Jyoti Punwani writes on human rights issues. You can e-mail the author at jyoti.punwani@gmail.com
The former BJP corporator was named by a villager in a police complaint made three days before the January 1, 2018 violence at Bhima Koregaon. Yet, the police did not include his name in the FIR.
Where does one find a man who shows no bitterness or animosity towards Hindus, even after a frenzied Hindu mob burnt his house down?, Jyoti Punwani asks in this tribute to a truly extraordinary Indian.
Unlike other top police officers, A A Khan spoke boldly --- be it while defending 'encounters' in many of which he was involved, or in tracing the cause of the ghastly Radhabai Chawl incident, recalls Jyoti Punwani. Encounters were useful, he said, because hardened criminals who were targeted were beyond reform and no good for society.
Not just in the hostel, but in college too, they would block his way in the corridor; snatch his mobile; make him get up from where he was sitting; crowd around him in the mess; drag him into their room and threaten to hit him with a belt.
'The wrong person had to spend a banvaas of 14 years on a wrong charge.'
Right from his arrest in May 2014, the Nagpur jail authorities have denied Professor Saibaba his basic rights, even flouting court orders in the process.
'There have been more than 70 cases of extra-judicial killings in Assam.' 'In some cases, people have been taken away from their homes by the police and then shot.'
Would a Muslim or Christian or Dalit mob who lynched someone because their religious feelings were hurt be given State protection? asks Jyoti Punwani.
No report of the violence was sent by Mumbai's police commissioner to the government. Why was the violence then considered serious enough to be included in the Terms of Reference? Was it a balancing act to counter the accusations that were then being made against Hindutva leaders Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote?
The Supreme Court found enough grounds to order a CBI probe into 1,528 extra-judicial killings in Manipur between 2000 and 2012.
The police do not have it in them to confront the Hindutva groups in a country ruled by a Hindutva party. No wonder Munawar Faruqui feels this is the end for him, asserts Jyoti Punwani.
'Father Stan was concerned about other innocents who may be implicated and put inside without the slightest proof, the way he was.'
'An international survey has shown that India figures high in the list of countries on people's approval of torture.' 'What is surprising is that even if you look at the many vibrant social movements we've had, there's been no campaign that predominantly focuses on police torture.'
'Why potentially anybody, not only Muslims and Dalits, can be subjected to custodial death?'
There exists a curious link between Advocate Niteen Pradhan's client Milind Ekbote and Harshali Potdar: Both have blamed each other for the Bhima Koregaon violence, notes Jyoti Punwani.
'One police officer told me that trials take forever, conviction rates are low.' 'So one way to judge states' performance on handling crime is through the 'recovery rate' of their police.' 'The fastest way to get recovery is by torturing the accused.'
'Families think 100 times before sending their children to mainland India.'
'Those who support the attacks should realise that beating Kashmiri students can't help anyone change the result of the game.'
'The sense of fear generated by indiscriminate and unwarranted filing of FIRs prevents people from exercising their fundamental rights; people go silent or give up the fight as the legal process is itself the punishment.'
'Section 153A is not meant to protect fragile sentiments of the majority Hindu community who choose to get offended by slogans celebrating the success of the Pakistani cricket team.'
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