Vol. XI. No. 3 Rs. 4%,-b?~ March, 1991

Transcription

1 B U E T I N Vol. XI. No. 3 Rs. 4%,-b?~ March, 1991

2 --".'~, -. CONTENTS: 3 Editorial * Det- ntien withot Fair Trial * 8, Spersession of an Elected Govt. " 4 9 Commnal Terror in Jaipr * 10 Andhra Pradesh Affidavit on 'Enconter' *. Press Statement Act of Political Sklldgery * 13 Commnal Riots in Aligarh Dec Jan A Report By People's Union For 'Civil iberties AligarhMslim University * t l I 28 l News l/- 11- ". _Editorial: THE. HU,MAN TRAGEDY There can be, and are.xliffering opinions on whether or notpsa led armed forces were jstified in waging war against Iraq; or ifjstified in terms ofsecrity Concil resoltion 660, whetheror not US led forces have gone beyond the definition laid down by the Secrity Concil; and, whether USA was' motivated becase ofiraqi invasion of Kwait or whetherusa _ wanted to reglate oil-flow and its price as it desired. We may however refer to some other aspects of this war on which there is no dispte. USA has declared that it will not remain content with only liberating Kwait; its main aim is to destroy Iraq's military power, and also Saddam Hssein. The irony of the sitation is that USA and other western powers inclding USSR bilt p Saddam Hssein and gave him all the arms and ammnitions that they now want to destroy. Even a layman wold know that arms and weapons are not acqired to be rsted; they are to be pt to se. Which means in t.his context that USA andother contries gave the weapons to be sed by Saddam Hssein according to their dictates!now that he has acted against thheir dictates. the arms and ammnitions.. once given by them, mst be destroyed; and he himself mst be eliminated, iberation of Kwait seems to have paled into insignifance. Another fact on which too there is no dispte is hman rights violation in that a large nmber of innocent civilians in. Iraq have been killed by bombing in civilian areas; and baby food manfactring nits destroyed so that children are facing death. This hman rragedycased by US and other _allied forces cannot be condoned; hman rights organizations mst raise their voice against sch wanton killing. And, lastly, a' greater tragedy awaits (if the war is not broght to an end) in that the US Vice-President has annonced that USA wold have no hesitationin sing the nclear bomb if.it fond it necessary. On all these the civilized.world mst not remainsilent.the USA mst be restrained... India and other non-aligned contries seem to cont for nothing; they weild hardly any inflence; they have' failed to make their presence felt. et s hope Soviet Rssia srceeds in bringing abot an end to this war. - 19/2/91 Ir, i

3 ...\;)~~!_ B U E T DETENTI.ON WITHOUT FAIR TRIA Rajindar Sachar (Paper read at World Congress on Hman Rights held at New Delhi-December 10-/5, /990) --- ' N INDIA (Contined/rom last isse) In this connection reference may be made to the text of B~dY of Principles for th, Protection' of all persons nder any from of detention or imprisonment adopted withot vote by General Assembly of United Nations by Resoltion No. 43/173 dated December 9, These principles wold apply to,the cases of. Administrative Detentions as well. India has not passed any legislation based on these Principles. Bt over a. corse ofyears Indian corts have interpreted the rights of detainees as spell ot by reference to the fndamental rights garante~d nder Indian Constittion That Jdge-made law has laid down a nmber of basic rights which are possessed by the detainees and of which they cannot be deprived. It is a matter of satisfaction that most of these principles laid down by Indian Corts approximate broadly to these General Principles adopted by General Assembly. That is the reason why I am dealing separately with the provision in India with regard to the sbject nder discssion bease in my view many ofthe safegards sggested to the pecliar problems arising ot of Administrative detention have been applied in varios circmstances in India, and cold form a sefl basi]; for frther refinement so as to serve a tool in the advancement of Hman Rights. A provision' for preventive detention is provided in the Indian Constittion in Part TIl dealing with the Fndamantal Rights, nder Article 22. Whereas Clases (1) and (2) give fndamental rights to every person who is arrested and detained to be prodced before the nearest magistrate Within 24 hors or right to conslt and to defend by a legal practitioner of his choice, this wholesome provision is not to any penon who is arrested or detained nder any law providing fof preventive detention. However, there is a small mercy in the sense that this article itself provides for some (If the Procedral Safegards in case of detention with the' reslt thai no )~w providing for detention can ct down the safegards men tioned in the fndamental. rights chapter itself. Ths the constittion provides that no law providing for preventive detention shall athorise the detention of a person for a longer period than three months nless an Advisory Board consisting ofpersona who are or have been qalified to be appointed all Jdges ofa High Cort has reported before the expira. tion of the said period of three months that there is ill its opinion sfficient case for sch detention. Ftirtltti' change was made by which 44th Constittion Am~ ment Act 1971,.,the penod dring which a person ~ be kept nder.detention WIth confirmation by anad-.t wry Board was redced to 2 months from 3 rnontji, ~ Frther. instead of retired High Cort Jdges or pe~ qalified to be appointed as High Cort Jdges ti advisory board wold now consist of 3 High Co.. jdges, appointed on the recommendations ofthe Cbi!i Jstice of the High Cort of whom Chairman shall,bej sitting Jdge whill the other two shall be either sittnj or retired High Cort Jdges. Unfortnately this 4«Amendment Act' has not yet been broght into foret: notwithstanding the nfavorable comments by India! Spreme Cort as far as five years back (thogh ill fairness it may be notedrhat most of the-state Governmets have sitting High Cort Jdges on the Advisory Board). Sb-claase (5) of Article 22 provides a frther. safegard by providing that when any person is detained in prsance of an order made nder any law providing March, /fj91 4

4 B E T I N for preventive detention, the athority making the order shall as soon as may be commnicated to sch person the gronds on which the order has been made and shall afford him the earliest opportnity of making a representation against the order. A report on the practice of Administrative Detention discssed at last Session of V.N Sb-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, had identified varios cases in which Administrative Detentions are sally fond. In India. there are no Administrative Detentions for the more objectionable aspects as mentioned in clase (b) to (e) mentioned earlier. There. is however qite fairly large resort to ihe detentions on the grond ofalleged threat to pblic order and State Secrity, notably dring crises. It is, therefore, this aspect and the development of la w which will be dealt in this Part. Is the area of Protection to a detene to be tested only by the protection afforded by the Article 22 only or can it be tested by Protection given by other fndamental rights of Article J4 (Eqality) Article 19 (Freedom of Speech)? In the earliest case of Gopalan in 1950 (Indian Spreme Cort) had taken the view that "certain articles in the Constittion exclsively deal with s-pecific matters and indeterminating whether there is infringement of the individal's garanteed rights, the objects and the form of the State action alone need be considered. and effect of the Jaws on fndamental rights of the individals in general will be ignored", ~ This view is no longer good law in view of "Cooper" case pecided in 1970 by Indian Spreme Cort, The position has been reiterated in A K Roy (1980) as follows: Articles 21 and 22 are no watertight compartment, hence a law of Preventive Detention mst also satisfy the reqirement of Article 14 (Right to Eqality), Article ;9 (Right to Speech and Associaon) and Article 21 (Right to ife and iberty). Now amongst the varios safegards postlated in accordance with the International Covenant. let s examine as to what extent they are satisfied in India. Preventive Detention in India is only athorised nder the provision of varios stattes. No exective athority, however high, can order detention nless any statte so permits Tn terms of para 2 of Article 9, Article 22(5) of Indian Constittion already mandates that the athority concerned has to commnicate to the detene the gronds on which the order has been made and shall afford him the earliest opportnity of making a representation against the order. It is obvios that in a contry like India where we have an independent jdiciary with powers of jdicial review vested in Corts, these safegards, thogh no dobt not ideal, nevertheless do give a fair deal of protection against arbitrary detentions. Indian Spreme Cort has hejd that the cort may examine the gronds specified in the order of detention to see whether they are relevant to the circmstances nder which preventive detention cold be spported i.e. secrity of India or of a State, maintenance of pblic order and set the detene free if there is no rational connection between the alleged activity ofthe detene and the gronds relied pon, say, pblic order. The cort however cannot ndertake an investigation as to the sfficiency ofthe materials 011 which the satisfaction of the detaining athority was gronded. The cort may examine the gronds commnicated to detene to see if they are sfficient to enable him to make all effective representation. While the sfficiency of the grond, in t he sense whether it woid give satisfaction to the Government is not a matter for examination by the corts, the sfficiency of the gronds in the sense of enablingthe detene to make an effective representation can be examined by the corts. The "Commnication" of the gronds which is reqired by the Indian Constittion is to enable the detene to make a representation, the right which is also garanteed by the Conststtion, Commnication in this context, therefore, means imparting to the dctene sfficient and effective knowledge of the facts and circmstances on which the order of detention is based and" which ale in the natre of the charge against him of the prejdicial acts which the athorities attribte to him. The sfficiency of the 5 March, tsat

5 B E T I N particlars conveyed to the detene is jsticiable isse. The Indian corts have ths been holding that this right to make an effective representation has been held to have been denied in the following cases: (a) where one of the gronds pon which the order of detention was fonded, was never commnicated to the detene, (b) where adeqate "particlars" of the "gronds" of detention are not commnicated to the detene, (I;:) where the detene was not conversant with English langage, the gronds of detention shold be spplied to him in the langage which he nderstands and if there is a failre in this regard detention has to be held to be bad. This right of representation is to be treated not as a formality bt as a real effective remedy. Ths the detene has been held to have the right to receive copies of the statement and docments which are referred to in the gronds spplied. Failre to spply the necessary information and materials renders the order void and entitles the detene to be released forthwith. Ths a person detained is entitled, in addition to the right to have the grond of his detention commnicated to him, to a frther right to have <articlars, as fll and adeqare as the circmstances permit, frnished to him so all to enable him to make a representation against the order of detention and the sfficiency of particlars conveyed in the second commnication is a jsticiable isse, the test being whether they are sfficient to enable the detained person to make a representation which on being considered may give him relief. The basic facts in material particlars which are fond will also be eovered by the gronds within the constittional safegards of Article 22(5). The Government is also reqired to commnicate the gronds of detention to the de.ene withot avoidable delay. Its failre to do so wold be considered by the cort of law was an invasion of the fndamental rights of the safegards garanteed by the Indian Constittion. The cletene has also a right /s ; 2(5) to have his representation considered by the appropriate Government with an nbiased mind. It shold be seen that the obligation of the appropriate Government to consider the detene's representation is separate anddepen in- dont of the consideration of the detene's case by the Advisory Board nder clase (4) of Article 22. Where, therefore, Government fails in its obligation to make the initial consideration as soon as the representation is received, the order of detention becomes immediately invalid so that any sbseqent reference to the Board or consideration and rejection of the representation cannot validate the detention. The Government cannot absolve itself of this obligation by referring detene's representation to an Advisory Board. This initial obligation on the part of the Government is to. consider the representation as soon as it is received by it. Delay in consideratien of the representation affects the liberty of the citizens. The constittional reqirement of clase (5) of Article 22 mst be satisfied in respect of each one of the gronds commnicated to the detene, Ths the corts have been very particlar abot the liberty of the citizens and have held if any of the gronds or reasons that led to the satisfaction be irrelevant, or non-existent, or vage. the detention wold be invalid even if there are other relevant gronds," becase it can never be certain to what extent the' bad reasons operated on the athority or whether the detention order wold have been made at all if only one or two good reasons had been before them. The next aspect is abot the remedies available against administrative detention and their eifficacy in this regard. The Constittion of Advisory Board mandated by Indian constittion is a fairly effective safegard. No dobt that a person may be detained withot the matter being placed before the Advisory Board if detention is not to contine beyond three months (now 2 months as per amendment) and to this extent it is a serios infraction of the liberty of a citizen and it can well be arged that sch a period mst be ct down even shorter. Bt Advisory Board nevertheless does provide an effective remedy to a detene The Advisory Board is competent to examine the correctness of statements and facts on which the detention is based Article 22 itself provides that no detention can contine for a longer period than 3 months nless the Advisory Board has reported that March,1991 6

6 .--.P!l~!_ E T I N there is in its opinion sfficient case for sch detention. By the latest amendment the Chairman has to be sitting jdge and other member s either retired or sitting idges of the High Cort. A jdicial mind is ths applied to the decision of the exective and the materials spplied are examined by high jdcial officers to test the sffieency or otherwise of the materials jstifying detention. A writ of habeas corps bas no score to look into the sfficiency to the materia! bt can only look to the lawfl/ness of detention. The power of Advisory Bond is like that of a reviewingathorjty Barring, therefore, for the fact that Advisory Board does not dispose of the matter si.ting as a High Cort, the reqirement of Advisory Board being constitted of High Cort Jdges cannot be lightly brshed aside. The Board's opinion thogh advisory has certain inevitable conseqences. If the Advisory Board reports against the order of deten tion or its report is ambigos, it wold be illegal for Government to detain the person beyond two months, nder Art. 22(4). The appropriate Government, mst in sch a case, revoke the detention order and release the detene Of corse, the matter before the Advisory Board is whether the detention is jstified and not for how long he sholp be detained. After the Advisory Board reports that the d tention is jstified, it is for the detaining athority to determine the period of detention, sbject to the maximm laid down by Parliament. The Board is also nder a mandate to report within a period of two months. Government is nder obligation to refer the matter to the Advisory Board if it wants detention to contine beyond two months. The fnciions of the Board being advisory. corts have generally not recognised the right of a detene to be represented by a lawyer. This is a serios infraction of the basic right of a detene. Bt the rigor of it has at least been lessened by accepting that if the detaining athority is allowed to be represented by a lawyer, the detene also mst be allowed to appear before the Board throgh a lawyer. While the detene has no right to appear throgh a legal practitioner in the proceedings before the Advisory hoard, the detaining athority or the Government also cannot take the aid of a legal practitioner or a legal adviser before the Advisory Board. This bar wold apply also to officers of the Government in the concerned departments even thogh they are not legal practitioners or legal advisers. Else Art. 14 reqires that if the detaining athority or the Government takes the aid of a legal practitioner or an adviser before the Advisory Board, the detene mst be allowed the facility of appearing before the Board throgh a legal practitioner. (To be eonclded in the next isse) This Month's Cover Design IS by Sh, Sbodh Gpta 7 March. 19v1

7 8 E T I N SUPERSESSION OF AN EECTED GOVT. D. K. Kakati, IPS (Retd.) (Mr. Kakati is Working President of PUe, Assam, and member, National Concil, PUe) Spression of a democratically elected Govt., which was still enjoying the majority spport of the elected representatives. was itself wrong, and that too on the eve of the General Elections de in Assam in December, To declare Assam as Distrbed Area nder the Assam Distrbed Area Act, giving more powers to the police and the para military forces along with the promlgation of President's rle in Assam was also wrong. Bt what is still worse is the indction of the Armed Forces-the Army, Navy and the Air force-acting as land forces to deal with the pre' election sitation in Assam. This is a special provision as far as it relates to Assam. Manipr and North Eastern States. It is nowhere applicable in rest of India. A similar Act has perhaps been made for Pnjab recently. I append below a note circlated by the All Stdents' Union on the Assam sitation. "Excerpts from the note: Assam People of Assam have been once again deprived of of their rights of electing their representatives to the ok Szbha and the Vidhan Sabha and that too indefinietely. What appeared extremely njstified in this denial of a fndamental right is that the postponement had been done with a motive to help some political organisations by the Central Governmer.t, Not to speak of the elites and the political activities (in towns and cities) even the men in the villages in Assam know that the decision not to hold the elections in time is a decision of the Prime Minister of India and not of the Election Commission. To add inslt to the injry, the people of Assam fond themselves deprived of their civil rights in great measres becase of the declaration of whole of Assam a distrbed Area nder the Distrbed Area Act, This Act bestows arbitrary powers on the law-enforcing athorities in matters of arrests, body searches, hose searches and seizre of property. Bt this is not all. Even the Armed Forces of the contry have been indcted nder the provisions of the Armed Forces (Assam and Manipr) Special Powers Act to deal with essentially matters relating to the ejections to the ok Sabha and the Assam Vidhan Sabha. This Act confers special powers pon even non-commissioned officers pto the rank of a ance Naik to arrest, search and even shoot to kill any person sspected to be involved in any offence. These rights are exercised withot any trial in the- Corts. The net reslts of these arbitrary actions by the Government of India. acting throgh its agent the Governor of Assam, are (I) the denial of the fndamental right of franchise on de date and postponement sine die. (2) the denial of normal process of law preserving the civil liberties bestowed by the Constittion of India, and (3 Violation of Hman Rights as garanteed nder the U.N.O. charter of Hman Rights to which India is a signatory. The stdents' commnity appears to have been given nde attention by the Armed Forces in the operation., Hajrang", The University of Gwah. were nder seize for for days. Searches were carried ot bt nothing incriminating was fond The District Magistrate and the Sperintendent of Police of Tinskia were detained and intenogated and their vehicles searched by the Armed Forces. 1 here have been reports abot the search of Rowniorian police station and search of the residence of the Officer in charge of the Police station. There was report of detention of the Inspectior of Police, Margherita and interrogation by the Armed Forces. Shri David edger, M.P. has issed a statement (Contined on page 9) March, /991 8

8 ~P-!J-!l! B..._ E T.I COMMUNA TERROR IN JAIPUR (We pblish below the smming p of a detailed Report on commnal riots in Jaipr, investigated and prepared by a team consisting of Professor Dalip Swamy, Mr. Zahoor Siddiqi. Mr. Ramesh Rao and Mr. Salar M. Khan ofdelhi Unive rsity for the People's Rights Organisation, Delhi The Report was released on Editor). On 27th Nov a victory procession or BJB MPs led to an otbreak of Hind- Mslim riot in Jaipr. Again on 24th October 90, after the arrest of K.Advani in Bihar riots broke ot in Jaipr. It was trely a mrderos commnal assalt on the Mslims, with the State covertly abetting the rioters, and in some cases its organs, especially the Rajasthan Armed Constablary taking on the role ora partisan commnal force. H was an organised terror of a comprehensive order in a BJP rled state that had no history of commnal tension ntill On 241h October the BJP RSS led 23 riot sqads that were on rampage in 56 localities. The rna b fry prevailed every" here; violence and mahem were celebrated; and the rioteersrled the city for two days, despite the police. Hornegards, RAe and Military deployed in large nmber nder five DIGs-Phool Singh Yadav for walled city, P.N. Raina for 1ral Jaipr, B.N. Hanska for Ramganj, P.K. Tiwari for Kotwali and Arn Dggal for Manek Chowk In the riots 57 persons. mostly Mslims (43) were killed, more than 144 injred, 229 hoses and 163 shops were looted and brnt, 8 mosqes and dargahs were destroyed, many places of worship and open plots were rendered dispted, and property worth more than Rs. 5 crores wall looted or brnt What Congress (I) did (to Sikhs) in Delhi, following the assassination of their leader, Indira Gandhi in 1984, the BJP accomplished (against Mslims) in Jaipr, following the arrest of the ir leader. al Kishan Ad vani in In both cases, the riots were planned and orchestrated by the rling party to take revenge or sbjgate the targeted commnity, the administrative compliance was glaring- no clprit was booked-and the political opposition to the commnal attacks was ineffective even in making the offending parties defensive. The riot left the city torn with fear and hatred, It is for the rational and social conscience keepers to decide how to respond to sch organised violence. Speclators have their own way of dealing with the ncertainties created by the riots; they had staked Rs. 1.5 crores pto 30th November on the possibility of riots on 6th December, the second kar seva in Ayodhya: Bt for Alla h Baksh who lost everything and for Bbboos wif.: whose legs are fractred life is only a complicated ami piinfl strggle. 0 (Continedfrom page 8) alleging gang rape on wcmen of villages sitated in and arond akhipathar near Digboi. He has also frnished names of two yong girls who have rerntined ntraced in the hands of the Armed Forces from the 28th November, As operations nder Project Bajrang proceeds, there will be large nmber of violations of hman rights The Armed Forces are eitheir inadeqately trained while fnctioning in aid of Civil athority or are wrongly briefed by interested parties to create a reign of terror in favor cf sch parties The needs of the hor in Assam area: (I) The immediate withdrawal of the Armed Forces from Assam by repealing the orders issed on 28.] 1 90 by the Governor of Assam nder the Amed Force, (Assam and Manipr) Special Powers Act, (2) The rescinding of the orders issed nder the Assam Distrbed Areas Act, 1955, so that normalcy retrns to whole of Assam. (3) Immediate isse of notifications for elections to 'ok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha immediately after the Bhogali Bih in the forth week of Janary, (4) Unconditional release of personsarrested and detained merely on sspicion. (5) Payment of adeqate compensation to (Contined on page ] 2) 9 Mrch 1991

9 -a9 B 'J U E T t N F Andhra Pradesh: AF FIDAVIT ON 'ENCOUNTER' K. G. Kannabiran (Concldedfrom the last isse) The next accsation made by the Director General of police is on page 13 and it reads:.. A letter written by Sri K.G.Kannabiran to Kondapalli Seetaramaiah was recovered from one of the hideots in Hyderabad showing his connection with the ndergrond naxalites". The Director General of Police believes in making accsations in a very casal manner and this accsation does not even have the merit of being disingenos. Somewhere arond the 5th or 6th month of ]986 there was a raid on a premises sspected to be in the possession of naxalites. And a letter addressed to Kondapalli Seetaramaiah written by me was recovered in the raid. The investigating officer, a D. S. P. whose name I think is Satyanarayana and other D.S.P. by name Krishna Mrthi who was in charge of what is familiarly known as Secnderabad Conspiracy Case, came to my place after prior appointment. This letter was shown to me and I told them that I wrote that letter and that it was a covering letter to a qestionnaire. It is necessary to set ot a few facts here. I wrote this letter in 1979 when KondapaIIi Scetaramaiah was on bail. He was an accsed in the Secnderabad Conspiracy Case. I W81S appearing for Condapalli Seetaramaiah, My being his lawyer is portrayed as an offence. In there was a sprt of political voilence between varios Commnist grops A few friends wbo have a basically Marxist approach formlated va qestionnaire with a view to invite the grops for a debate. The qestionnaire was sent to the C.P.I., C.P.I. (M) and the varios C.P.I (M) grops. One sch qestionnaire was also sent to Kondapalli Seetharamaiah. The following are the principal qestions: (I) Do yo not feel that invective polemics and politics of mtal violence divides and weakens tbe Commnist movement on the whole and strengthens the force of reaction? (2) In the present sitation in Andhra Pradesh is it not possible to avoid a policy of mtal March, violence by the varios Commnist Parties and grops? (,l) Do yo not thiak that violent incidents and clashec between Commnist Parties shold be avoided at all costs? (4) Shold there be mtal recriminations and invective polemics? (5) Wold it not be possible to carryon ideological debates withot invective polemics? (6) Does not present sitation warrant a coming together of the grops on a minimm programme for the strggle of the toiling masses? (7) What measres do yo sggest to avoid clashes at the village/factory/basti/ edcational institte levels? These were the important qestions that were addressed to all the Commnist Parties and grops and the qestionnaire containing these qestions was enclosed with the letter referred to by the Director General of Police. All these fact, were broght to the notice of the investigating officers; How mch of it was recorded I do not know. The Jetter is separated from the qestionnaire and withot qoting the letter in fll, an accsation is made which is not sppor.ed by the docment which the D.G.P. relies on. He thinks he owes no dty to the Cort to set ot the facts candidly. He does not even set ot the period in which the letter was written. This attitde can be fond throghot the narration of the affidavit. For instance, throghot the affidavit and in the annexres, only crime nmbers are mentioned and no details of the trial of the acesed or the reslt. In many crime nmbers, charge sheets have been filed, trials have been kept away from the Cort and an incorrect pictre of the Sitation is offered withot realising that sch a corse is destrctive of the democratic polity of the contry. At the fag end of his tenre as Chief Minister. Mr. N. T. Rama Rao invited s for discssions on the restoration of democratic processes. At that time we pointed ot that the 'naxaltte problem' has been treated as a law and order problem for twenty years.and the naxalite

10 ~.~':.. ~--- B l E T I N movement has been growing. We pointed ot that the naxalites are not a problem, it is the exploitative order which is sponsored and spported bv the state that is the problem. No law enacted by the State in frtherance of Directive Principles of State Policy has ever been enforced hy the Exective After more than for decades of Independence. we have bonded labor. child labor, violence on dalits, violence against the rral poor. These co'r,c\iiinns wold natral1y give rise to rad ica I movement. Apd if views implving violence gain a foothold in sorietv then' is something wronz with the habits of the State. In tackling the sitation, arbitrariness at any level. exective or jdicial, is likely to be conterprrdctive. When the present ChiefMinister of the State Mr. Cherma Reddy came to power. we contined or debate with him and we pt this down in writing. This has been or stand and will contine to be or sta nd. desrite the incrable intransigence of the Director General of Police and his Government. an intransigence 'that is evident in the analysis given in paragraph No 9 of the DG P's affidavit. It is precisely this attitde of treating the 'naxalite movement vasa mere exercise in terrorising the people, extorting rnonev and committing decoie- and mrders. that 'has led to'&istortcd perceptionsand perverse soltions. Critics of this perversity are notdenv ing that the naxalites believe in the se of 'force. Bt what a democratic polity rn.st come to terms with in the sitation that-makes it possible for this b. lief to transform itself into a political movement with roots in the most oppressed sections of the.people. That the police and the Government are nwilling to come to terms with this reality is evident from the tone and tenor of this additional conter' affidavit. The crimes committed by the naxalites,\tid their belief in violence are not in isse in this writ pett.tion, or can hman rights viola tions he jstified in sch an niformed manner. The whole of the Annexres attached to the affidavit are irrelevant.to the contention of the present petition, that firstly a political movement born of deprivation and sppression cannot be-tseated as a problem -of law and order, and secondly that the protection of law and order and the preventiq of crimes can only take place lawflly and in accordance with the procedre laid down by 13w. Setting ot in detail all the crime,;ilegedly committed by the naxalites, and that too withot mentioning whether the trials have been held and what the Cort has decided, is no answer to thls contention. and is only aimed at prejdicing the Cort. Each instance of an enconter killing is followed by thc registration of an FIR revealing two crimes. One is an alleged attempt to mrder (see.,07 IPe) committed by the deceased, and the other is an acknowledged mrder (Sec. 302 IPC) committed by the policemen whose names are mentioned therein. It is claimed bv the policemen that the mrder was committed in self-defence, that if, the killing is covered by the exception in Sec. 100 IPe, bt as in any sch claim to a general or specific exception the Evidence Act (in Sec. 105) lays down that the brden of proving that conditions jstifying the claim to the exception existed at the time of committing the offence, rests with the accsed, the only lawfl corse is to prosecte for mrder the policemen who have participated in the enconter and allow them them the opportnity to convince the Cort that the killing is convered by Sec Ire. This is precisely what has never been done in any case of an enconter killing. Instead the Director General of 1"'0lice merely lists ot the names of 6 policemen who are said to have died in enconters with naxalites, and expects the Honble Cort to be satisfied therewith that a1l enconters are genine cases of killing in self-defence. Moreover, these 36 deaths occred in the corse of 15 enconters, which is a small fraction of the total nmber of enconters that have taken place in this Stale. By what principle of logic or law the Director General of Police wishes to infer from this small sample that all enconters are genine cases of killing in self'- defence is not very clear. In addition to the self-defence plea he also invokes at one point Sec. 46 (2) of Cr.P.C'. which gives a limited athority to policemen to se force while effecting an arrest. Bt this power too cannot be jstified by the II March, ]991

11 ~P!J~!_----_--''''''''''I N mere fact of sing it. Only an independent enqiry can establish whether conditions jstifying the se of fatal force were prevalent The magisterial enqiries held nder Sec. 176 Cr. P.C. inspite of all the noble impartiality the D.G. P's accont invest" thern with, are far from free or independent. These enqires are exective fact-finding enqiries, condcted by Revene officials, who are nder the thmb of the police. Not one of them dares to go against the wishes of the police. Contrary to the DGP'g claim that 'reasonable opportnity' is provided to all persons to give evidence at these enqiries, and that 'nothing prevents people from coming forward and deposing at these enqirie's, all sch enqiries are h eld in conditions that make it impossible for any citizen to give evidence against the police. Threats, arrests and physical tortre are employed to deter intending witnesses. The enqiry premises are srronded by police armed with deadly weapons, and a fearsome atmosphere is created wherein a fair enqiry is impossible. In the annexres we have enclosed a letter addressed to the Chief Minister in which we have described in detail how the police thwarted an enqiry ordered by the High Cort of Andhra Pradesh. The incident is illstrative of the tre state of affairs, which are qite the contrary of what the D.G.P. makes them ot to be. The conclding paragraph of the D.G.P. is in the natre of political advice offered to this Hori'ble Cort on the basis of perhaps his personal views which shold not normally color or interfere with the performance of his dties as a pblic servant fnctioning nder a constittional scheme and vale system "Difficlt thogh the task may be, it is in the interests ofal] people that we shold avoid the trap of regarding a strong repressive police arm as a sbstitte for greater social jstice and the amelioration of conditions which contain those destrctive social forces for which a paramilitary police is wrongly seen as the only answer". These are the words of the former Chief Constable John Alderson. This has been the stand taken by s and this will be fond in the enclosres annexed to this reply affidavit. (Conttnedfrom page 9) those dead or injred or raped on the same scale as has been ordered by the Hon'ble Gahati High Cort in the Manspr case "Operation Blebird". (6) Adeqate compensation for destrction of standing crop and re-habilitation loans to the affected persons. (7) Official Jdicial Enqiry by a panel of three Jdges of Gwahati H. C. into the circmstances leading to the declaration of Assam as a Distrbed area indction of the Armed Forces and the excesses committed by law enforcing athorities and by the Armed Forces in particlar. (8) Immediate non-official enqiry by the National Unit of the People's Union for Cfvil: iberties and the Amnesty International. 0 Press Statement -(Conclded) ACT OF POITICA SKUDUGERY The totally nconstittional an d politicajly motivated imposition of President's Rle has strck a fatal blow at the federal strctre of or Constittion. The cynicism and the arrogance of the nrepresentative Central Government dissolving the State Assembly'~f Tamil Nad representing the overwhelming electorate of the State, no dobt nder direction from its spporting political party, is one of the most nabashed acts of political skijdgery. The nfortnate reslt can only be errosion ofcentral-state Relations. All the recent happenings convince me that immediate general Election shold be held so that we have a Government that can legitimately speak for the nation. This alone can save democracy. 3U 91 Rajinder Sachar, Presidinent, PUC March, 1991' 12

12 ...P!J~! 8 l E T I _ N \ COMMUNA RIOTS IN AllGARH Dec Jan. 1991' A REPORT BY PEOPE'S UNION FOR CIVI IBERTlES AIGARH MUSIM UNIVERSITY Aligarh is different from other riot affected towns in UP in one respect in that it is an. internationally known centre of higher learning. This niversity town was victim of commnal riots in the p.ist also. There are contradictory perceptions abot the University among the two commnities. Commnalist Hinds consider it to be the centre of Pakistan movement and of anti-national activities; oommnalist Mslims take it to be a protected Islamic enclave, where non-mslims shold have no place. The Aligarh Mslin: University was set p by Syed Ahmad Khan, a savant of rare vision who fond a way 011t in the gloom of the post-is57 phase. ike Raja Ram Mohan Roy, a few decades earlier, Syed Ahmad Khan charted the tortos trajectory for the Indian people that avoided both the qicksands of a moribnd tradition and whirlpools of a rootless modernity. He proclaimed that Hinds and Mslims were like two eyes of the motherland and both can develop only if they live in harmony with each other. The University was set p with financial spport from citizens professi ng different religions-some notable names being those of Maharaja of Porbandar and Seth Hkam Chand. The first gradate prodced by the University was Raja Mahendra Pratap, the wellknown revoltionary and freedom. fighter. The U niversity became the hot-bed of nationalist ideas and was the nerve centre of the Khilafat move 'ment--- Malana Mohammad Ali being its distingished almns. It prodced edcationists like Dr. Zakir Hssain and K G Saidyain, poets and writers like Majaz, Ja-Nisar or Isrnat Chgtai, jornalists and writers like K A. Abbas, and a seclar script writer like Dr. Rahi Masoom Reza of Mahabharat fame. The University came nder the inflence of commnal trends dring the '40s. Then came the partition of the contry. and this t ragejy shook the very fondation of the University. For a time people forgot abot its being a centre of the composite cltre of India where stdents professing diverse faiths lived together in peace and harmony. Regrettably, many Hinds contine to remember only the period when it had come nder commnal leadership. Under Dr. Zakir Hssain's stewardship the Univer-, sity was rejvenated in terms of Syed Ahmad Khan's dreams along the path of national resrgence. However, the University has witnessed stray incidents bt on the whole life in the camps has been generally withot commnal tensions. A large nmber of non Mslim stdents (more than 40% stdents in Medical and Engineering faclties are non- Mslims) have lived in the camps with their Mslim classmates in harmony and peace. Peace in the camps has now been distrbed. Mistrst has set in. One hopes that the University athorities, faclty members and stdents. will stand pagainst commnalists of both the campi and will defend and enrich the ethos of composite living'on the camps. They have done it in tho past and there is no reason why they cannot do it now. X X X X 13 March. 199/

13 SECTION-I B U E" T, N _ J ",212,& $1$,c:4J,. (~o one ean claim to give an exact death toll of the riots-in Aligarh nder investigation; in fact it is not possible to. give exact figres in any riots. According to the District Magistrate 92 lives were lost; of these abot 2/3 wert Mslims. The nofficial figres, however, are mch higher. We were given a list, by lome Mslim organisations, of 100 Mslims killed. This list contains not only the names of the alleged victim. bt also lome other details like the next of kin, age etc. From all acconts it appears reasonable to place the nmber of persons killed at 125 to 150). ~ Commnal riots flared p in Aligarh on Two dastardly acts the kind of which have not taken place elsewhere in the present commnal holeeast-«one, killing of passengers ina train, and the other, a false news item which has been contining to play havoc-are particlarly shocking. A Hind mob stopped the Gomti Express very near Aligarh eity dring crfew hors when shoot-at-sight order was in force on and killed passengers (official death toll 4; nofficial figres between 10 and 15). Secondly, a news item appeared I in a U. P, Hindi Daily AAJ on nder a fllpage banner headline on the front page that 74 people inclding 28 patients in Jawharlal Nehr Medical College Hospital of Aligarh Mslim University were killed. What is more, Doordarshan acted irresponsibly in giving the news (i) that two policemen were stabbed in AMU camps, and (ii) that the University was declared closed and that orders were issed by the Vice-Chancellor that stdents'hostels be vacated. The Vice-Chncf.'Hor eontradicted the story of killing and vacating of hostels. The Gornti Express incident was confirmed by the Administration. The Hospital news was contradicted by the AMU athorities and the District Administration. The Medical faclty members denied the news item and appealed (a press release was issed) to representatives of the people and other citizens to come forward and save the contr y, adding that all concerned were welcome to visit the Mospital and see things for themselves. After (i.e. the day the news item referred to above appeared) the Gomti Express.incident paled into insignificance despite its confirmation, if one goes by newspaper coverage in Hindi dailies of D.P. 2. PUC received letters and calls from people, both Hinds and Mslims, (inclding a commnication from the U.P. Organising Secretary of PUC at eknow) that PUC shold send a team to investigate into the riots in Aligarh. A team was set p consisting of Mr. V M. Tarknde, Mr. Rajinder Sachar, Professor Ab Baker, Professor D;}ip S.Swamy and Dr R. M. Pal. The team, visited Aligarh twice: 4-6 Jan. 91; and 12 Jan' 91. Dring these two visits the team inspected a nmber of riot-affected areas, met friends and relatives ofa nmber of riot VIctims, qestioned.a cross section of intellectals, professionals inclding doctors and members of the Bar, members of Vyapar MandaI, social workers, jornalists, cffleers of the District Administration inclding the District Magistrate, and other seniorcitizens. 3 Riots in Aligarh did not start all of a sdden. The seeds of-riots had already been sown, not only in Aligarh, bt throghot UP,; only the District Administration did not take notice. And significantly enogh a ble-print to meet riot sitations was also circlated qite sometime ago and it was in the District Magistrate's office. It appears that the then District Magistrate was benignly ignorant abot it. With the Ramjanmabhmi/Babri Masjid controversy, and particlarly the Rathyatra of HlP leader K.Adv~ni March,

14 B E T I N the ~ivide between Hinds and Mslims had deepened. The divide became near complete after certain events took place- the karseva programme at Ayodhya on 30-\0 90 and accompanied by violence and police firing, rlayiag of adio/video cassettes of provocative speeches by BJP/VHP!Bajranj Dal members against Mslims. holding of so called religios 'melas', circlation of highly objectionable leaflets by some Hind organisations, kites with provocative slogans Ilgainst Mslims released over Mslim IIreRS or the city, almost total cornmnalisation of the Hindi press in UPall these had already bilt p a tense atmosphere. Mslims too broght ot lome provocative leaflets, ths each fanning commnalism of the other grop. Given the backgrond, the pollted and totally commnalised atmosphere, near break-down of the law and order machinery. and increasingly sea nt respect for rle of Jaw, commnal riots were almost inevitable. The Administration knew. or oght to have known, that riots were in the offing And yet killings went on nchecked dring the period 7-10 Dec. 90. Hardly any administration existed in Aligarh dring this period. The District Magistrate Mr Verma and some other officials were transferred (this was the only pnishment for erring officials); and a new District Magistrate Mr. Misra took over on Many people we met. said that given the debris left by his predecessor and the story that appeared inaaj on the very day he took over charge, reslting in increased violence, the new District Magistrate did Ii tairly good job. Even thogh riots were Widespread pto abot and Mslims were at receiving end, Mr. Misra was able to instil some confidence in the victims. 4. We have said above how the pollted atmosphere gave rise to riots. It is therefore pointless to ask. the qestion: who started the riots and to find ot the starting point. However, we give below a smmary of the acconts of what we saw, observed, and were told by people we met. We took as mch care as possible to cross-check whatever we were told. One version is that after Friday prayer at II Mosqe at Upperkot on when provocative speeches (by way of sermons) \\ ere delivered, some Mslims attacked two PAC jawans near the Police Station. In retaliation PAC killed a nmber of Mslims and in some other areas Hinds attacked Mslims. The other version is that a bomb was hrled at a Mosqe in Sarai Sltani on lind as a reslt fighting started between Mslims and Hinds at Sarai ~1tani. The sond of bomb blast was easily adibje at Upnerkot Mosqe (Jama Masjid). Mslims gathered in front of Kotowali to protest, and there a section of the mob tried to snateh rifles from some PAC jawans. PAC then opened fire killing 3 Mslims and injring many. It is ftile to try to find ot the exact starting point of the riots in view of the conflicting versions Jivon above, both by Hinds and Mslims. The area of Sarai Sltani/Sarai Rai ill largely composed of Mslims bt ill srronded by Hind localities. Mslims who gathered in the Mosqe for Friday prayer (on ) were alarmed when they saw hndreds of people on roof tops of Hind hoses throwing bombs at Mmlim3 and their hoses and at the Mosqe. Wo saw impaetsof bombs (they mst be crde bombs) on the homes in the locality and many hoses destro Y6d in PAC firing and rioting. Not mlllly of the owners had yet retrned. We were also told that the PAC Jawans posted there were not able to control the rioters; on the contrary pac provided a cover to the rioters by preventing the Mslim. from approaching the Mosqe to resce their friends and relativesr that some Hinds with contry-made pistols wore moving along with PAC jawans; that Mslisms were confined to their hoses and inside the Mosqe. If any Mslim dared to eome ot the PAC is alleged to have fired tit them. The Police/PAC had srronded tho M~qo. Mslims got agitated and lome Mslims tried to snatcb away rifles from some PAC jawans. (Mslims here were fairly well organized). Some Mslims threw bombs or similar articles at the PAC wso ih.n opened fire to kill. After riots in the above two areas-r-upperkot and 15 March, 1991

15 ..-,P!J~!_ E T I N Sarai Sltani on , violence spread allover the city inclding Civil ine. area 5. In a Hind area Jogipara, adjacent to Sarai Sltani, we met some Hinds-retired persons, shopkeepers etc-, bt they were jst not willing to speak to s. However, one elderly Hind lady told s that a hge crowd had gathered on the 7th morning from the Hind mohallas, Mslim neighbors were scared. Many of them came to her area; she and some of her neighbors helped 20/25 escape throgh the back door nhrt. She also told s that she too was scared bec.ise the mob was nrly and the y were nkind to even those people like her who were helping Mslims. In this area 17 Mslims were killed on 8, (We have fot the list of these persons), aile police official Mr. Dikshit told s that there is an FIR which mentions the killing of 17 persons by brning, and added that nless a dead body is recovered police do not consider it a case of mrder or killing, and that no dead body has been recovered at Jogipara. We were told that six ot of these 17 persons had taken shelter in a factory, owned by Shri Anil Kmar, where a frnace is sed for melting mettle. He wanted to save these 6 persons,bt people from the mob advised that if these six are spared they wold become witness to the killing 'of 11 persons. The mob then attacked Anil Kmar's factory and brnt the six persons in the frnace. We were informed that some prosperos shopkeepers of the locality were instrmental in inciting riots in this area becase they have been wanting to by some Mslim property here. This possibility needs to be looked into by the administration. Some other Mslim areas we visited (like Kazipara near Kazipara-Jaignj Post office crossing, Sarai Rai near Sarai Sltani, Sarai Hakim Tak ia, Saifi Colony etc.) broght forth more or less the same pictre, namely PAC resorting to firing to kill indiscriminately, Hinds being helped by PAC cover, Mosqes atta ked, hoses destroyed, people sbded bt angry. All these colonies are srronded by Hind areas. Kazipara was Mrch, JI)91 attacked by a mob from the nearby Harijan colony. We were given graphic acconts of how PAC entered some hoses and shot people dead 16 In another area (Sarai Hakim Takiar-e-again a small Mslim. pocket srronded by Hind areas [abot 200 families of Harijans and a large nm her of families belonging to Vaish commnity] Troble started on , at abot 4.30 pm. when Hinds from these commnities started throwing t stones -. on Mslims. Mslims also retailiated. Police appeared at abot 6 prn. and people dispersed. On riots broke ot again. and two Mslims were killed by PAC firing, We were told that people from the trading commnity in the area fixed p a bell in the Harijan temple and asked them to make worshipping a noisy affair. They also helped the Harijans financially. Harijans are alleged to have bee instigated by people from the trading commnity to attack Mslims. itigation between Mslims and Harijans over a plot or land in the area has been going on for several years now- Harijans claim that the plot is meant for their commnity centre, and Mslims claim that it is earmarked for a Mosqe. The land is now in the cstody of Nagar Palika. We fond that the Harijan colony in the same area. was deserted. Hoses were brnt or damaged badly. On seeing s some Harijan ladies came to s and narrated their miseries. They took s rond and showed their brnt-ot and badly damaged hoses. They told s that their hosehold properties were looted by Mslims. AJl the Harijans had shifted to a near-by plate to live together. They told s that Mslims came ot of their hoses on and there was firing by PAC, bt they did not know if anybody was killed in the firing. From the old city' the riots spread to civil lines area near the University: Zakaria Market, Hamdard Nagar. and Jamalpr, and some other places adjacent to the University. Hamdard Na~ar is a prely Mslim area. Hind mob from nearby villages attacked the locality, and a nmber of Mslims were killed by PAC firing. Hoses were damaged and property looted.

16 B E T I N A Mslim mob attacked Zakaria market, damaged and looted establishments inclding X-Ray clinics, general merchants, restarants, pathologist's chamberall belonging to Hinds. None was killed in this rioting in the market area. JamaJpr is a Mslim area with a small Hind pocket-abot 9)% Mslims and 5% Hinds. In the rioting here one Hind was stabbed to death and another injred. A nmber of hoses were damaged and bsiness estab lis hrnents brnt. A nmber of Mslims were klled in PAC/Police firing. After the Gomti Express killing and then after the A AJ News of alleged hospital killing, riots spread to a nmber of other areas like Bhjpra, Delhi Gate, Jangal Bari, Chandan Sheed Road and Tila. A nmber of Hinds were stabbed to death; and Mslims killed, mostly, in PAC firing 6, Gomti Express KIllings: A Hind mob of abot I 00(1 or more first tried to stop the Kalka Mail a little after 10 am. on near the east C8 bin. bt did not scceed. Arond mid-day the mob scceeded in stopping the Gomti Express (very near the Station) and killed ~everal passengers While a jdicial enqiry, which is reported to have been ordered, wold be able able to es' ablish the circmstances, and may find whether or not Railway officials were involved or showednegjigence, we may note a few details which we gathered from varios :.~ces inclding some Railway officials-who did...~ be identified: not TIIic Cabin incharge Mr. G.S. Sharma reports the idcida!:t {attempt to stop the Kalka Mail) to the Station Master on dty, Mr. S. A. Khan (indoor dty); Mr. K. a' is otdoor station master. Mr. Khan enters the report in the Register and also informs Mr. K..I.aI,Mr. Gatarn, Station Sptd., and Mr. K.C. Sharma, Asstt. Traffic Sptd, Mr. K. al goes ot to see things for himself, retrns after a short while and informs that there is no mob any where, and isses instrctions that all trains be allowed to pass, At arond 11 a.m. Cabin E informs Mr. Khan that there is an armed mob near the Cabin and that p-line was broght with cement sleepers. Mr. K. al is again informed. He records that the report is correct. He however does not inform the District Administration, not even his own officers. Mr. K al informs Mr. Khan that the sleeper that blocked the Rly. line had been removed and the mob had left and that Force had been arranged. At abot 12 noon Mr. Khan gives permission to Cabin E for 'giving line clear' to Gomti Express. Gomti was reported to be leaving. lad Khan at [2 noon. The train rns into the cement sleeper and stops. Cabin E informs Mr. Khan. Mr. Gatam (station Sptd.) gets the information bt remains in his office on the plea that his sperior officer Mr. K.C. Sharma is present at the troble-spot. The mob comes to know of the exact time of the train leaving Dad Khan and pts the sleeper back on the line at the right time to stop the train. Where does the mob get the sleeper since all cement sleepers, at the time of anti-mandal agitation, were taken away? The Over-Head Eqipment meant for stopping trains in between stations is not sed. Mr. K. al tried to inform all concerned inclding R.P.F., bt all the telephones were engaged, according to him. The above accont indicates that there has definitely been hman failre on the part of some Rly, officials; whether or not there has been fol play, can only be determined by a thorogh enqiry which shold be condcted withot frther delay. 7. PAC, Civil Police, and CRPF : There is no dobt that the PAC killed a large nmber of Mslims, On some occasions Mslims may have 17 March, 1991 ~--~-=~. - " ====-

17 B E T I N acted in a provocative manner hy way of trying to snatch rifles. going ot dring" crfew hors, etc. bt the PAC retaliated with disproportionate brtality. The part played by the PAC in the Aligarh riots is indeed reprehensible Almost every where Mslims told s that at least as many persons of their commnity were killed by the PAC as by Hinds. In several places we were shown the high terraces from which PAC personnel fired at fleeing Mslims. Even yong Mslim children were ths killed by the PAC. At many places PAC fired at Mslims when neither they (the PAC) nor Hinds were attacked. The PAC acted as a highly comrnnalised force. Dring or talks with the District Magistrate Mr. Misra. we referred to the PAC and its condct. He admitted that opposition to PAC from Mslims is 'tremendos'. Regarding complaints abot PAC Mr. Misra said "trth is somewhere in between". He however did not elaborate this. He added that after he took over there have not been as many complaints; all complaints, he said, relate to the period before he took over. He said tbat a lot depends on the kind of leadership nder which the PAC fnctions In PAC jawans have to be told to act, nlike in the civil police, Mr.Misra said. PAC is a "tremendos" force capable of meeting "togh" sitation, bt the PAC mst go throgh some "reorientation and training", he said. This training is particlarly important at the present time in view of the propaganda that has been nleashed by commnalist forces. When we pointed ot to him that PAC brtalities contined dring his regime also, he said that the Force was attacked with bombs and gns on some occasions; he himself was gheraoed for abot 40 mintes on one occasion at Uppercot. Even these garded, thogh fairly frank, comments of the District Magistrate wold indicate that the PAC has contribted considerably towards worsening the sitation, and Mslim anger over the PAC is largely jstified. The PAC shold therefore be removed and be sent a way to the barracks "for reorientation and training". It may be noted that the PAC's bonhomie with Hinds made Mslims angry. For example, Hinds fraternised with PAC personnel, offered them sweets, garlanded them; and if any of them declined to accept their offers Hinds raised slogans and exhorted them to listen to the call of Hindtva and Ram Bhakti. It wold indeed reqire tremendos self-control on the part of an average Mslim to tolerate sch Hind fraternisation with the police. On the other hand, almost all the Mslims we met said that they have abslte confidence in the CRPF. In one area, Mslim residents told s that bt for the CRPF they wold all have been killed. Many MsJisma spoke well of the civil police also. As illstration, a yong civil engineer (a Mslim) gave s an accont of how Sb-Inspector Man Singh Yadav saved the life of Abid from the cltches of PAC ja wans. ater when Mr. Yadav was on dty at the local Mosqe on a Friday prayer day, he was warmly welcomed by the Mslims present there. 8. Meetieg Witll Hindsfrom Varios Walks of ife Almost all Hinds whom we met were only concerned with and agitated over the alleged killing in the Medical College Hospital as reported in AAJ il,ndf'lher Hindi Dailies A few dismissed this: news as abs61u11'fy" baseless, and blamed the BJPNHP/Bajrangdal combine'?" for the riots: they also referred to the playing of cassettes from every nook and co~t. W~ reqested. 3>hclp s in or enqiry: they cold give ':l'y..;.anies of persons killed in the riots in the C~~'Pf()pertiesof Hinds destroyed and brnt. Howeverapait from the areas that have been covered bys in the foregoing in this report, they did not come ot with any other specific instance. Their only concern was the AMU and the Medical College Hospital. March,

18 B E T I N Some of them told s that Mslims had acqired a lot of arms and weapons. Or enqiry revealed that some Mslims in the old city bad prepared themselves with arms,bt they were not able to se them extensively. The PAC prevented them from attacking Hind areas in any organised manner. Or enqiry also revealed that most of the Hinds killed were by stabbing. ~. A Few Other Points raised by Mslims: Thogh Mslims have been sffering the most, no politician inclding the Prime Minister has said anything specifica lly abot Mslim sffering in commnal riots; Mslims have not attacked and damaged Mosqes; if Mslims contine to remain at the receiving end Mslim terrorism may emerge. We did not find any evidence of Hind temples having been damaged or attacked except a slight toch on a small temple in Jamalpr. We however fond ample evidence of Hinds having attacked Mosqes. Also, we fond ample evidence of Hinds sing absive langage abot Mslims and Islam-these are by now generally well-known. We wold father not reprodce the kind of offensive langage that has been sed. The most fol and obscene langage was sed in slogans written on walls We were sad to observe that commnal hatred against Mslims has assmed pathological dimension. From or talks, as well as from contents of leaflets and cassettes, it became clear to s that many Hinds are profondly ignorant abot Mslim cltre and religion; ignorant also of the fact that Mslim and Hind saints contribted.considerably to poplar socioreligios movements against Brahrnanical orthodoxy. Sadly, as we have observed, Mslims too need to be cred of their narrow-mtndedness; manyof themglorify not the tre spirit of Islam. 10. Recommandetlos : ( I) Programmes which are likely to foment comm nal passions (sch as Rathyatra, processions of ashes of kar seva victims, playing ofcommnally srchanged cassettes etc) shold be stopped by making se of sections 153 and 153A of the Indian Penal Code..(2) Para-military police forces shold be reorganised and reoriented to free them of commnalism and pnitive action shold be taken against those police personnel who take sides or act partially dring a commnal riot. -. Sch pnitive action shold be given adeqate pblicity. (3) Pblication throgh newspapers of leaflets or speeches of false information which are likely to promo te commnal passions shold also be pnished nder sections 153 and 153A of the IndianPenal Code. (4) ocal administration mst be instrcted to act promptly and impartially at the very emergence of a commnal riot sitation. (5) Those who commit grave offence like mrder and arson dring a riot shold invariably be tried and pnished as soon as normalcy is established. X X X X Since most Hinds we met concentrated only on the Medical College Hospital of AMU and wanted action to be taken against the University, we have thoght it proper to go into greater details than necessary, The next section of the Report therefore deals with this aspect. SECTION- II JAWAHARA NEHRU MEDICA COEGE HOSPITA (Aligarh Mslim University) Sitation of tbe University Camps: 1. The camps ofaligarh Mslim University is an open area in that there is no bondary wall' arond the camps, and there are private residential localities and shopping centres arond the University. They look like being part of the University. The Medical College Hospital is in the University Camps; otside the Medical College there are residential areas and shopping centres or: which the Medical College or the University administration has no control. ocal people 19 March,1991

19 B l E T I N from these areas have frep and easy access to the camps of the Hospital and the University. 2. Commnal riots started at Aligarh in fll swing on injred (riot victims) were broght to the Emergency section of the Hospital on the 7th. Another 37 were broght on The Gomti Express killing took place on Most of the injred broght to the Hospital were Mslims. News spread like wild fire, and Mslim mobs gathered otside the Hospital on 7th and 8th They were agitated. Riots broke ot otside the Hos.iital on 7th; these became more serios on the 8th There were eases of stabbing and killing, and looting and brning of shops in the Zakaria market otside the Hospital. ooting and brning of shops was done in a selective manner in that only Hind shops and est, blishrnents Were the targets. In this rioting two persons, Zafrddin and Ram Chander, were stabbed. Zafrddin died on the spot: Ram Chander was broght to tie edica1 College Hospital for treatment. He has fliy recove;ed. Crfew was imposed OIl As a reslt those living in crfew areas were not able to report for dty and attendance of Hospital staff inclding nrses was very thin. Under the circmstances the Hospital athorities were hard pressed, and were nder great stress and strain. Doctors and others in the Hospital worked rond the clock and did an excellent job. 3. On the Hindi daily AAJ pblished a news item, giving fll page banner headline in the front page that 74 persons inclding 26 patients were massacred in Medical College Hospital on The headline was not pt in qotes, indicating thereby that they got the news throgh investigation condcted by them. The raper did not give the names of patients allegedly killed in the Hospital. On pblication of this news. attendents of 3 Hind patients, at the initiative of the District Magistrate and the University athorities, were taken to Police ines to March. /99/ 20 tell the trth to newspersons, These attendants denied allegations against the Hospital and expressed fll i sntisfction over the treatment given to their patients Bt AAJ and other Hindi dailies from U P. notably AMA R UJAA and DAINIK JAGRAN. contined : to pblish nconfirmed StOI ies: in fact pblication of sch news is still contining. The District Magistrate Mr. Verma issed a. statement on 9 t 2.90 denying any killing in the hospital. The new Q,M Mr. Misra and the SSP visited the hospital (lit'the night of and after their visit they too issbed statements denying any killing and the allegations against the Hospital. 4. We visited the Medical College Hospital on 4th and 5tb Jan. 91; met correspondents of the press \.91 and apia on ; and, as mentioned earlier. we met representaves of Vyapar Mandai. faclty members of local colleges, members of the Bar. and senior cnizeas.wc met Mr. Promod Kmar. local iodslriain who..-one of the first to visit the hospital aflcrtlla.,.;was pblished in AAJ. We reqested au ~to give the names of the patients who ~~Iy kijled in the Hospital, or, at least. to --,-asmany names as possible. They however mannained. that it was for the Hospital athorities to prove that the news was ~~. aad.,~ that none was killed. We again req~~~!, help s in the investigation; arid certainly, we sggested, they cold give at least some names since most patients in the Hospital belonged to Aligarh city and nearby areas. and since they were so sre of the kilings having taken place in the hospital. Some of them then gave s the names of two attendants, and 4 patients, andtwo dead bodies fond in a well near the University. We shall now deal with these instances. I (a) It was said that Rati Ram has been missing. Or enqiry revealed that Constable Rati Ram's daghter Rekba Rani was admitted on in the hospital following head injry. On two Magistrates (who were specially depted by the

20 B l T I N?'-e District Administration to visit the Hospital and to enqire from Hind patients whether they wanted to go away from the Hospital, or stay) met Constable Rati Ram and his wife Smt. Rakesh Kmari. The fact is that Rati Ram is not missing; he is very mch alive. I (b) Smt. Sshila Devi, wlo Shri Vrindaban; and two dead bodies fond in a well near the University on : We met Shri Vrindaban at the Civil Hospital on He gave s the following accont: Shri Vrindaban had met with an accident on [ and was admitted to the Medical College Hospital (ward 5) on He was attended to b, his wife Smt, Sshila Devi He was looked after well in the Medical College Hospital On he did not see any ntoward incident taking place in his ward, nor did he hear of anything in any other ward He however heard that some. troble was going on otside the Hospital. On 8.] 2.90 Sshila Devi \\ ent ot to bring medicine for him, and she never retrned. He got worried; got himself discharged and went to the Civil Hospital where he is still ndergoing treatment. Sshila Devi's body was fond in a well, and the body was identified by her children throgh her clothes. Two dead bodies fond in the well as mentioned above inclde the one of Smt. Sshila Devi. Preliminary investigation by the athorities sggests that the other body is of a Home Gard, presmably a Mslim; bt ping definite cold be said of the identity of this.a.,body. {tappears that Sshila Devi and the other person were stabbed to death in the riot that took place OIl 8~12,90. There:'was commotion otside the hospital, a large Mslim mob gathered there on hearing of blletinjred palients arriving: t the hospital. The mob tried to identify Hinds. There were stabbings. Three laborers were S1a:bbed; one of them died. One other Hind was also stabbed to death. Another who was stabbed to.eath by thcsame mob was later on fond to be a Mslim, son of an employee of the University. ater in Delhi, Dr. Masood Hasan of Delhi University Seth Camps told Professor Dalip Swami-sor team memberthat he was present at Aligarh dring the riots beginning on 7th Dec. 90. and that he was told by reliable sorces that some Hinds were killed, and some stabbed by a Mslim mob otside the Hospital on Patients alleged to be killed in the Hospital: I. Smt, Ornwati and Smt. Ramwati : Omwati (age 32) was admitted in the Medical College Hospital on Smt. Ramwati (aae 32) was also admitted on the same day. Vyapar mandai leaders and faclty members of D.S.College, Aligarh prodced Shri Hkm Singh and Shri Ram Dayal, hsbands of Omwati and Rarnwati. They gave s the following accont: Ram Dayal's brother Yogendra Pal saw, from hiding in a small room near the ward, some boys strangle Omwati and Ramwati to death. Ramwati was ndergoing blood transfsion, she was bleeding, the nrse on dty removed the blood transfsion eqip ment. Yogendra Pal and his relations/friends also saw the child of Omwati being killed. The incident took place at midnight 8/9.]2.90. They came ot at 3 am. on Hkm Singh lodged an FIR with the Police on ie. 19 days later. He cold not report earlier, he said, becase he had fallen ill. Ram Dayal sent a report to the Police onl by registered post; he however gave information abot this to Shri Kalyan Singh, a local BlP leader on 29 or 30 Dec. 90. Or enqiry revealed that Smt, Omwati was admitted on She delivered a dead baby the same day. The body was handed over to an attendant by staff nrse on dty Ms.Satyavati Singh the same day. Smt. Omwati ex pired on at 2 a.l11.- a case of pregnancy with flminant Hepatic Failre. Death certificate No 2910 was made She was nder consltant incharge Dr. Jamal Ahmad and clinical Registrar Dr. Anirdh Ghorai, It Was clearly a case of natral death. Or enqiry with regard to Smt, Ramwati revealed 21 March, /991

21 --1.-.P!J~1 B E T I N that she was admitted on It was a case of post-partm septicaemia with cardiac failre. Dr. Jamal Ahmad was consltant in'charge, and Dr. Anirdb Ghoria, Clinical Registrer, in the case. She expired on at 9.40 P ill Death certificate No was made ot. It was also clearly a case of natral death The attendants wanted to take the bodies to their respective villages. Since the city was nder crfew, and also becase transport was not available, the athorities informed the SSP. The SSP made arrangements for the transportation of the bodies of the two deceased along with their attendants Shri Dori I, brother-in-law of Srnt, Rarnwati ; and Shr i Tota Ram, father-in-law of Smt. Ornwati.. It was obviosly an afterthoght on the parts of Shri Ram Dayal & Shri Hkarn Singh to make ot a story of killings and report them to police after many days. The women died on 8th and 9th Dec 90; bt ssprisingly no report was made to the police when the bodies were taken from the hospital Reports were made after a great deal of delay. Yogender PaJ's story is obviosly sspect. He claims to have seen the child being killed on 8./2.90 while the body of the child was already handed over to attendant on II. Siya Ram: We were told that Siya Ram was a patient in the Hospital and he was killed. Or enqiry revealed that Siya Ram was admitted in the Hospital on He met the Sptd. of the Hospital on and showed him a copy of DAINIK JAGRAN, a Hindi Daily from Agra of which reported that he himself (Siya Ram) had been killed. Since he wanted to go home becase his family wold be worried, he WaS handed over to Mr. M.S. Yadav, 81 of Civil ines Police STalion, Dodhpr for being taken home. III. Radhey Mohan: We were tola that he was a patient in the Hospital and he was killed Or enqiry revealed that Radhey Mohan was admitted in the Hospital on He left the Hospital against medical advice on throgh the help of his March. 199/ 22 neighbor Yaseern Ali. The hospital athorities informed the Civil ines Police Station. Dodhpr on He is very mch alive. In this case also a news item had appeared in AAJ that Radhey Mohan was missing. These are the only 4 cases of alleged killings in Hospital wards that were broght to or notice-ot of these two deaths were de to natral cases; and the other two were not deaths at all. Or talks with a large nmber of Hinds who constantly mentioned that 21-l patients were killed in Medical College Hospital, did not bring forth any other cas es : nor did Hospital records indicate anything ntoward happening in the Hospital. 5. eaders of Vyapar Mandal prodced Sl.r i Mahesh Aggarwal, General Merchant, and Shri Satish Agarwal. Cloth Merchant (brothers) in spport of their claim that some incidents had taken place in the Hospital. Agarwals gave s the foilowing acconts; Their mother Smt.Asharfi Devi was admitted to the Medical College Hospital ward 12, bed No While they were on their way ho me they were attacked bya Mslim mob at Dodhpr. They retrned to the Hospital, From the ward they saw injred people corning in the Hospital and stdents shoting slogans. Again, on they saw a mob of abot Nonerfrom the mob were allowed by the hospital athorities to enter the Hospital bildibg. They heard'"' from people that abot 12/13 people were stabbed hetween9 a.m, at.idil,.i... i:i:~y themselves saw only one pej$iqiil '.bbed in front of the Emerge.DCJ ~t;iii.~ saw Hkm Singh (hsband of'fl':rred to above) faint, and that someodt::~.to his help. They managed to get away from the Hospital on along with 6 others, They had come to know that Omwati and Ramwati had expired and death certificates were made ot, bt doctors cold not make arrangements to shift their bodies. They were greatly concerned abot the welfare of their mother

22 ~.P!J~!..._ B E T I N and wanted to bring her ot of the Hospital. They spoke to leaders of the Vyapar Mandai. They met District Magistrate and Police officials. They were aeeornpanied by Shri Navman, BJP M..A. Dring their meetings with officials there were angry exchanges between Shri Navman and Police officials Professor K. P. Singh of the University told them that 6 stabbings had taken place in riots otside the hospital. Mr Tahir Khaja r-rt correspondent offered to take them to the Hospital to see things for themselves and help in getting their mother ot of the Hospital. Mr Khaja broght ot two patients inclding their mother. There were other correspondents also present. Their mother was transported to their residence in Disn ict Magistrate's car ). Their brother was attacked at Zakaria market (near the Medical College Hospital) On ; he was not injred. They have not lodged any report with the police. This accont of these two important members of Vyapar Mandal make it qite clear that they' had witnessed no ntoward happenings in wards. They saw none being killed in wards; thay saw one person being stabbed otside the Emergency section; they heard bt did not see themselves. that 12/l3 persons were stabbed otside the Hospital: that their brother was attacked by a Mslim mob bt not injred; they have not reported to the police; that Hospital athorities did... _~li~1~9~anyone from the mob to enter the Hospital =~k':.... {It shold be noted here that this alleged eye witness accont of these two;brothers on which the news papers Aaj, Amar Ujala and Dainik Jagran based their stories of 28 killed in the hospital].. 6. Dring or visit to the Civil Hospital on 12,1.91, we asked Dr. V.P. Aggarwal, Chief Medical Sptd. if he sspected any fol play by the Medical College Hospital in connection with post-mortems condcted in the Medical College Hospital nder his spervision. He did not, he said, adding that he had fond no discrepancy in Medical College Hospital records showing case of death. 7. Dring or meeting with Mr. Misra, District Magistrate. Aligarh on we asked him since both he and his predecessor had contradicted the news of 28 patients killed as reported in AAJ of 10,12.90, he cold srely proceed against the paper nder section l53-a, r P.C. He told s that one Reporter was arrested; another had reportedly obtained an anticipatory bail. and still another was absconding and that the Administration was going to proceed to get his property attached We pointed ot that Editors and Proprietors of Papers mst be proceeded against nder section 153-A, l.pc primarily since it was their responsibility in mch matters. He said he wold look into this aspect. We also asked him if he wold let s know the sorce of the news in AAJ ; he expressed his ignorance and added that it happened dring his predecessor's time. 8, There have been commnal riots before, bt the atmosphere never became as vicios as it has become today; and commnalisation did not give rise to sch vlgarisation as it has done today. The Medical College of AMU holds an all-india fnction of sports events every year and invites all Medical colleges to participate in the events. This year too they sent ot invitation for SPORTOTSAV 91. They received the following reply from Govt. Medical college. Jabalpr: "Yo bloody How can yo expect to participate in sch activity. Jai Shri Ram", SJ/ illigible (Dean). This was written on the reply post card sent with tbe invitation card Sch condct is against all medical ethics.the matter needs to be looked into by Govt. Medical college Jabalpr. It is also painfl to observe tbat Aligarh Mslim University did not get spport of any significance from the Medical fraternity of the contry and faclty members of niversities. They have closed their eyes on the indignities that the AMU is going throgh and the vilification campaign that has been going on in the Hindi press. 23 March, 1991

23 ~P~~!_ B l l E T I N 9. We are inclined to think that the press and proceeding against the gilty newspapers? The motiva- Hinds of Aligarh might have been compelled to tone ted and orchestrated propaganda against the Medical down their misconceived reaction.ifshri Promod Kmar College Hospital has become so vicios that if the goveran indstrialist of Aligarh, and Mr. Ashok Chahan, nment does not handle matters in a forthright manner, who were the first persons to go to the Hospital after leaving aside all political and electoral considerations, the news appeared in AAJ. were allowed to proceed in people of all religions will contine to sffer. Contrary the matter as Mr. Prornod Kmar had sggested. They to poplar belief amongst Hinds, more than 40% visited wards 10,11,12. They were told by some people stdents in AMUMedical college are Hinds: at one dring their visit that 2 patients were killed; they fond time majority of patients in the Hospital sed to be these two patients alive. Mr. Pramod Kmar told s Hinds. Not many people otside Aligarh know that the that he did not sspect any fol play in the hospital. He Medical College Hospital is a specialised hospital and however wanted to go abot the matter in a detailed members of staff there are some of the best in the and thorogh manner so that he cold isse a compre- contry. hensive statement in order to allay pblic misgivings We were pained to note that District athorities have cased by the mischievos and baseless news, for, as he now directed the Medical College Hospital athorities told s, he had to face sch formidable forces like the to mention religion of patients in Cards and Hospi- RSS (the Vyapar Mandai, as we cold see, is controlled tal registers. One doctor was in tears when he mentionby RSS) and Bajrangda1. One or two doctors were ed this to s. impatient and sed strong langage, he told s (and it 11. Before we left Aligarh on J we had was confirmed by some doctors of the Hospitallfor.they asked all who met s, specially the members of the Bar felt, sch a corse (as advised by Mr. Pramod Kmar) and press persons, to let s know the names of patients wold add frther injry to their wonds. They therefore allegedly killed in Hospital, bt pto the date of compwanted him to isse a statement right then since he had letion of this report we have not received any commnifond DO ntoward happenings inside the Hospital. He cation from them. therefore withdrew from the scene. We might add that Conclsion: almost everyone in the Hospital spoke highly Of his 1. There was no killing or patients in the Hospital. intergrity and impartiality. as also of Mr. Chahan.s. 2. There were riotings and stabbings.and also some W. Inspite of centrad ictions of the AAJ news item killings by stabbing otside the hospital, as also looting pblished by a nmber ('f newspapers from Delhi, some and brning of Hind hoses and establishments on the basis of their own investigation and some on the in areas otside the hospital. We fond no evidence basis of District administration's contradiction, Hinds of any hospital staff being involved in any sch in Aligarh and elsewhere, particlarly in D.P., have con incident. tined to believe this fol story. So mch so that the 3. Rmors spread, and baseless news items pb- Government of U P. felt it necessary to insert an adver- lished in Hindi papers have doble significance-they tisment in AMAR UJA A, Agra on "Rmors tarnish the image of the Hospital and AMU, and at the are hnrmfl fot Nation and Society. False news abot same time they are commnal in character in that they killings in the A Iiga:h Medical College Hospital p blish- are anti-mslim. ed in some newspape-s led to the commnal violence As a conseqence of these rmors reslting in fear and innocent persons lost their lives". (And also, the psychosis poor Hinds will sffer more becase they government cold have added, the Medical College, its will be relctant to visit sch a well-eqipped modern reptation). What then prevents the Government from hospital. - V.M. Tarknde-«Rajinder Sacbar-e-Ab Baker-Dalip S.swamy--R.M.Pal March,

24 B 1 E T I N Annexre I Dring OUi visits in the' Medical College Hospital we: met some patients,wegiv~ below acconts given by two sch patients: I Mohammed Ayb, elo Zahoor, village Bdaka, His profession was to by and sell yong bffaloes 7/8 persons. their faces covered. attacked him at a. distance ofabot 200 yds from his residence. They' hit him on his testicles. His testicles were crshed. He fell down in pain They hit him in his eyes with some pointed weapon. He was broght to the Hospital on Doctors carne to the' conclsion that his.. eye-sight cold not be restored. His eyeballs were removed. Testicles complete,ly crshed and permanently blinded, Mohammad {\yd was being looked after by his brother in the Hospital. 2 Kamod Singh: He belongs to village Palanpr Desari in Kanpr district. He is now fit enogh to move abot: He helps other patients and we cold see that he is poplar with all patients. He was admitted to the Hospital in the last week of JW According to him news pblished in Hindi paper's abot the Hospital was a white he. The Doctors and other staff members worked throghot nights becase of the large nmber ofpatients corning to "the Hospital from 7th December onwards... At times they went withot meals and gave their food to patients. Doctors and hospital staffare always very helpfl and often go ot of their way to solve patients' problems. There is no discrimination between Mslim and Hind patients. He was pained when he read in newspapers allegations against the Hospital. He has written to varios people in Kanpr inclding the M.A of his constitency, abot it. Annexre1/ PRESS COVERAGE. UCKNOW by Prashant Kmar of PUC The local Hindi press has. by and large, behaved like a 'Hind" press in the coverage of the recent Ayodhya incidents and their fallot.' This reporting on commnal lines has whipped p hatred for the minorities and reslted in one-sided attacks on Mslims in Uttar Pradesh The highly exaggerated reporting of the Ayodhya firing toll is making people believe that thosands of "innocent karsevaks" were "massacred" on October 30 and November 2. Ms Urvashi Sahani, Secretary. "Sraksha" (a volntary.organisation) tolda PUC seminar oil november IS.that in some villages of cknow district. people.asserted that "at least 50,000 people had beep, killed". Perhaps the editors sitting here wold not like to _ answer the qestion Mr. Vidyasagar (senior jornalist) raised: "What is the impact of yor writing?" Being an activist ofthe PUc:, which has lanched a Gain- 'paign against commnalism in cknow, I can tell yo what damage this kind of reporting has done to or society. Hind fanatics have attacked mosqes in Ayodhya, Oeoria and elsewhere, brnt and stoned hoses and shops owned or occpied by Mslims and painted vlgar and provocative slogans at pblic places all over the state. In cknow the hose of Mr. N. M. Alvi, depty director, Censs, was brnt in the posh Kendrachal colony Area (Hose No. I, Type IV) on the night of November 5 while the family was away. Hosehold goods were completely brnt. No newsperson visited Mr. Alvi's hose. ~.No qestion of reporting a word on the incident. Had a Hind citizen met similar fate, the city's Hindi Press wold have pblished 50-ODD stories on the isse. Similarly, no word has been written on the attacks on Mslims' shops in the varios localities of the state capital, the provocative wall writing (like,' 11ln:'1f~ ~Frri1T ~ ~i1ifi't ~q'.,t, ~T~T~T<fi~ ~it ~i1<fit ~a-i1t'; ~!.'f ~ittar) ~r~~ 9)'T,' ifni fl1ct3jt ~tcsf~ <fit'; 'ill1 ~tq' ~) ~ll CSfl'Jf~;.i5IFr~~ ~11 3JT~ ~, etc.) and the growing sense of insecrity among the minorities in tho state. 25 March, 1991

25 ~.P!J!1! B, U E T I N The commnal; press has pt ot absoltelyfalse and ldicros stories as 'news' on the front pages. On October 30, the 'Swatantra Bharat' (cknow) frontpaged a news item 'headlined ;:Wf ~)qr(if ~nr ~cfelfl;:r G which claimed the Maniram Chhavani ~hant Nityagopal Das had dematerialised after he 'was arrested by the police. It frther claimed that it was the very.first case ()f sch (spernatral) disappearance. On November 13, the same paper boxed yet another 'news' on front page nder the headline. '~Tq!' ( Crse ). The story claimed that the ppil of a senior police officer's right eye had melted away (!) becase the officer had ordered firing on the karsevaks in Ayodhya! Sch news stories' are not merely ridiclos, These are intended to instil in the minds of gliibleeitizens that anyone who opposes, or does not side with, the Rambhoomi leaders shall meet a similar fate. The commnal press has also been trying its best to convince the readers" that most Mslims spport commnal Hind organisation on the Ayodhya isse. On October 23, 'The Pioneer' (cknow) frontpaged a Gaya-datelined PTI story which claimed that a Mslim driver of Mr..K. Advani's Rath was "encoraging Mslims at several places to offer karseva for the constrction of the temple at Ayodhya" How many Mslims did actally reach Ayodhya to offer Karseva? On October 25. the same paper again frontpaged a- story headlined "5,000 Mslims to Demolish Masjid'. The story qoted one Mkhtar Abbas Naqvi as. saying that"the Babari Masjid at Ayodhya will be demo lished by a batch of 5000 nationalist Mslims who will reach there on 29 October nder their secret plan". - This pblicity crazy Naqvi is very well known to UP jornalists. We a') know that he cannot mobilise even 50 Mslims for me sjid demolition. Can any responsible jornalist make frontpage ~news' ot of sch false and nasty claims? Ask the Principal Conespondent of the Pioneer, who athored this report, to sbmit a list ofthe 'nationalist' Mslims who went to Ayodhya for karseva, It is shamefl that the Pioneer desk did not even.care to pt the headline within qotes. In yet another absoltely nethical move on November.15. the same newspaper frontpaged a story headlined "Mslims Condemn Govt. order on Parikrama". Criosly, this story does not qote - anymslim individal or organisation which spposedly condemned the government order on parikrarna. If yo read the story, yo will find that a former Congress I MA, who happens to be a Hind, has issed this statement on behalf of. the Mslim commnity! If. some Mslim MA tomorrow isses a statement saying that the Hindshave condemned the karsevaks" attempt to demolishthe masjid.will the Pioneer carry it? Significacantly, again, the headline of this story too is - NOT within qotes. Nov. 23, 1990 SOME D.P. HINDI DAIIES by Sehjo Singh ofpuc Many~Hindi nailies in U.P. have adopted a straight _forward HindcoJllmnal postre in the reporting ofevents eonn~tect,\\-ith- Ayodhya Kar Sews To give one example: tbc~~ivecoverage given to Ms Uma. Bharati thejangage~etatylc-of whose speeches fall on theborderli~~~~~jtbese. papers have no comments to otfej:'j'1~~fjijei-j~gj,l~ge:;instead she has beenpainte<l~ca~~llew'_~(),binchood. The Arnar Ujala of ~~'i~j.~09all~ her.. an Ojasvi Vakta (Bri1liantS~ed,ll,~rreaching Ayodhya des~ribed. as a daring escape from cltches of an evil administration. I Similarly in another instance Aaj of 3rd Janary, 1990 carries a for colmn box orr rits froi1tpa:gi}cp'f~ml : detailing the happiness of the n1<ith~rof~nes~;~'sh Baghel who tried to blow p the Babri Masqe. They haveshown litlle or no discretion, in the coverage of riots; fot instance the Amar Ujala of 8 December, 1990 which carries the news of riots in GanjdndwaraCarri~apicttlre ofadogdragging' a semi-brnt eorpse on'. its front page and repeats it inside. It menti~nstj,1eidentity. of riotcrs.: and gives of 13 D~mber1990ppts inabox item on front page with ahead line Allah-O~Akbar Chillate Sipahi Ne SP Ko Golitgad". -(A policeman shoting Allaho a lrid descriptfbn ~f'their doings. _The 'Arnar Ujala. March, /991 26

26 ~;l!jjj! B E T I N Akbar shot at SP) At the same time one can see that there are some right minded people within these organisations, who are having a difficlt time in making their presence felt to the readers. The news abot alleged killings in the medical college hospital of A.M.D. appears in Aaj on The earlier editions of Amar Ujala of that day did not. have any reference to it. bt the later editions have a box item claiming that fifty people have been allegedly killed. The Aaj however proclaimed 74 dead inclding 28 patients in a fll front.page banner headline. The Dainik Jagran of that day however beat the record by claiming 124 dead in a similar banner headline. The reports were filed on the basis of acconts of two witnesses, Mahesh and Satish Aggarwal. i. Significantly Mahesh and Satish claim that thev were accompanied by six other men while escaping from the medical college hospital compond bt the others went home. and these two were the only ones left to report the event to the District Magistrate. Bt the Aaj of 5th Janary trn:peted anoth 7r escap.ee who also claims to have been with them while meeting the D. M. Why had been his presence forgotten earlier, or was he prepared later on? ii. Similarly the two claim in Aaj of 11th Dec. that two women patients died becase one gly looking woman came into the ward and kicked off the glcose and blood drips At another place (Amar Ujaja l lth Janary) they say that a mob entered the ward and kicked at the bottles. iii. The Aaj of l lth Dec. says that these two saw from their hiding place one leader named Frkan Saheb who came arond 3 30 p.m. and tried to control the crowd. bt he was ridicled and had to beat a hasty retreat. The Amar Ujala of that day however claims that this leader frther provoked the crowd. iv. All the reports pblished on Dec. 10th and I l th claimed that two laborers working near the medical college camps were killed and one policeman who was attending to his sick daghter is missing. On 2J st December Amar Ujala says that these two laborers were able to escape bt another laborer Ratiram Was injred and admitted into the hospital and has been missing since then. The Aaj of6th Janary claims that Ratiram was beaten p bt now is safe and well. The fact is that Shri Ratiram was escorted by two Magistrates on l Sth December althogh he was relctant to go. V. The Aaj also alleges that Mr. Radhemohan was killed, qoting a discrepancy between the list provided by the hospital athorities and a pollee diary. in a box item of front page on Janary S, It was however very obliqely conceded in a little peragraph tcked in a corner on Janary , that he was alive. There is sch a plethora of so-called evidence "official proofs" and "responsible sorces" that it is impossible for anyone to conter them and least of all for a medical college whose main bsiness is to treat the injred and not carry ot a media campaign, The problem however remains that the lack of credibility of Govt. information among the common readership makes them implicitly trst an independent sorce like a newspaper. The printed word carries its own weight and one tends to accept that there mst be some trth in the stories since these are being repeated over and over again. It is regrettable that the Hindi press in U.P. has adopted as its motto : go on repeating a lie over and over again, and it is bond to be accepted as a trth; reminiscent of Hitler's notorios Depty? Annexre III : JawaharlaJ Nehr Medical College Hospital Attendance of Nrsing Staff On 6th, 7th, Sth, 9th Dec. 90 Date Even. 3 to 10 pm/ Present On leave Absent Remarks Night 10 to 8 am 6.12.~0 Night No passes Evening were issed by the Night 19 Nil J6 administration to Evening 12 I 19 hospital staff. This is Night 14 Nil 17 the position even at Evenittg 18 Nil 19 the time of enqiry. 27 March,1991