An Article by the Asian Human Rights Commission
INDIA: The great thamasha
Bijo Francis*
Overcoming initial reluctance, the Maharashtra state police have finally registered a case in the infamous Bhandara rape
and murder incident. This is a case, not much discussed in India, other than for sparse reporting in a few Indian
dailies, of the rape murder of three sisters, all minors. Missing of three miserable village children, their murder and
rape cannot be of national importance anyway, neither did it happen in a city.
Rape has lost its news value in the country. What is new in it? It has become as boring as the Caesarean acta diurna.
Rape is no more nouvelles. Indian media has taken to the sky, and many have sent their best scribes to dig
AgustaWestland and Finmeccanica. Those who are left back and cannot afford to fly to Europe to investigate corruption in
India, are engaged in other serious issues like demanding nothing less than the Kohinoor from the British crown.
However, the state government of Maharashtra is serious about this case. It has offered the children's family Rupees one
million. The children's mother promptly refused the offer and requested the government to use the money to modernise the
police and ensure a speedy justice in the case. Mothers' wisdom has no bounds.
In the Bhandara case, when the family approached the local police complaining that the three children are missing, the
Sub-Inspector of Police, Mr. Prakash Munde, at the Lakhani Police Station initially refused to accept the complaint. The
officer registered a case only the next day. Even as of today, the state police do not know how the crime has happened
and who are responsible for it. They have reportedly summoned four persons to "interrogate". Indian police do not use
the term interview, for questioning suspects or witnesses in a case under investigation.
The elected representative from the state, Mr. Nana Patole, led a group of villagers to block the national highway,
demanding immediate action against the "culprits" and lamented how the police under the state government have failed to
render justice to the people. Patole might not have made this allegation because his seat is amidst the opposition bench
(BJP) in the state legislature.
Patloe must be aware that the court has found even senior police officers in Gujarat, Mr. G. L. Singhal for instance,
have been carrying out extrajudicial executions in Gujarat, a state in which his party is in power. The BJP and the
Chief Minister of Gujarat do not agree appointing officers like Singhal as the head of the State Crimes Records Bureau,
though having officers like Singhal in such important offices could help tampering government records.
Political parties in India are honest concerning controlling crime and upholding good governance. Anomalies like Ibobi
of Manipur, Imchen of Nagaland are abrasions of the democratic process, like the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act,
1958, a pre-1947 surrogate deviation of democracy, that the Home Ministry in New Delhi considers is must to deliver
constitutional guarantees in at least eight states in India.
In the past eight years, Indians have lost USD 180.4 billion (with a 'b') to corruption. These are mere allegations,
though the frauds include telecommunications, food grains and rural employment for the poor, Wakf board, mining, and
defence. All political parties are represented in true democratic sense in these frauds. If this amount were to be
divided, equally among Indians living within and outside India, how much would a person get must be left to the
mathematics wizards, those who claim to be the proud descendants of Aryabhata.
For those who suffer compulsions like 'guesstimating' how many people ever lived on this earth, this figure is
mischievous, since that is about a US dollar for each person born (now alive or dead). There are those who claim this
guesstimating is science. They also guesstimate that their science is more certain than the possibility of this 180.4
billion returned to the people of India.
The allegation that the government of Maharashtra showed laxity in dealing with Munde is wrong. The government did
punish Munde, by transferring him from Lakhani and a few days later suspending him. Those who contest that transfer is
no punishment should ask 23 police officers who were transferred from the Kochi International Airport, for again,
'allegedly' running a human trafficking syndicate. These officers have spent millions paying bribes to politicians and
higher officers for their posting at the airport. If being forced to abandon this investment is not punishment, what
else is?
Meanwhile the state government of Maharashtra has assured that the 'culprits' in the Bhandara case will be punished,
negating all allegations that the government has not taken the case seriously. The distance, by road in all forms as
they exist in India, from Bhandara to the state capital is 924.4 kilometres. The news regarding rape to reach the state
home minister's office, therefore have taken some time, given this long distance the news should drive, in Indian road
conditions (an automotive standard globally used these days). Yet, the state's home minister has declared that the
'culprits' will be punished. His eagerness to render justice is so intense, that he does not see any role for
investigators, prosecutors, and courts in the issue.
Those who still fail to understand the seriousness of the case, do not understand the vindictive power of political
declarations in India. Pity those who fail to appreciate the desi thamasha.
# # #
* Bijo Francis demands a better India for all Indians. The author could be contacted at communicationsjp@gmail.com
About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in
Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of
these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.
ends