‘With Salian out, I feared the case would weaken’

‘With Salian out, I feared the case would weaken’
ACTIVIST HARSH MANDER ON HIS PIL FOR A FAIR TRIAL IN MALEGAON

By Alka Dhupkar

Social worker and writer Harsh Mander was filled with an overwhelming sense of outrage when he read about the revelation by Rohini Salian, erstwhile public prosecutor in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, that she had been pressured by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to go soft on the accused. Through a PIL, the former civil servant recently sought the Supreme Court’s intervention to ensure a fair trial in the case. On I-Day eve, Mander, who is also the director of the Centre for Equity Studies in Delhi, spoke to Mumbai Mirror at the Asia Journalism Forum in Singapore and stressed the need to carry on the fight against inequality and communal bias in all forms.



What are you worried about and what is your expectation from the judiciary?
For the defence of secular democracy in India, the people must have faith in the fairness of our public institutions. After learning about Rohini Salian’s revelations, I called on her and she explained to me the kind of pressure that had been on her and the reason for her dissociation with the case. With Salian out, my fear was that the case would weaken. I moved the SC with a request to monitor the trial as it had supervised cases like the 2G scam. Ever since the tragic killing of Hemant Karkare during 26/11, very little credible evidence has been gathered by the investigating agencies. Over the years, Salian had also said that the only thing discussed in the case was bail for the accused, who are Hindus.



Salian also faced criticism for going public. How do you view her decision?
By going public, she did a great service to the idea of justice in the country as well as to the faith the people of every community that there are still men and women of integrity and sense of fairness who will speak up. Now we hear that the public prosecutor in the Ajmer blast case is under similar pressure to desist from opposing Aseemanand’s bail. Also, we have a lot of people, starting from Maya Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi to DG Vanzara, who have got bail in the past year. The list is endless. But there is a contrast when people charged in a terror crime belong to the Muslim community. I am aware of many such cases.
So my point is that we cannot tolerate this double standard. The distinction between terrorism and communal massacre is worrisome. Both are hate crimes and should be treated on par. While there has always been some kind of bias, I’m worried about the brazenness that has been on display over the past year. It reflects in the workings of official agencies, probe agencies, prosecuting agencies, and sadly, some segments of the judiciary too are comfortable with it. This double standard I wish to challenge.



But Malegaon and Ajmer blast cases are pending since 2007-08 when the UPA was in power. Don’t you see it as UPA’s fault?
Absolutely. This bias was around in UPA’s time too. I have been critical of that government on many occasions, but the unashamed partisanship is part of a larger majoritarian politics which the present government espouses. State governments like Maharashtra and Gujarat espouse that too. We can’t allow this to go on unchallenged.



PM Narendra Modi will address the nation tomorrow on August 15. Do you expect him to comment on these cases to assure delivery of justice?
He (PM) speaks a lot but everything that is most critical and troubling the nation. When ministers in his government, ruling party MPs utter things that amount to culpable hate speeches, they should be sent to jail. But the PM is silent on this. His silence is the kind of partisanship of state agencies that I have spoken about. He (PM) is silent about somebody like Rohini Salian, who raised the most worrying questions about the fairness about our public institutions. The PM of a diverse, pluralist and secular country must ensure that the rule of law prevails. But I am not surprised about PM’s selective silence on these issues. As I have seen in Gujarat in 12 years, his (Modi’s) open partisanship became a major political discourse on communal hate. (Note: The PM did not allude to hate speech in his I-Day address)



In the Ajmer case, the prosecutor’s revelation is equally alarming like Salian’s. Are you planning to file a PIL regarding that case too?
Certainly it falls into a revelation of that type. We may need to make the same plea in Ajmer case too. Either I or any of my comrade friends, who are fighting for human rights, will certainly need to raise the matter. We will.