather pitiable conditions these women survive in.  

Though the Pink Chaddi campaign and Slut Walks are the only means to vent one’s anger in the scenario like the one existing in our country, one should remember that safety, like charity, begins at home. Reliance on governments, police forces and administrative agencies are a sure shot road to doom. Empowering and educational programs alongwith safety / defence training do not bring out the superwomen in you but are surely a big sigh of relief in otherwise grim scenario. But most importantly, what is with Indian men that led me into writing all this crap about them? Why are we such sex maniacs that we would rather ravage a woman than pay for easily available sex? Why do we devour girls with our eyes instead of being satisfied with our respective wives and girlfriends? Why are we so enticed with seeking illicit carnal pleasures that we voluntarily choose to ignore all limits of decency, morality and humanity? Does being born in the land of Kamasutra mean that we attain the right to act in the most perverse and perverted manner? Would a woman ever be able to feel safe and walk the streets of any town / city in Indian at 3 in the night without having a lurking fear of being brutally outraged and physically tarnished? Would India ever be a safe haven for our womenfolk? The answer to all these questions is in the negative, so far as the present scene is concerned. And if this is going to ever change, is a moot point. Till then, this is the State of Our Nation. Signing off... For now...   

State of Our Nation - Let's begin from the end, shall we???

State of Our Nation is my blog. I am new to blogging and the world of e-socializing. Although I have been a member of FB and Orkut, I have never really bothered to discuss social issues or for that matter, more particularly, the "State" of our "Nation". This is my first genuine attempt to do so. Genuine because I have finally had enough of these so-called "nationalistic leaders" who are at the driving seat of our country. Attempt because I believe that my efforts, however genuine they might be, shall be in vain. I know this is as pessimistic as pessimistic can be, but this is true nevertheless. I am so bound and gagged in my professional and personal life that I do not have the time to do anything for this nation of ours. Sure, I can do those decent little things they taught in the Civics class namely, not litter the streets, not waste electricity/water and so on. But how far shall these go on adding anything to our "ever-growing" economy. A common man like me doesn't give a f*** about the economy till his stomach, pockets, house and bank account(s) are empty. Our swashbuckling-economist-turned-politico Hon'ble PM has been doing his best to tackle this said issue, along with several others, with the due aid and assistance from his able and "stable" team-mates. But our Hon'ble First Among Equals has failed constantly not only in tackling issues like economic stability, terrorism, inflation, and God only knows what not. Poor PM. He looks soo cute in his oh-so-simple attire and humble (read, feeble) voice. I did not expect any wonders from the guy as such when he ascended to the chair. After all, how can a man who had never ever participated in the "race" to hold the highest democratic office of the largest "democracy" in the world, hold the said office? (Psstt.. Hey! Let's not discuss the Assam fiasco!) While Mr. Singh's debut has been marred by several political and not-so-political blotches, he has had his due share of the pie as well. All thanks to the "able guidance" of a certain Madam, shall one say? (Ahem.. Ahem..) Nevertheless, lets not take away Mr. Singh's due credit. After all the man of "steely nerves" and "resolute composure" has been at the helm of affairs of one of the largest demographic pools on the earth. Awesome show, Sir! Well done. Kudos to you, your "team" and Madamm.... Errr... I mean to the Party....

Oh ho... Boring... Another silly blog bickering about political turmoil and its consequences on Indian scenario. Well ladies and gentlemen, I am not here to sell my blog. So you are free not to buy any or everything that I say here. But please don't be so dismissive about me. Not yet, at least. I know that all of us are sick of reading the anti-political, anti-India, rebel-istic, whacko blogs and articles splurged all over the net. Trust me, this is not "just one of them". Mainly coz I have written it and partly so, coz I will make sure that this doesnt turn out to be another run-of-the-mill blog.

Moving on, is the aforesaid Mr. Singh and his "team" to be blamed for the present and probable horrific future  political and social setup of our country? No. Not entirely at least... Then who is?? We. You, me, him, her, she, he, us, them, they..... All of us, who proudly call ourselves Indians only on 2 days in a year and remain Kashmiris, Punjabis, Haryanvis, Rajasthanis, Gujaratis, Marathis, Kannads, Tamils, Keralites, Andhraites, Oddissis, Bengalis, Biharis, Assames, Mizos, etc. for the rest of the year. When we clean our homes, what do we do with the dust and trash collected? We sweep it out only till our doorstep or the boundary wall of our homes. Wonder why we do that? Indians have a rather peculiar habit of keeping their surroundings clean, even if they have to spoil someone else's surroundings for the same. We more than often (read, always) forget that our sphere of freedom is restricted to the outer limits of other's sphere of freedom. Mera ghar saaf rahe, baaki jaaye tel lene!! What is India's biggest challenge today? Population, illiteracy, pollution, poverty, malnutrition, safety??? No... India's biggest and the worst problem is the "I don't care attitude" we Indians are born with and live by. My house, my premises, my neighbourhood, my locality, my area, my district, my town, my city, my state, my country. Sounds good?? Isn't so.. What ever happened to the "our" in the whole lot of these things? After all, aren't a more than major chunk of these in existence due to multiplicity of subjects residing in it? And what do these multiple subjects i.e. we, the people, do for the positive construction of the said social arenas? Nothing. Rather, we are more than happy to add to the cause of degradation of the great Indian social scene. Thanks to our ever dynamic and oh-so-restless Gen X, Y, Z and what not. Not that I am a critic of deviation from traditional social setups. I am just 26 for Pete's sake and celebrated my latest b'day just yesterday. I am as much of a "Lolzzz" guy as one can  be. But what I am a very strong critic of is the way we youngsters are dismissive about the whole nationalistic idea of things. We don't care much about 26/11, 13/12 or the latest, 11/7. These are just dates and numbers for us. We just love to report these on FB and Twitter to prove to our parents that FB and Twitter are not just for "wasting time'. True, people in Mumbai and other terror hot-spots do rush in to help the victims as soon as they can. But then what? I remember this guy called Hemant from Mumbai being interviewed by a CNN-IBN correspondent at Opera House blast site. The guy spoke about the security lapses and impending fatalities due to Govt's callous attitude with such impeccable flair and resolute demeanor that I almost mistook him to be a member of the Opposition for a moment. But then, he was not. He was just a guy. like you and me, struggling to make ends meet and waging a new war everyday. He too was an Indian though. He came, he saw, he spoke and he carried on. He didnt do anything about it. What could he do, I ask myself? What can you and me do? Friends, for starters, let’s start caring. For ourselves, for our friends, their friends, and their friends. And then build a society and a nation around that thread of solidarity and fraternity.

A small instance from my life. I once went to a Jagran. After spending about 30 or so minutes, I inquired as to why they required to relay the devotional songs and hyms remixed on raunchy Bollywood item numbers through gigantic speakers. I was informed that it was to "pull" the non-believers. Who are non-believers, I asked. Those who do not believe in God. Who is God? But of course, the Holy Hindu Trinity, their consorts and the subordinate Gods and Demi-gods. All in all, 33,00,00,000 you see. That's all? I walked out of the canopy and wondered what kind of a God would want a heart patient to die in discomfort just so his other healthy followers could chant his name at the top of their voices, and that too to the tunes of one of Mallika Sherawat's or Rakhi Sawant's hot songs. Its not only Hindus. Take Islam for an instance. (Careful. I am treading a very thin line here!!) I am told that the Holy Quraan justifies Jihad. What is Jihad, I ask? I am told that as per Prophet Mohammad, Jihad is the holy war aimed at destruction of the infidels. Who are these unfortunate infidels? Those who do not believe in the supremacy of the all benevolent and omnipotent Allah, the almighty. Amazed, i question myself. Would any God direct his followers to kill or maim anyone of his created beings, just because they would not believe in him. Could it be that Jihad actually was meant to signify a war (read, a drive) to eliminate (read, emancipate) the non-believer infidel into believing in the supreme existence of the omnipresent, all powerful Allah (read, any God of his / her choice). Did the Muslims get it all wrong? What ever is the case, all religious zealots (be them Hindu or Muslim) chose to overlook the fact that their freedom to practice and preach their religions ends at the borders where the domain of someone else's freedom to practice and preach their respective religion begins. This is the only mantra of peaceful co-existence.


Similar is the sob-story of our political and social scenario. We wish for the best but are not ready to give our best. We wish to impose our political and social ideas but are not ready to accept somebody else's! Lets see it from another angle. Everything in this world is a barter. You got to lose some, to win some. Take for example, the fountainhead of our democracy, the elections. How “free” and “fair” are they anyways? We vote for a boti and a roti. Give us a bottle of desi hooch and we would even vote for the worst of the society’s scum. So where is the nationalistic spirit we are supposed to have? Where is the Indian-ness in all of this? And who suffers in the end of all of this? WE. It is the funniest, craziest, whackiest and yet the biggest democracy in the world. And yes my friend, this in India. There’s always a vicious circle concerning everything around here. And by a circle, I mean a full circle. We vote to elect a majority of our candidates, so that our will is imposed in the legislature and laws to our liking are passed by the same. But what we stupidly choose to overlook, rather neglect is that the same candidates end up exploiting us for their personal benefits and trample upon us to achieve illicit advantages for themselves. The question is did we elect them to use them against the people we think oppose us or did we choose them to run the governance system of our country?  We transgress people’s freedoms and in turn blame them for piercing ours. We exploit them and they trouble us. We break rules and blame Govt for not providing adequate security. We, the people of India, have solemnly resolved to not care for anyone except for ourselves. We, the people of India, have solemnly resolved to blame all but oneself for everything that goes wrong on this planet, specifically this country. We, the people of India, love to begin at the end and end at the beginning. This, my friends, is the State of Our Nation. Signing off…… For now….