The Supreme Court on Monday, Jan 6, 2024, rebuked convict Radhyesham the the Bilkis Bano case particularly for "suppressing material and making misleading facts" while getting a May 2022 order from the top court to approach the Gujarat government that eventually led to the premature release of all 11 convicts.
The apex Court struck down the Gujarat government's early release order for 11 convicts.
The court said Bilkis Bano's plea challenging the early release of the 11 convicts was valid.
The Supreme Court has asked the convicts to surrender within two weeks, after which they can make a fresh plea for release to the Maharashtra government.
The case relates to charges against 11 convicts during 2002 Gujarat riots, that broke out after the Godhra train-burning incident, The accused and later convicts faced charges of gangrape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven of her family members.
The gangrape victim Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant (in 2002) when the incident took place while fleeing communal riots.
All 11 convicts who were involved in murder of Bilkis Bano's daughter as well as 6 other family members were granted remission by the Gujarat government and were released on August 15, 2022.
In September, it was questioned whether the convicts have a fundamental right to seek remission and the opportunity to reform and reintegrate with society should extend to such convicts.
The Supreme Court pulled up the Gujarat government for being complicit and acting in tandem with the 11 men. The convicts had initially approached Gujarat for their early release, but the state declined the same, citing that Maharashtra is empowered to give the order. However, when the convicts approached Maharashtra, their plea was dismissed again.
The convicts then moved the Supreme Court to obtain an early release order from the Gujarat government, with the top court being kept in the dark regarding Maharashtra rejecting the plea earlier.
On Monday, the Supreme Court said that the Gujarat government should have filed a review petition against the former's May 2022 judgment and pointed out that it was incorrect to wrest Maharashtra's power in the convicts' premature release.
The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice BV Nagarathna on Monday pronounced the judgment on a petition challenging the early release of 11 convicts, sentenced to life imprisonment for raping Bilkis Bano and killing her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Now in circa 2024 as the stage is set for a grand opening of a still under construction temple; various pros and cons are being debated.
For the BJP, it will be a moment of political triumph as it was the only Indian party along withMaharashtra-based Shiv Sena led by late xenophobic Bal Thackeray that stood the ideology of Hindu cultural nationalism. For ordinary Indians and especially middle class Hindus, it is a moment of pride and simple satisfaction.
"When the Ram temple movement started in 1983 it was like a pipedream. India was wedded to strong secular and even-ultra Left principles in more ways than one. In the Christian-dominatednortheast, we never thought a Temple could come up in Ayodhya in our lifetime. Of course, we contributed paltry Rs 500 those days for taking bricks to Ayodhya," says Ashutosh Talukdar, an office goer in Guwahati.
Laying of bricks in the vicinity of the disputed site was paradoxically started with the approval of the then Congress government headed by Rajiv Gandhi in 1989. However, a notion prevailed that the Congress was against the temple as it wanted to woo Muslims - which formed its principal support base till the mid-eighties.
In the 1984 elections, the Congress won as many as 414 seats in the 543-member Lower House of Indian Parliament. Five years later, the Congress tally dropped to 197 and since then it has been on constant decline. Now in the run up to the 2024 elections and also Ram temple consecration, the Congress is a bit confused about attending the Jan 22nd mega event. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Sonia Gandhi (wife of Late Rajiv) have been invited by the Temple trust. But they are unable to decide.
BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi says, "I understand the Congress dilemma. They still need Muslim votes. Once they gave an affidavit that God Ram is an imaginary figure. At best they can tender an apology and seek solace in God Ram. He is benevolent and he is for all".
The Congress leaders say the BJP has hijacked a religious occasion which has the sanction of the SupremeCourt and is trying to give an impression that the temple "belongs to Modi and the BJP".
On the other hand, Indian Muslims have accepted the Supreme Court verdict and now the coming Jan 22 event with a lasting sentiment of sorrow, defeat and a mix of resigned acceptance. Muslim leaders such as Farooq Abdullah, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, say, "Ram belongs to all...He is a God...He is universal, he belongs to Muslims also".
Asaduddin Owaisi of Hyderabad-based AIMIM criticised PM Modi for attending the religious eventon August 5, 2020 when the construction work was formally started.
India kept its tryst with the "Hindutva moment" as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had participated in a ceremony on Aug. 5, 2020 to lay the foundation stone for a temple at a controversial site.
He says PM's actions in effect are tantamount to violating the oath he took on India’s secular constitution. But many Muslim leaders and intellectuals blame Congress for 'conspiring' or helplessly contributing to the destruction of Babri Masjid in 1992 when the party headed the federal government in Delhi.
Late PV Narasimha Rao was the prime minister then and another Congress veteran S B Chavan was the Home Minister. And the grudge is they did precisely little to protect the Mosque.
Talk to Congress leaders, to this day many of them almost unhesitatingly hold Rao responsible for the erosion of the grand old party’s support base in the cow belt. Sonia Gandhi allegedly denied entry of Rao’s body to AICC headquarters. The party also denied Rao a funeral in Delhi, a place of party heroes.
Up to this day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mocks the Congress leadership and Sonia Gandhifor denying ‘entry’ of P V Narasimha Rao’s body to the 24 Akbar Road AICC headquarters. A number of Congress leaders regard Rao as an ‘usurper’ to the Nehru-Gandhi throne and a conspirator who worked against Sonia family and also for the destruction of the Babri Masjid.
In 2016, senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said Rao spoke the language of BJP leaders. “I was summoned by Rao once and he said he (Rao) did not agree with my definition of secularism as India is a Hindu-majority country. I told Narasimha Rao that’s exactly how the BJP argues,” Aiyar had said.
Another Congressman Natwar Singh, who also worked closely with Sonia Gandhi and was foreign minister under Dr Manmohan Singh, described the Babri Masjid demolition on December 6, 1992, as “the biggest failure” of the then Prime Minister Rao.
The Ram temple is today's reality. But polarisation of Indian polity and a 'semi-farewell' to Nehruvian concept of secularism is also the Indian reality of 2024. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seen as a Hindutva leader and a catalyst of development. This has put him on advantage vis-a-vis 2024 polls due by April-May. This will be his third attempt after two successful rounds in 2014 and 2019.
On the other hand, the opposition parties are confused.
Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury, who has been invited to attend Jan 22 event, says his party will not be part of any such political high drama.Ms Dimple Yadav of Samajwadi Party - which enjoys abundant Muslim support in Uttar Pradesh, religion is personal and she will visit temple either on Jan 22 or even after.
West Bengal-based socialist Ramakanto Shanyal says, "The Opposition is clueless on how to handle Modi and his brand of politics. After Jan 22 temple consecration, Hindu polarisation will be extreme.
It's better that the Congress and other parties start effective and fool proof planning for 2029 polls, this year's election is almost a lost case".
 |
| Blogger |
In the words of Swami Vivekananda, God Ram to Hindus has been “the embodiment of truth, of morality, the ideal son, the ideal husband and above all, the ideal king”. His return to Ayodhya, according to epic Ramayana after 14 years exile, is considered a symbol of the victory of right over evil.
Hindus across the globe celebrate Diwali, an important event in the annual Hindu calendar. In the modern times even celebrities and those in high office in the west and especially America also celebrate Diwali as the festival of light.
"The historical presence of worshippers and existence of worship at the disputed site even prior to the annexation of Oudh by the British and the construction of a brick-grill wall in 1857."
 |
| Brick laying: 1989 |
No comments:
Post a Comment