State violence/repression
State violence against common people including human rights activists is not new and has long been ignored by the masses. Given state repression now under BJP tries to reach unattained heights (important to remember that the foundations were laid during Congress’s rule) and establish fascism, it is important to review not only the present arrests in connection with Bhima Koregaon but also our historical record on human rights violations.
Firstly, let us have a look at the fundamental human rights formulated and proclaimed decades ago in 1948 ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’. It is here important to recall that these have been laid out taking historical mistakes into account and to prevent it from happening again. We don’t need to go past article 1 (All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights) to know the abysmal record of India with regard to human rights. If it helps to assuage the hurt to Indian ego, most nations fail in human rights when we take this declaration into account, albeit in varying degrees. Of particular importance are article 5 which states ‘No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’ and article 9 ‘No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile’. Moreover, the declaration proclaims that there should be room to fight an act if it threatens the fundamental rights and that everyone is entitled to free and public hearing. Of utmost importance are articles 19 and 20 which are about the freedom of opinion and expression, and freedom of peaceful assembly.
With the knowledge that we have acquired, we shall now examine the case of Bhima Koregaon. What happened in Bhima Koregaon is widely seen as an attack on the dalit protestors who were exercising their ‘right to peaceful assembly’.²³ Even if we consider the extreme propaganda by Republic, the violence seems to be between two communities, one being the protestors. One doesn’t need to beat one’s brains out to figure out who the other community is, the caste Hindus. Some reports directly blame the Hindutva leaders of Maharashtra for inciting violence. Add to this the mysterious death of Puja Sakat who was witness to the violence. Yet almost all the people arrested in this case belong to dalit community or are human rights activists, which include peaceful protestors. Even human rights activists who have no connection to Bhima Koregaon whatsoever have been arrested as well.⁵⁶⁷ According to the web of lies spun by the government, 1. the violence is incited by speeches made at the event Elgar Parishad (EP) which took place a day before Bhima Koregaon, 2. the arrested activists are part of Elgar Parishad 3. EP has connection with the naxals and 4. there is a plot to assassinate Modi/Amit Shah. Though these accusations are evidence-free and can be taken down easily⁷⁸, let us examine this from a human rights point of view. The EP meeting and Bhima Koregaon both were peaceful assemblies which is guaranteed by fundamental human rights. With regard to the ‘violence’ in Bhima Koregaon, given even Republic agrees that it was a violence between two communities, the disproportionate targeting of one community should raise important questions. The arbitrary arrests in this case is in complete violation of article 9 of declaration of human rights. But the important questions are 1. given there were speeches made on dalit assertion, is it right to arrest people for the speeches? It is worthwhile here to remind ourselves of the speeches of Hindutva leaders inciting Babri Masjid demolition to Gujarat riots to the present day violence. Given the universal declaration allows people to hold and spread opinions/ideas, unless there is violence involved no one should be punished for these speeches. It is the duty of the state to prevent violence if violence is anticipated, not to mention with ‘utmost respect to life’ of people. 2. Do naxals have the freedom of speech and peaceful assembly? If one doesn’t think so, there is a serious problem with the person’s understanding of basic human rights. Unless the naxals commit a crime/involve in violence, they have the right to assemble, organize and express their opinions. So, while it is important to break the web of lies spun by the government down, it is of utmost importance to talk about the rights which are threatened and the rights are not exclusive to select people but everyone including naxals. The term UrbanNaxals which is stamped on dissenters basically attempts to capitalize on the general consciousness about naxals and it is therefore important to break this narrative down. The first step being defending the freedom of speech and expression of naxals. Examining the narrative UrbanNaxals, looking into naxal problem and the contribution of state and capitalist machinery to the problem and the ‘wild and murderous’ state repression of naxalism is beyond the scope of this article. The duty of the state is to look into the root causes, correct its mistakes and address the grievances of these people and ensure their rights to prevent them from resorting to violence, and to initiate talks with the rebels to stop violence. Instead Indian state panicked people, made good use of nationalist sentiments by posing the ‘others’ as a threat to the nation and capitalized on the fear of the masses to equip itself with power that is in direct conflict with basic human rights.⁹ ¹⁰ ¹¹ The above three links give an overview of the draconian law that UAPA is.
It would help people who buy into the reasoning that draconian laws are needed to ensure safety and integrity of the nation to imagine a party/ideology which they hate or don’t subscribe to in power. History tells us that any ideology when it comes to power can brutally suppress dissent. What draconian laws offer to the state is the power to label any organization and therefore its members and supporters, or anyone you suspect for that matter as terrorist and a threat to the nation/public. One should ask oneself if one would offer such a power to an ideology or party that they don’t agree with. Given such power to the state, it is likely to curb the freedom of not only those who are involved in violence but also people who empathize with a particular ideology or organization. As a leftist, while I believe there is nothing good about the right-wing communal and capitalist politics and its leaders and ‘irredeemable’ followers and that there is nothing in the right-wing politics that can be of any good to society or has any meaningful reason to exist, the fundamental human rights are for them too and a state cannot and should not jail them unless they involve in actual violence.
At this juncture, it is also important to remember innumerable number of faceless people who have been and are being terrorized and arrested by the (draconian) laws. To remember that though the repression and the narrative aiding the repression are different, the misuse of draconian laws and arbitrary application to suppress dissent and protests is not new. And that most of the parties want to maintain the status quo for they need this arbitrariness and vagueness with regard to some laws and their application. That the only way to change this pathetic status quo is to create awareness among the public which would in turn press the relevant institutions to take action. This National Crime Records Bureau document, even with its heavy bias towards the state and underestimation of atrocities perpetrated by the state, is still a shocking indictment. Our snail-paced judicial system along with the way our whole system functions with impunity makes law and justice in most cases a joke.
The way forward is to try and internalize the importance of right to freedom of speech/assembly/dissent/protest and the importance of holding power structures from police to our Prime Minister to accountability and to strive for reformations in our law and justice system so that it serves the people as it should do in a democracy.
P.S. Some important rights that most people have not yet internalized.
Article 17.2 of Universal declaration of human rights states that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18 allows people to practise the religion of their choice and to convert either alone or in community to the religion of their choice.
Article 23.4 proclaims that everyone has the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights http://www.un.org/en/udhrbook/pdf/udhr_booklet_en_web.pdf
- https://www.epw.in/journal/2018/13/commentary/investigating-violence-koregaon-bhima.html
- https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/understanding-bhima-koregaon/article22361017.ece
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIkjZdkmjTQ
- https://thewire.in/caste/post-bhima-koregaon-violence-police-target-dalits-across-maharashtra-minor-boys-are-its-worst-victims
- https://thewire.in/caste/dalits-others-across-mumbai-take-part-in-maharashtra-bandh-around-100-detained
- https://thewire.in/caste/naxal-links-modi-assassination-plot-pune-police-dalit-activists-bhima-koregain
- https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/bhima-koregaon-violence-no-link-between-maoists-and-elgar-parishad-event-says-ex-judge/articleshow/65597421.cms
- https://thewire.in/rights/uapa-anti-terrorism-laws
- https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/bhima-koregaon-and-the-fault-in-our-laws/article24305910.ece
- https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/08/30/india-5-more-rights-activists-detained
