EDITORIAL

 Modification Exposed

Yet Another Reason For Modi To Quit

AS we go to press comes another exposure by the Tehelka.  This time around, it relates to the horrific manner in which the country’s justice delivery system is manipulated to shield the perpetrators of one of the worst communal carnages  that the independent India has ever seen.  It exposes the manner in which the prime witness, Zaheera Sheikh, was bribed/threatened/cajoled in the, by now infamous, Best Bakery case.

As we come close to the third anniversary of Godhra and the State-sponsored  communal carnage in Gujarat, the sordid details of how prime witnesses to the inhuman  trail of death and destruction are being forced to turn hostile in order to protect the perpetrators of these crimes are emerging. The BJP MLA, Madhu Srivastava, is, on record, stating that Zaheera was paid Rs 18 lakh to turn hostile. Following  this, she told the Vadodara court that she did not see what the mob did on the fateful night because she was hiding in fear.  Based on this, all the 21 accused were acquitted  by the court.  This was in May 2003. In July, however, Zaheera capitulated and said that she had turned hostile under threat from the BJP legislator  and his cousin, who is a local Congress corporator! With the help of social activist, Teesta Setalvad, she succeeded  in having the case transferred out of Gujarat. By November, 2004, however, she, once again, reneged on her statements accusing Teesta Setalvad of holding her hostage!  On December 21, 2004, Zaheera deposed in the Mumbai court that she had not seen anything on that fateful night. 

Such flip-flop  is explained by the Tehelka exposé as the result of large sums of money being paid to her. In the first instance, it was an admitted Rs 18 lakh. The latest flip-flop is a result, it is alleged, of a larger amount of money paid this time by the Gujarat government. The exposé also has Zaheera’s grandmother recounting the gory details of the attack on the Best Bakery on the fateful night.  This exposes her granddaughter as a ‘liar’. 

While the Supreme Court will surely  pay attention to this exposé and establish its veracity, the most disturbing issue is the vulnerability and fragility of  our system of delivery of justice. Clearly, the state government can – and in this case it has often been – intimidate key witnesses in such cases of gruesome murder and mayhem. Such exposes, apart from confirming some of our worst fears concerning Indian democracy, calls for well-thought out remedies to protect the witnesses, even in such high profile cases, in order to deliver justice to riot-affected families.  Can money, muscle-power and control over State administration always derail justice?  This case, like all others in Gujarat, is nearly three years old. Justice delayed is justice denied. The Supreme Court and all other arms of Indian democracy must together evolve correctives to improve our system. 

Most importantly, this exposé constitutes yet another damning indictment of Narendra Modi administration in Gujarat.  Clearly, it was not only a State-sponsored communal carnage, it was also a State-sponsored protection of criminals.  That such a fascistic effort can manipulate Indian democracy cannot simply be allowed.   This exposé constitutes yet another reason for the Modi government to  quit.  But the Indian people have long-stopped seeking this because the BJP and its Gujarat chief minister have scrupulously displayed utter contempt for political morality. They will have to be defeated in the political arena in order to safeguard and strengthen Indian democracy.