National Convention on using Law
to Combat Communalism
At Sahbhagi Shikhan Trust, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Held on 24th and 25th August 2013
576, MASJID
ROAD,
JUNGPURA,
NEW DELHI-110014
A two day national consultation was organized in Lucknow on 24-25 August, 2013 to
discuss issues related to communalism with a view to combat the same. The
consultation was attended by more than 110 participants, of which more than 30%
were women, comprising of social activists and lawyers from across the country.
Objectives of the conference

To make people, especially, lawyers, activists and youth aware of the
laws related to communalism;

To discuss the issues concerning communalism with a view to combat
communalism in India;

To raise the issues of communalism, which have so far not been raised
on any platform; and

As a platform to raise the voice of the oppressed and marginalized
people from different corners of the country.
2
Introduction to the National Consultation
The National Consultation was organized by HRLN with Royal Netherland Embassy.
The national consultation was organized to provide a platform for sharing grievances
of the victims of communal violence and train civil society organizations, journalists,
academicians, lawyers, judges, policemen and NGOs. The objectives of the
consultation were to disseminate information in the community to use the legal
system so that communal tendencies could be curbed in the society, government
institutions, police & administration and strengthen secularism and democracy in the
country.
Prior to this consultation, four regional consultations were organized in Kolkata,
Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad to exchange ideas, experience, stories and to
mobilize Lawyers, journalist and social activists.
3
The consultation also encouraged the victims of communal violence’s to share their
stories of suffering,
Eminent activists, Mr. Jamil Azmi & Mohd Aslam shared their experiences of being
attacked because they were supporting innocent Muslim youth, who are imprisoned
on charges of terror cases.
Communal Situation in Uttar Pradesh and Legal Initiative taken
During this session, discussion were on the issue of creating communal divide by
hate speeches, propaganda. etc by political parties and communal elements leading
to polarization of one community against others, how will lawyers and activists strive
to strengthen the existing legal system and strengthen the movement towards
secularism. There were equivocal demands to strengthen the legal support system
for minorities and to make legal aid readily available.
Mr. Jamil Azmi discussed
the issues of communalism in
U.P and talked about the
immediate
need
of
compensation to riot victims
who had not been granted to
more than 40 riot cases till
now. He said that in the
presence of police, rioters set
ablaze houses. These riots
are politically motivated, which end in polarization of votes. There is no blame on any
specific party but under the governance of Samajwadi Party in UP, all these riots
have been taken place. This government was voted in by almost 99% of the people
under poverty line with a hope of development and growth in U.P. There was no
filing of any charge-sheets against the rioters. There are no pro-active initiatives
being taken by the U.P. government. Once the deprived stand against the leading
4
political parties, riots take place, innocent people are killed by the police and State
defends them in the name of terrorism.
It is true that secularism has been weakened in states and in the Country as well. It
doesn’t matter whether Mulayam has the control of the state or his son, saffron
parties like VHP, RSS, Bajrang Dal etc. are manipulating the state with their vested
interests & agenda. The ruling party and other non-ruling parties always have a
motive of filling in their vote banks by raising the issues of riots. When secularism
was prevailing, there were developments in the field of law. For example, if we look
in 1980’s All India Reporter (AIR), we will find the concept of PIL, letter petition etc.,
and these concepts were developed by the secular people at that time.
Innocent people are killed in the name of terrorism. There was a question asked in
U.P.PCS examination, “which place in Uttar Pradesh is known for the provenance of
terrorism?” The options were Pithoragarh, Aligarh, Azamgarh &Pratapgarh, with the
suffix of “Garh”. Many of the people answered Azamgarh. It shows that an attempt
was made to denounce that place. We filed a petition against it. Summon was
served upon the police officer and he apologized readily. It is not the matter of
apology, but of creating communal fervor in the country. HRLN shall come forward to
make legal aid readily available to the poor, victims of riots, at District and State
level.
There was a case of a love marriage between a Muslim youth and Hindu girl.
However, the matter was resolved but mindsets were not changed. A five year old
girl from the family of the boy, who was a Muslim, was allegedly raped. The man was
identified by the girl but still FIR has not been registered. Case has been filed in the
High court but no action has been taken yet.
Vandana Mishra: In U.P. the election is contested based on the caste based matrix
and through engineering the polarization of Hindus and Muslims. This is a situation
which is very dangerous and critical. Since the Samajwadi party has come into
power, 27 riots took place. It’s a matter of great deliberation as to what is the reason
for the riots, whenever the Samajwadi Party comes into power?
5
Apart from U.P., during the communal
violence in Assam 46 Muslims homes and
shops were set ablaze. The PUCL has
brought the case before the High Court.
Assam riot erupted in June and in the
month of August, the most outspoken
RSS leader Praveen Togadia, known for
hatred speech, was permitted to go to
Assam with his colleagues. Muslims were
still not back to their homes after the riot;
Praveen
Togadia
had
given
hate
speeches, which led to more unrest where many Muslim’s homes and shops were
set ablaze. Why are people like him given permission to visit such sensitive places?
Another similar incidence occurred in Faizabad. Idols from a temple were stolen. It
was said that the theft was deliberated. Mr. Yogi reached there and gave a hate
speech saying if idols are not taken back to the temple then consequences would be
worse. Even after this threat, the administration did not take any precautions and
after two days, Muslim shops were identified and set ablaze. It was said that Hindu
shops were also set ablaze but that were the adjacent shops.
The police force is communal. The police force shows bias in its arrests which is
problematic as the police are primarily responsible for the law & order. On 3rd March
2013, in Ambedkar Nagar, a leader of VHP was murdered, this was a political killing
but Muslims were unnecessarily targeted. On 16th February 2011, Samastpur in
Moradabad, during demonstration, unknown people were arrested, most of them
were Muslims. We can understand better the communal mindset of police by this
incidence that in Faizabad, Nirupa Singh, a SP of Local Intelligence Unit, had written
a letter to MLA, which he later disclosed in a conference. In that letter, she
mentioned that, Muslims themselves set their shops on fire for the purpose of
claiming compensation and Muslims tried to fabricate false cases against Hindus.
It is very distressful that FIRs are not registered by the police in certain cases. An
action should be taken against the responses of the police if they fail to register the
case.
6
There must be a PIL on the issues related to land acquisition, because it is the most
basic factor causing communalism. Recently, a sensitive issue of “Tiley wali masjid”
has been raised in Lucknow. However, till date, no critical situation has arisen,
though we are keeping an eye on the situation so that communal violence could be
avoided. The best way to get justice is to bring the cases forward, pursue it and win
them with the support of HRLN.
Mr. Farman Farooqui: He discussed
about how to combat communalism
through law. There are two or three
instances which support the view that
communalism is embedded in our
Constitution.
The Schedule Caste Order passed in
1950 was not on the principle of
secularism,
which
was
to
be
implemented under Article 341 of the
Constitution. Our constitution is not
following any religion but there was
some dupery attempt made to it. From
the provisions of the executive order of the President it has started those dupery
attempts. In 1955 Kaka Kalekar formed a committee and suggested reasons to
provide reservation. The first suggestion given by him was to dispatch Schedule
Caste presidential order. His report was rejected by the government, as he
propagated that everyone is equal in the eye of the law. Now the same demands are
coming up that the people who are not under reserved category are claiming for
reservation.
Secondly, support for communalism can be seen in the Special Marriage Act. An
amendment was made in 1975, Under the Special marriage Act, the person needs to
get registered under the Act, so that their succession will be governed by the
Succession Act. If a Hindu marries a Hindu under special marriage Act then that will
fall outside the purview of the personal marriage act but if Hindu marries Muslim then
7
that will go under the Act. The amendment which brought Section 21A says, if there
is a marriage in accordance with a particular caste and religion, then that marriage
will be governed by their own personal law. Therefore, the only marriages that this
act covers is inter-caste and inter-religious
There are 37 communal riots that have taken place till now which is an alarming
situation & the government must take steps to stop the riots and root out this issue at
the same time. A Writ petition was filed in Allahabad High Court on communalism
issue and in morning the order was passed, but immediately the State Government
Home Secretary had announced that the order would be reserved.
Cases are filed on the basis of a confessional statement, under the evidence act.
Confessional statement may be forced or forged. There must be clarity in the
evidence act. It’s beyond reason that Confessional statement will not be sent to the
Court if the statement has taken under Section 24, 25, 26 of Evidence Act.
Communalism is being used for vote bank politics. Staggering examples are that
minorities’ youth (16-18 years) are picked up from their home by police and
8
harassed. As per Evidence Act, police cannot harass the boys of this age. As per the
Cr.P.C. the person cannot be tortured before reaching the court. Under Cr.P.C., the
police are given some powers that are also misused by them. There are a number of
cases where the accused persons were tortured by the police before taking them to
the court. The big challenge is registration of FIR which is too difficult. There are
times when it takes around 3 to 4 months to get a FIR registered, especially when
medical evidence is required. Time is needed to bring changes to provisions related
to investigation under Cr.P.C.
Situation in Punjab
Navkiran Singh: He said that
communalism
was
existent
even before the independence
and was being used by the
people as a weapon. People
parted this country on religious
basis. Article 25-32 of our
constitution
is
guaranteeing
secularism.
There are some Hindus who
are not
considered
to be
Hindus because they are not
allowed to enter the temples,
for example Dalits. Religion
has always been used to strengthen the vote banks. It is true that not only the
leaders but also the people themselves are responsible for the issue of
communalism. It is the need of the hour to change the mindsets, ideologies and
education is a very important tool as well. The word Hindustan itself is discriminatory.
It gives superiority complex to Hindus. The Sikhs have been clubbed with Hindus
though it is a separate religion. There is no logical connection of clubbing Jains and
Sikhs as Hindu.
9
The concept of secularism is only given in our constitution but in practice there is no
secularism. The judiciary is said to be independent but they are biased in favor of the
State. The argument that is not even legally valid is considered by our courts.
Communalism can only be stopped when people start realizing that religion is only a
path to God and conflict would not help in any way. Communalism can adopt a
fiercely negative face in India. BHAGVA TERRORISM is a new and strange word
coined recently. Even the congress is not saying that it has been coined by the B.J.P
because they think that it might benefit the B.J.P.
Ms.
Roop
Rekha:
Communalism is an issue which
has several dimensions and
dissenting
ideologies.
perspective
of
The
communalism
must not be dealing with the use
of laws once the riots actually
occur but on larger dimensions
of
communalism
eliminating
all
inequalities
such
as
sorts
of
and
misconceptions. There is need
to plug the loopholes in the laws
because we need to strengthen the foundations. Mostly communalism battles use a
woman’s body as a battle ground through acts of sexual harassment, rape,
molestation
and
acid
attacks,
which
also
has
social
and
psychological
consequences. Social, psychological and legal dimensions need to be integrated.
Human Rights Law Network and other eminent organizations shall be clubbed
together to make effective and efficient legal aid available to the needy. Legal aid is
a big challenge in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
Whenever a discussion on communalism takes place we talk about the amendment
in the Evidence Act and Cr.P.C however they may become worse after the
amendment. We have per se no participation in the process of change and
10
amendment or changes. If there are communal elements in the committees changing
the laws then what amendment can actually occur?
On the issues of communalism, even the judges are in dilemma and danger. The
common man is caught in the nefarious design of police, the lower judiciary becomes
powerless and unable to go against the police.
Communal Violence Bill
Mr.
Irfan
Engineer:
different
There
perspectives
are
to
communalism.
One mindset is that the citizenship of
the minorities should be denied and
a second opinion is that they should
be eliminated in the riots.
For instance, in Assam, it is a policy
that the citizenship of 10 percent
Muslims has been made doubtful
every year and it happens many a
times that the father is a citizen but
the son’s citizenship is doubtful and such persons have to prove their citizenship in
the tribunals, which are very few. It may take up to even 30 years to get their
citizenship cleared in such tribunals.
In Kuchh area, Gujarat, on the Pakistani border, many people are given Pakistani
identities and denied their citizenship.
Around 40,000 people have been killed in riots, which is not a small figure and not
many people have been convicted or prosecuted in such cases. We need strict laws
in the area of communal violence.
These days big scale riots do not take place because of media presence hence
small riots manifest in the form of people being killed in fake encounters or declaring
11
the minorities as terrorists or giving them the status of second class citizenship, for
instance, Christians in Kandhamal.
Media is also being used against minorities by printing and disseminating hate
speech, such as swami saying that Muslims should not be granted voting rights. This
is despite such speech being in violation of Section 15 of the CRPC. The coverage
of terror incidents, by the media portrays the minorities as culprits. Gujarat textbooks
have anti-minority references. Education should be free from prejudices and biases.
Under the Witness protection program, the government should take concrete
measures to protect the victims as well as the witnesses. The Communal Violence
Bill is not only for the minorities or against the Hindus. The bill gives protection to the
Dalits, Christians, Sikhs, Jains as well as other minorities. It is meant for the
protection of the weak and the downtrodden. During the proceedings of the
parliament, the Communal Violence Bill could not be taken up for discussion in the
Lok Sabha due to other political issues. The Bill is still pending.
The media on the other hand is biased while reporting communal violence. Most of
the big media houses are by and large owned by a single person. News related to
the minorities, either are not printed in the media or if printed, are done so in a
distorted or manipulated form.
Mr.
Sandeep
Pandey:
proposes a position that if the
lawyers and judges have a
communal bent of mind, the
situation will be graver. It’s a
matter to ponder upon, ”how
these mindset will be changed?”
In most of the cases, police
prepare
a
concocted
case.
However, in cases of terrorism
the person arrested is prejudged
as terrorist, even before the trial.
12
The biggest challenge is how we should fight communal mindset. In many cases of
communalisms, there is such a cry outside the courts, and even sometimes by the
lawyers, that the judge cannot release the person on bail.
The most draconian point of concern is the Mukhbir concept, who cannot be
prosecuted under any law and which is the source of information to the police. This
person is not traceable and is very much an unreliable source of information. Many
arrests are based on the information given by the Mukhbirs.
The case of arrest of Tariq and Kazim, were also based on the information given by
a Mukhbir. This system has been dragging on since the time of the colonial era.
Arrests are being made on the unreliable information of the Mukhbirs. This system
should be abandoned now.
Now the B.J.P is not the only communal party. All the parties are equally communal
and manipulate the situation to polarize the vote. Muslim houses were burnt in
Tejpur, Assam. Praveen Togadia visited the place and again Muslim houses were
burnt. It’s an irony that knowingly riots are tacitly consented to by the State to take
place again & again.
Ms. Tahira Hassan: Communalism is not a new issue. Though there has been a
change in the trend of communalism. Pandit Nehru was no doubt secular. The
congress party is no longer the congress party of pre independence times.
In order to understand the issue of communalism, we need to understand the era of
1990’s when globalization crept in and fascist forces came in. Communalism comes
in three steps. Leaders spew hate speech, then spread rumors and finally there
comes violence. The Gujarat riot is a classic example of communalism. It is a
dastardly act that Narendra Modi, who was responsible for communal violence is
seen as Prime Ministerial Candidate. Neo capitalism is another menace. Only those
people who have the money in their pocket can purchase commodities and sadly
rights. We are only demanding a fair trial and not the release of culprits.
There is need of introspection, in order to look for the answers to some questions on
communalism. At the time of partition, there were three Hindu parties and it is
important to mention that all the three parties had been lost at the time of partition.
13
During the first general election, voter clearly showed a preference for secular forces
and clearly rejected communal forces at that time.
Communal forces always operate at the ground level in the rural areas, whereas
secular forces address the people in urban areas. We need to work in the rural areas
and destroy the communal elements there.
Fake encounters have become a tool of demoralization and detachment of minority
community. The punishment for encounter should be death penalty and it should be
made illegal. Judiciary is our only hope. The only hope is legal intervention – It can
be used to expose and punish both perpetrators and masterminds of riots. It is worth
mentioning that when the concept of secularism was not in our constitution then we
were more secular in comparison to now when the concept of secularism is there in
paper but not in practice. Some communal riots essentially take place before
elections. For instance, the 84 Kosyatra at Kosi was engineered for communal
purposes to further voter politics. We should use PIL for addressing the issue. There
shall be provision of social boycott of people delivering hate speeches that ultimately
lead to communal violence.
Ms. Shabnam Hashmi: In the comparison of 2014 election with the 2004 election,
runners were mediocre in 2004 election. Now the Babas have got a good control
upon the minds of the people and are moving ahead in making India a Hindu State
with great rates of success.
The RSS have got informers in all the aspects of the society and this infiltration has
been done with great success. The Gujarat government tried their best to save
Pandya. Media also plays a very important role and is playing in the tune of the rich
business class. They are blocking the path of the rights of poor people.
Police intervention intensifies the communal violence situation be it Forbsganj,
Gopalganj case or Dhule case. All the victims in these cases were Muslims.
There are only two propositions: one is to sit by and watch the present situation
quietly or to stand up and fight against the injustices going on.
14
Mr.
Colin
Founder
Gonsalves,
Director
of
the
Human
Rights Law Network and an
eminent Supreme Court Lawyer
discussed the role of the lawyers
in combating communalism. The
first exercise of the legal weapon
was in the Sikh riots, reports of
which were filed by the people.
Lesson has been learnt that if a
group of lawyers take the cases
of any dimension, there are fairer chances of success. The Mumbai blasts case was
in the fast track court and there were hundreds of lawyers who volunteered for the
case. Even if, there are group of person willing to fight a case & they do not have too
much recourse, without senior advocates, there can be success. Through the efforts
of these small groups, people have understood that Ishrat Jahan and few other
cases were fake encounters. There are many good examples of communalism
cases, filed after 2005 in Supreme Court. He discussed Shabnam Hashmi’s fact
finding about hate speech in Gujarat and Maharashtra where the Hindus were asked
to behead the priests and kill local Christians who were involved in the practice of
religious conversion by the saffron brigade. The case was filed in Supreme Court in
this regard. The old conversions law was also challenged in the Supreme Court.
He also discussed an issue in M.P, where the state government has given its
consent for government servants to join RSS which is contrary to the constitution.
This is an illegal order which shows the roots of Communalism in the state.
He further discussed that there is another order that Gita should be compulsorily
taught in the schools which is also illegal. There was an old case about religious
education in schools.
He talked about the announcement made by Praveen Togadia for a Kalash yatra via
Kandhamal, Orissa. His visit may have created tension and the flame of
15
communalism would have been torched if he was not timely stopped by the
intervention of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The paramilitary forces were deployed on
the direction of the Supreme Court to stop him mid way. This fight against
communalism was a huge success against the communal forces.
In a landmark case, the Supreme Court ordered that no lawyers can be stopped from
taking up cases or representing cases of any nature, even terror related cases of
their clients to prove their innocence. One cannot be debarred from the bar council
for taking cases of any nature.
He discussed about the Landmark judgment made in S.R Bommai case that “State
has no Religion” and state should not be biased on the grounds of religion. There is
a temple in the Uttarakhand High Court premises, which is unconstitutional. HRLN
will go forward to take up the cases in the Supreme Court, provided documentary
proof of hate speeches, material and books are furnished. HRLN will take up the
cases, in which people are taken in to custody solely on the basis of confessionary
statement.
Tahima Husain: Muslims are being marginalized. The assault is not on a particular
religion but on the roots of our democracy. Things are being fabricated
unnecessarily. Liaqat Ali was caught in Somalia, whereas it was alleged that he is
being caught in Delhi. He was given third degree torture and was being forced to
confess that he was transporting weapons. Another example of police brutality due
to communal fervor is of Khalid Khujai who was tortured brutally when he demanded
water and was given urine.
The High court in the 2010 decision on Babari Masjid, was also communal and
unilateral. All secular forces have to come on one platform and fight in togetherness.
The development models are shallow. Not only Muslims but Dalits and Adivasis are
also being marginalized. Even the media supports these kinds of fake development
models through superficial arguments.
Mr. Khurshid: The fight against communalism can not be in the meeting hall but in
the rural and urban houses and in the mind of the people. If we want democracy,
there shall be fight against the communalism, not only on the virtual world like
16
electronic media and other electronic means of communication but on the real land
also. Recent killing of rationalist is worth criticizing.
Mr. Hardania: journalist & professor
with
significant work on combating terrorism in
Punjab.
Mr. Dholkar, who was a great rationalist, had
also been killed by people who had been
benefitted
by
the
thriving
on
such
superstitions and earning money from these
activities.
Bhartiya Janata Party is totally against the
tenets of our constitution, democracy and
secularism. It is an organization that works in
collaboration with Rastriya Swayam Sangh
which is the source of their ideology.
Mr. Narendra Modi promotes aggressive
communalism and the others promote silent communalism. In Indore, M.P., people
from Bajrang Dal had cornered an air craft, causing damage to National property.
Congress Party does not oppose anti-secular activities. Probably because they feel
that it shall lose the vote banks of the Hindus. No person from any state can do any
anti-secular activity without the permission of the RSS. “We are not a political
organization but our activities resemble political activities.” This was the statement of
RSS.
RSS driven State policies are discriminatory like, in the Muslim locality of
Ahmedabad, street lights are not provided, and similar treatment was given to
Christians in Ahmedabad.
Not a single person from the congress party has gone to pay condolence in the
death of Mr. Ahsan Jaffery, in spite of the fact that he had provided shelter to
hundreds of Muslims during riots.
17
Teachings of Gita, were made compulsory in educational institutions in Madras. But
bowing to public pressure, it was later made an optional subject.
There are only 50-60 percent of people who cast their vote. Political parties should
come to power only if it gets the majority of votes, not of the people who have voted
but of all the enrolled voters. Such laws exist in many developed countries and shall
help in the restoration of democracy in the country.
Mr.
Mohammad
Shareef,
Advocate from Kerala, is of the
opinion that now, communalism is
called
politics.
There
are
56%
Hindu, 27% Muslims and 6-7%
Christians in Kerala.
Before Tipu Sultan, people were
living naked, dalit ladies were not
allowed to wear blouses in Calicut.
If they would try to wear bra, the
breasts would be chopped off with
knives. After the arrival of Tipu Sultan the situation changed. Everybody was given
shirts to wear. The upper class created uproar against the rule of Tipu Sultan. The
mindset still hasn’t changed. There has been big hue and cry in Kerala. The upper
caste groups are very strong in Kerala. The police are also very communal in Kerala.
Without any provocation the police killed 6 people there. The report has still not been
submitted. No judicial review of the situation has been done.
Another group called Naga group by the RSS is also very strong. Now the Sangh
Parivar is gaining ground in Kerala, even the media and the CPM channel gives
preference to BJP. At least one man in every house is in the gulf, so financially,
Kerala is in better position than U.P. Due to the gulf money Kerala is a prosperous
state, hence the Muslims are in a better condition.
18
Ideologically Kerala is a communist state. The United Democratic Union in Kerala is
led by the saffron political parties, with communal and caste tinges and is now
gaining ground.
The police are completely communalized. The Minority communities are developed
but they have to face all sorts of prejudices from the police and bureaucrats in
Kerala.
Alin Mahanta: Assam used to be a very peaceful state once upon a time. Then all
the states separated from it and it was considerably reduced in size. Today there are
23 tribes in Assam and they are asking for autonomous status in Assam, which is
difficult to gain.
There is demand for autonomous councils. It is believed that the Muslims were used
for political reasons in Assam by congress. In the Kokarjhar area, Muslims were
attacked and this is not clear till now who the attackers were, their identities are not
clear. Hence the issue that was only political turned out to be communal. Various
parties use the people in Assam for their vested reasons.
The conditions of the tea tribes are also gloomy in Assam.
Manjeet: We are into pro-bono litigation, dealing with mass violations and a PIL has
been filed. The people in Assam have a very different view of the communal violence
heard in Kokrajhar than the view of the rest of the country.
There was also a mass displacement, after the partition of India. Around 4 lakhs
people had been displaced in Kokarajhar. A fact-finding has been done twice in
Kokarajhar.
On 21.7.2012, four Bodos were killed. Another day some more Bodos were killed. It
was said that the group NDAP was behind the attacks, but this could not be
confirmed. Four districts were affected but no particular community was affected by
this. There was not any particular cause. It was politically motivated. Number of
people have been displaced and are living in tents. Nothing much has been provided
to the people in the relief camps. A PIL was filed in High Court to provide relief to
people. The government has taken no immediate steps in such grave situations.
19
The government has distributed clothes for each family. Rs. 500 per person and Rs.
20-22 kg grain per family to the people whose houses have been burnt. The court
directed HRLN to observe, if the government has actually provided to the victims
what it actually has declared. The people have been claiming that INR 22000
(Compensation) is not even sufficient to start farming activities again, let alone
feeding kids and the family. The govt. asked many people who had been displaced
to go back but the people are scared to go back because they think that the incident
might reoccur. Many people tried to go back home and settle down but due to
insufficient money, they have come back to the relief camp.
Mr. Parvesh. Forbesganj is a small town in the district Araria, Bihar. This incident
occurred in Bhajanpur, which predominantly consists of Muslims. There was one
road, which was the lifeline for that village. Due to increase in developmental
activities, the road was closed for the development work by erecting a wall. The
villagers demolished the wall. The police forces came and fired, four persons were
killed, including a six month old child, a pregnant lady and 25 year old boy. After few
days videos were uploaded on you-tube showing a policeman jumping on the body
of a person killed during this incident. This brutality shocked the conscience of the
entire country and awakened the human rights activists all over the world. For two
and half years, no FIR was lodged. Later 3 FIR’s were lodged by the police, one was
against the 3000 villagers, the other was against 1000 villagers and the third was
against the policeman who had been jumping on the dead body. That policeman was
released on bail in 6 months. The village had a total population of 3000 people.
A PIL was filed in this case by HRLN in the Supreme Court. The same had been for
disposal for the last 2 years and every time the Public Prosecutor takes date and the
matter gets dragged. The company has not started its function in that area. NHRC
has worked in tandem with police and gave report that there was violence by the
villagers, therefore, police resorted to firing. Communalism has penetrated deep into
the roots of Bihar. Bihar judiciary is even worse. Mustafa- the person’s body on
which the policeman had been jumping, his grandfather was asked to compromise
by the judge. Arrest warrants have been issued against the people who have
complained against the judicial commission. The NHRC has submitted false reports.
20
The enemies of our country are not external enemies but are rather internal. Much
has happened in the Batla House encounter Case. The report filed in the Batla
House encounter justifies the encounter without giving any basic reasons for it .It
simply gives the descriptions of the police officers only. The armed forces act of
Assam had been challenged in the Supreme Court on giving the powers of the civil
police to the army which is a dangerous sign and the said act has been validated.
The govt. of India has a policy under which, in case of communal riots or natural
calamity one can claim an amount up to INR 300,000 from the government of India
through the district court.
There should be a European styled amendment in our representation of people act
in our country. The political parties thrive only on the 15 percent votes of the enrolled
population and they focus their energy and their resources in the direction of those
people. And ultimately they win even if the country does not want them to come to
power.
Discussion on the solution and effort to Curb Communalism
Mr. Shahid Ahmad: Political riots do not
occur in a vacuum, but are politically
motivated occurrences.
A riot occurred in 2005, there was a small
Mosque called Shahi Katra Masjid in Mau
(U.P.) and it was common practice that
Bharat-Milap was always on the gate of
Mosque. Once this could not happen,
nearly for 72 hours riots continued and
nothing was done to prevent the communal
situation. There was a boy named Hazrat
who was shot dead during the riots and the
incident was not reported due to the fear of the government. Another girl named
Farzana was raped along with her mother during the riots. All the culprits of the 2005
21
riots have been released and are now free without any accountability. Only the rape
case of that girl is pending in the court and the trial is being carried on.
RTI is now an important tool through which we asked the question about the
communal riots. Through RTI, we know that Khalid Mujahid was arrested on 21 or 22
December, 2007 and the riot took place on another date, so advocates demanded
his release on bail. Court dismissed the case and gave the bail.
In Pratapgarh District, U.P., a dalit girl died and her death was communalized and
her house was burned. A PIL was filed and the Judge told the petitioner to go to
Human Rights Advocates. This reflects the attitude of the judiciary towards
communalism and Human Rights advocates.
Mr. Mohd Arif: During these two
days,
the
discussion
communalism.
Earlier,
is
it
on
was
believed that uneducated person
indulge
in
the
issue
of
communalism but now even highly
educated
person
indulge
and
thrive on the communalism. These
peoples
are
teacher,
lawyers,
doctors, businessman etc. this
leads to vertical and horizontal
increase of communalism. The
institutions of like-minded people
are making children communal; it’s not only the RSS School making students
communal but the communal thinking has become omnipresent.
There is another kind of communalism. There was criminalization of adivasi (ST),
and the thinking still prevails.
Now the media has taken a corporate perspective – meant for profit, therefore,
media plays on the tune of majority
22
A striking example is; Urdu bazaar (A magazine) has been changed to Hindu bazaar,
these types of small changes help the parties for election and for their enhancement
of power.
One can see the role of state in communal riots earlier but now the face of
communal riots has been changed. There was a case of a missing person named
Bashir in the village Ukhrajhaar. After six month his body was dug out and identified
by his family members. It is a clear case of murder but the police is making excuses
to file a FIR unless they receive the forensic report. .
Mr. Suman: discussed that Law,
justice and order, have their own limits
and if it becomes communal then how
can one use the law for protection.
The question was raised in various
forums on the report of Sachhar or RD
Nivesh commission. It’s a matter of
deliberation
that
recommendations
are
these
not
being
adhered to, which is leading to further
deterioration of communal situation.
Communalism can be seen in the judiciary that Chief Judicial Magistrate of Faizabad
was assigned investigation of a murder case and he gave report in the favour of
Majority, showing complete apathy towards the sentiments of the minority.
Ms. Sudha Bajpayee: There is a mindset of a
person that Muslim persons might have act
against the interest of the state. In the case of
a dalit then the thought is that they might do
activities against the upper caste. There is a
urgent
need
to
change
the
academic
institutions, because it is not possible to
change
the
person’s
thinking
without
education so that the new generation can be
23
pruned to have a secular outlook.
Mr. Tariq: who spoke about history, he divided Indian history into three parts a)
Ancient History b) Medieval History and c) the Modern History but the Modern
History is further being divided into two parts after the demolition of Babri Masjid as
the Pre Babri Demolition and the
post
Babri
Masjid
demolition
History which shows the deep
roots of communalism in India.
Now
after
the
Babri
Masjid
Demolition the Communalism has
been institutionalized. We can see
various shades of communalism in
India i.e. Communalism making its
roots
in
Police,
Legislature,
Bureaucracy, Education and even
in Judiciary.
Citing the example of educational communalism he gave the reference of NCERT
books published in IX class history books that the Qutub Minar was built by Prithivi
Raj Chauhan instead of its real builder Qutb uddin Aibak and Altumish. Everybody
knows the answer but the communalism is becoming so wide that nobody stands
and asks about such developments as erasing the names of Muslims from their
buildings.
Police and bureaucrats are the worst communal elements among all. Citing an
example of one Yakub Reddy, a Telangana state activist who was arrested by the
police and was beaten brutally in custody. After some time when police asked his
father’s name, who told a Hindu identity name of his father then police personnel
said if you would have informed this earlier then you have not been beaten so much,
we thought you are a Muslim.
Talking about judicial communalism he cited the judgment of Babri masjid case
where instead of providing justice to the Muslim community as most of the legal
documents and records are in favor of them, the land was divided and one portion
24
(33%) of the land was given to them while 66% was given to the majority community
without having single merit, just their faith.
Citing another example of action and retaliation he discussed the verdict of Godhra
incident in Gujarat where the accused (mostly Muslims) were convicted and
sentenced. The accused were convicted for their act of torching and killings. But the
retaliation of this act was severe where more then 5000 Muslims were killed but the
rioters are roaming free as the cases are pending till now and the bail has been
granted to them. But in contrast he cited the example of Mumbai riot in 1992 where
more then 3000 Muslims were killed by shiv saniks during Shiv Sena regime but the
people who did the act of butchering Muslims are roaming free as the cases against
them are still pending whereas the people who retaliate after such inhuman acts and
conspired the Bombay blasts 1993 are convicted and sentenced by the fast track
courts. It is a general assumption that the Muslims will be convicted and sentenced
whether they act or retaliate whereas the Majority community (Hindus) will be
protected whatever they do as the judiciary is also filled with the spirit of
Communalism.
Another example of citing Communalism in Legislature: he gave the example of
Indian Parliament which passed U.P. Zamidari Abolition Act in 1963 as this act was
passed because most of the Zamindars in U.P were Muslim whereas where the
majority of Zamindars were Hindus. No such act was passed such as in Bihar and
Bengal. Why such an Act was not passed in other States? It is clear because our
legislation was biased who acted against the particular community. There is social
communalism in the present scenario.
Discussing the Economic Communalism he talked about Sachhar committee and
Rangnath Mishra’s Recommendation which says Muslims constitutes about 15 20% whereas only 1-2% of Muslims are in government sector. The reports focus that
their condition is worst than the Dalits in India who enjoy a good representation and
speedy promotion in Government sector. Minority is the one who suffers for
communalism.
25
Mr. K.K.Roy: The need of the
hour is to knock the door of
Supreme Court for the murder
case of Khalid Mujhahid.

Two
activists
murdered,
who
were
were
fighting for the cause of
secularism.

Innocent Muslim youth were
arrested in the case regarding the
blast
in
Mecca
Masjid
in
Hyderabad, now it is clear that saffron terrorist outfit Abhinav Bharat members i.e.
Pragya Thakur, Col Prohit and others were behind the blasts. So we must fight for
the innocent youth who are in jails for the said offence.
RECOMMENDATIONS
In order to combat communalism, which is deteriorating day by day and strengthen
secularism in our country, the following recommendations were made by all the
eminent speakers in the conference held in Lucknow.
 To file PIL before the Supreme Court on the custodial death of Khalid
Muzahid who was killed in a police van in mysterious circumstances when he
was taken from Lucknow to Barabanki. Khalid Muzahid was named as
accused in serial blast case.
 To file a PIL on the brutal attack of district Court lawyer at Faizabad for his
holding brief of Muslim Youths who were facing trials in 13 related cases.
 To file a PIL on the safety and security of Tarikh Kasim who is co-accused
with late Khalid Muzahid in the serial blast case.
 To file a PIL for the publication of the Nimesh Commission Report, it’s placing
on the two houses of U.P. Legislation and for taking action against the police
26
officers who were found guilty on the doubtful arrest of Khalid Muzahid and
Tarikh Kasim at Barabanki.
 To provide legal aid to the victims of communal riot in Asthan village in Kunda
Police Station of District Barabanki.
 There is a need to amend some provisions related to the power of the police.
There have been a number of cases in which people are wrongfully arrested
by the police and tortured. The police misuse their powers. Police act need to
be revamped
 There shall be awareness campaign on right to legal aid.
 There is need of making understanding on present laws and communalism
along with how to plug the loopholes in the present laws
 To organize regional meetings in different parts of the Uttar Pradesh along
with other secular forces and social organization.
 To prepare Fact Finding Report on the communal violence in Uttar Pradesh
and to use it for filing PIL to protect the rights of the minorities.
27
Annexure A: Agenda
Day One -24.08.2013
Time
Topic
Resource Person/ Speakers
9.00 – 9.30 Introduction to the National Consultation
9.30 –
Communal situation in U.P. and Legal
10.30
initiatives taken

K.K. Roy

Jamil Azmi

Dr. Roop Rekha
Verma (Chair person)

Sandeep Pandey

S. Farman Ahmad
Naqvi
10.30-

Vandana Mishra

Javed Abdul Wajid

Tahira Hasan
Situation in Punjab

Navkiran Singh
Discussion

Azmal Khan (Chair
11.00
11:0011:30
person)
11:30-
Communal situation in U.P. and attack

Shoaib Mohammad
12:30
on the Lawyers and the families of the

Ranbir Singh Suman
victims

Jamal Ahmad

Afroz Alam

Asad Hayat

Shams Vikas

Irfan Engineer
12:30 –
Communal Violence Bill
28
1.00
1.00 - 2.00
Lunch Break
2:00-3:00
Recent trends and changes
3:00-4:00
Recent trends in Supreme Court

Shabnam Hashmi

Prof. Ramesh Dixit

Tahira Hassan

Colin Gonsalves

Vandana Mishra
Judgments
4:00-4:30
Discussion
(Chair person)
4:30-5:00
Madni’s case
Communalism in Karnataka
5:00 –
Discussion
6:00

K.M. Shaheen

Ajit Sahi

Vishnu Shukla

Panchamlal
Day Two - 25.08.2013
Time
9:00-10:00
10:0011:00
Topic
Speakers
Situation in Madhya Pradesh

Prof. L.S.Hardenia
Violence in Kokrajhar

Mufid ul Islam

Alin & Manjeet

Chaired by S.
Deportation of Muslims
11:00-
Discussion
29
11:30
Farman Ahmad
Naqvi
11:3012:00
PILs in Bombay High Court

Gayatri Singh

Khalid Anees Ansari

Arshad Alam, JNU

Sandhya

Adv. Shaqeel
Forbesgung
12:30 –
1:00
Sacchar Committee Report &
Rangnath
Mishra
Committee
Report
1.00 – 1.30
Communalism in Andhra Pradesh
1.30 – 2.30
Lunch Break
2.30 – 3.30
Dhule Riots
 Adv Nihal S. Rathod
3:30- 4:00
Communalism in Kerala

Mohammad Shareef
Adv.
4:00-4:30
Discussion
4:30-5:00
Tea Break
5:00 -5:30
Using the Law to combat
Communalism
30

Javed Mohammad

Tariq Adeeb
5.30 - 6:00
Open discussion and Plan of action
31

Vishnu Shukla

Shoaib Mohammad

K.K. Roy