WHITHER INDIA: GOOD TERRORISM OF DECEMBER 1992 VERSUS BAD TERRORISM OF MARCH 1993 AT BOMBAY

With the announcement of quantum of punishment to the perpetrators of March 1993  serial blasts in Bombay by Judge GA Sanap of the special Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act [TADA] court on September 7, 2017, probably, the longest terror case trial in India comes to close. In the first phase of this trial Judge PD Kode of Special TADA Court had sentenced 12 convicts to death and 20 to life term on September 12, 2006. With the latest judgment 100 of the 123 accused have been punished.

WELL-DONE! The Muslim terrorists who killed 257 and maimed hundreds of innocent residents of Bombay in March 1993 have been punished. Many of them have been sent to gallows, awarded life sentences and so on. But what about those terrorists who butchered 575 and maimed hundreds of people of the minority in December 1992/January 1993 in the same city. In fact, some of the instigators later occupied high constitutional offices in democratic-secular India. This is true of "Khalistani terrorists" also. They were hanged or killed on roads but for 1984 massacre of Sikhs Indian State is yet to conclude its process of finding the real culprits.

Sadly, with regards to communal and Caste violence, India has two kinds of laws, one for minority/Dalits and other for majority/high Castes. Whenever former suffer Indian State plays a game of forming COMISSIONS-COMMISSIONS to ensure that the heinous crimes against minorities and Dalits disappear from the public memory. In this regard the 1992-93 Bombay violence can be an interesting case for study. But if violence is believed to be perpetrated by minorities/Dalits, the punishment is instant. This latest judgment ensures punishment for March 1993 perpetrators but despite Justice BN Srikrishna Commission Report holding almost all Hindutva organizations responsible for killings of minority people in December 1992/January 1993, the indicted perpetrators were not even questioned what to talk of arresting them.

One unfortunate aspect of our post-Independence governance has been that whenever the country witnesses the large-scale violence against minorities and Dalits, the search for perpetrators continues endlessly and criminals rarely punished. Major incidents of violence against minorities like Nellie massacre (1983), Sikh massacre (1984), Hashimpura custodial massacre of Muslim youth (1987), pre/post-Ayodhya mosque demolition violence against Muslims (1990-92), Gujarat carnage (2002) and Kandhmal cleansing of Christians (2008) are testimony to this reality.

The status of anti-Dalit violence is no different. The major incidents of persecution and massacre of Dalits; 1968 Kilvenmani massacre, 1997 Melavalavu massacre, 2013 Marakkanam anti-Dalit violence, 2012 Dharmapuri anti-Dalit violence (all in Tamil Nadu), 1985 Karamchedu massacre, 1991 Tsundur massacre (all in AP), 1996 Bathani Tola Massacre, 1997 Laxmanpur Bathe massacre (all in Bihar), 1997 Ramabai killings, Mumbai, 2006 Khairlanji massacre, 2014 Javkheda Hatyakand, (all in Maharashtra), 2000 Caste persecution in (Karnataka), 5 Dalits beaten/burnt to death for skinning a dead cow 2006, 2011 killings of Dalits in Mirchpur (all in Haryana), 2015 anti-Dalit violence in Dangawas (Rajasthan) are some of the thousands of incidents of the Dalit persecution most of the perpetrators remain unidentified. Moreover, in almost all the anti-Dalit violence cases, the culprits have been acquitted or released on bail despite murder charges against them.

As a Nation wedded to exalted ideals of democracy, secularism and egalitarianism we must never shy away from critically investigating this kind of dichotomy, unless, we feel that we have already lost battle to religious bigotry and Casteist hegemony.