02-03-2005, 12:03 AM
Posting in full the text of M V Kamath's column (link by rajesh_g) as he raises some interesting questions:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Justice Bannerjee Report: who is fooling whom?
By M V Kamath
In all of Indiaâs last one hundred years of history it would be difficult to find a more loathsome character than Biharâs tainted political leader, Lalu Prasad Yadav. Over the months he has shown himself to be utterly unprincipled. There have been several charges against him, not the least the fodder scan amounting to over 1,000 crore of rupees. He has had to give up his Chief Ministership. So what does he do? He names his own wife as his successor, thus exercising power without responsibility. Such a thing is unheard of in the history of any country, but in India, and especially in Bihar, it is par for the course.
And so, when he appointed âa fact-findingâ committee to conduct inquiries into the Godhra incident that took place almost three years ago, to be exact on 27 February 2002, the presumption was that the Committee would make every effort to implicate the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi.
What, in effect, Lalu Prasad Yadav had done to appoint a lawyer to argue the point that the Godhra incident was not a pre-planned one, but just an <b>incident that could have happened anywhere and it was strictly coincidental that it happened in Godhra, one of the worst communalised urban areas in India. Strictly coincidental? </b>
Why couldnât the fire in two coaches of the Sabarmati Express have flared a few stations prior to Godhra or a couple of stations after Godhra?[/B] <b>What were thousands of Muslims who had gathered around the Express doing? Had they, by any chance, any premonition of what was likely to happen right in their presence? </b>
The Bannerjee Committee apparently had no time to inquire into these things. For one thing, the Committee sounds more like counsel for the prosecution, the prosecutor being Lalu Prasad Yadav himself. Indeed, the day he announced the appointment of the Committee it was a foregone conclusion that its findings would serve to nail Narendra Modi and the BJP to the cross. In the circumstances its findings come as no surprise.
Indeed it would have been surprising if the Committee had discovered a terrorist conspiracy to set a couple of Express bogies on fire. <b>The Committee had no time to interrogate the Special State Inspector General of Police, Vadodara Range, Rakesh Asthana who has been investigating the Godhra Carnage. </b>
The Bannerjee Committee, it seems,<b> has not even bothered to examine experts from the State Forensic Laboratory who have been collecting evidence from the scene of the crime.</b> True, it has allegedly drafted a Report that is over 1,000 pages long. That Report has yet to be made public. But the <b>Committee, which was to submit its report some time in March or April thought it proper to release a summary of it in the third week of January. What was the hurry? </b>Why couldnât the Committee have waited for the appointed time?
The answer, it turns out, lies in the Assembly elections in Bihar due soon. It seems clear that Lalu Prasad Yadav wanted to use the âfindingsâ if that is the right word to win Muslim votes in his State. Bannerjee thus acted not independently, but as Lalu Prasad Yadavâs lawyer. He stands exposed. In Bihar, Yadavs the community to which Lalu Prasad belongs constitute 19 per cent of the population, the most Backward Castes 15 per cent and Muslims 13 per cent. Lalu Prasad has the full backing of the Yadavs and no wonder.
For all the nauseating talk of secularism, politics in Bihar is strictly castebased. Lalufurther also has the support of the most Backward Castes. The Muslim vote around 13 per cent is, in the circumstances, crucial. If Lalu Prasad can capture those 13 per cent votes, his partly is in. That will explain why the Bannerjee Committee Report was revealed in advance.
That Bannerjee showed that in this regard he was playing the Railway Ministerâs game does not reflect highly on his sense of rectitude. By going public with his interim `findingsâ Bannerjee has not exactly enhanced his reputation. He has acted more like Lalu Prasadâs counsel than as an independent judge. More so the pity.
Bannerjee has further shown where his sympathies lie by criticising Nitish Kumar, another Bihari, and the Railway Minister when the Godhra carnage took place. There was no need for Bannerjee to attack Nitish Kumar but this he has done by pointing out that âneither the then Railway Minister (Nitish Kumar) nor the members of the Railway Board visited the site of the accident or the injured passengersâ.
Not only this, the Interim Report has taken a special note of the failure of the Commission of Railway Safety and the Railway Administration to conduct a statutory probe into the fire incident, which was a breach of the Railway Act as well as the Accident Mannual of the Zonal Railway. This is playing politics with a vengeance.
May it be said here that it is in the same class as Lalu Prasad Yadavâs absence from Parliament following a terrible railway accident in the north west that resulted in the death of several passengers? It is against this background that one must note the findings of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the matter of the Godhra train carnage.
According to Rakesh Asthana, the Special State Inspector General of Police, who is heading SIT, âthere is scientific and oral evidenceâ to clearly establish that Godhra incident was a âcarefully planned and meticulously executed criminal conspiracyâ. His deputy in the SIT, Noel Parmar, who is a deputy Superintendent of Police, in deposing before the judicial inquiry commission led by Justice G. T. Nanavati and including Justice K. G. Shah, has given evidence on similar lines.
According to Parmar, the train carnage was not only a âpre-planned conspiracyâ but is the suspected work of a terrorist organisation. We now learn that the SIT investigation has found that some people entered the coach `forciblyâ through the vestibule connecting the S-6 and S-7 coaches, poured petrol and jumped out through the rear door, after which burning rags were thrown inside through broken windows to ignite the fire.
BJP spokesmen who apparently are aware of the 1,000 page long Interim Report has many questions to ask in this regard. On 17 January, Jaitley, spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata Party hit out powerfully at the Bannerjee Report poohpoohing it as having no âlegal basisâ. And he fired ten posers at Mr Bannerjee. Thus, he asked:
<b>
There were many other questions that put Justice Bannerjee squarely on the mat. It was pointed out to him that what he has done is to act as the defence of the culprits when no one had asked him to do so. <b>He was asked why he had accepted to head a departmental inquiry on a matter where a criminal trial and a Commission of Inquiry are already pending. He was further asked why he preferred to address a press conference to release his Interim Report when a judge only submits his report and it is up to the government to release it. </b>
The BJP also wanted to know <b>how come Lalu Prasad got a copy of the Report in advance, considering that he also released it simultaneously from his residence in Patna?</b> These are all important questions which Bannerjee will have to answer. What comes as a shock is that any responsible judge will accept the leadership of a Committee appointed by LaluPrasad Yadav to inquire into a matter on which the Ministerâs views are only too well-known!
Even as the Report was being released came the news that Lalu Prasad was severely reprimanded by the Election Commission, for breaking the moral code of conduct just prior to the Assembly elections. He has been let off much too easily. What are we coming to? Who is fooling whom?
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Justice Bannerjee Report: who is fooling whom?
By M V Kamath
In all of Indiaâs last one hundred years of history it would be difficult to find a more loathsome character than Biharâs tainted political leader, Lalu Prasad Yadav. Over the months he has shown himself to be utterly unprincipled. There have been several charges against him, not the least the fodder scan amounting to over 1,000 crore of rupees. He has had to give up his Chief Ministership. So what does he do? He names his own wife as his successor, thus exercising power without responsibility. Such a thing is unheard of in the history of any country, but in India, and especially in Bihar, it is par for the course.
And so, when he appointed âa fact-findingâ committee to conduct inquiries into the Godhra incident that took place almost three years ago, to be exact on 27 February 2002, the presumption was that the Committee would make every effort to implicate the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi.
What, in effect, Lalu Prasad Yadav had done to appoint a lawyer to argue the point that the Godhra incident was not a pre-planned one, but just an <b>incident that could have happened anywhere and it was strictly coincidental that it happened in Godhra, one of the worst communalised urban areas in India. Strictly coincidental? </b>
Why couldnât the fire in two coaches of the Sabarmati Express have flared a few stations prior to Godhra or a couple of stations after Godhra?[/B] <b>What were thousands of Muslims who had gathered around the Express doing? Had they, by any chance, any premonition of what was likely to happen right in their presence? </b>
The Bannerjee Committee apparently had no time to inquire into these things. For one thing, the Committee sounds more like counsel for the prosecution, the prosecutor being Lalu Prasad Yadav himself. Indeed, the day he announced the appointment of the Committee it was a foregone conclusion that its findings would serve to nail Narendra Modi and the BJP to the cross. In the circumstances its findings come as no surprise.
Indeed it would have been surprising if the Committee had discovered a terrorist conspiracy to set a couple of Express bogies on fire. <b>The Committee had no time to interrogate the Special State Inspector General of Police, Vadodara Range, Rakesh Asthana who has been investigating the Godhra Carnage. </b>
The Bannerjee Committee, it seems,<b> has not even bothered to examine experts from the State Forensic Laboratory who have been collecting evidence from the scene of the crime.</b> True, it has allegedly drafted a Report that is over 1,000 pages long. That Report has yet to be made public. But the <b>Committee, which was to submit its report some time in March or April thought it proper to release a summary of it in the third week of January. What was the hurry? </b>Why couldnât the Committee have waited for the appointed time?
The answer, it turns out, lies in the Assembly elections in Bihar due soon. It seems clear that Lalu Prasad Yadav wanted to use the âfindingsâ if that is the right word to win Muslim votes in his State. Bannerjee thus acted not independently, but as Lalu Prasad Yadavâs lawyer. He stands exposed. In Bihar, Yadavs the community to which Lalu Prasad belongs constitute 19 per cent of the population, the most Backward Castes 15 per cent and Muslims 13 per cent. Lalu Prasad has the full backing of the Yadavs and no wonder.
For all the nauseating talk of secularism, politics in Bihar is strictly castebased. Lalufurther also has the support of the most Backward Castes. The Muslim vote around 13 per cent is, in the circumstances, crucial. If Lalu Prasad can capture those 13 per cent votes, his partly is in. That will explain why the Bannerjee Committee Report was revealed in advance.
That Bannerjee showed that in this regard he was playing the Railway Ministerâs game does not reflect highly on his sense of rectitude. By going public with his interim `findingsâ Bannerjee has not exactly enhanced his reputation. He has acted more like Lalu Prasadâs counsel than as an independent judge. More so the pity.
Bannerjee has further shown where his sympathies lie by criticising Nitish Kumar, another Bihari, and the Railway Minister when the Godhra carnage took place. There was no need for Bannerjee to attack Nitish Kumar but this he has done by pointing out that âneither the then Railway Minister (Nitish Kumar) nor the members of the Railway Board visited the site of the accident or the injured passengersâ.
Not only this, the Interim Report has taken a special note of the failure of the Commission of Railway Safety and the Railway Administration to conduct a statutory probe into the fire incident, which was a breach of the Railway Act as well as the Accident Mannual of the Zonal Railway. This is playing politics with a vengeance.
May it be said here that it is in the same class as Lalu Prasad Yadavâs absence from Parliament following a terrible railway accident in the north west that resulted in the death of several passengers? It is against this background that one must note the findings of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the matter of the Godhra train carnage.
According to Rakesh Asthana, the Special State Inspector General of Police, who is heading SIT, âthere is scientific and oral evidenceâ to clearly establish that Godhra incident was a âcarefully planned and meticulously executed criminal conspiracyâ. His deputy in the SIT, Noel Parmar, who is a deputy Superintendent of Police, in deposing before the judicial inquiry commission led by Justice G. T. Nanavati and including Justice K. G. Shah, has given evidence on similar lines.
According to Parmar, the train carnage was not only a âpre-planned conspiracyâ but is the suspected work of a terrorist organisation. We now learn that the SIT investigation has found that some people entered the coach `forciblyâ through the vestibule connecting the S-6 and S-7 coaches, poured petrol and jumped out through the rear door, after which burning rags were thrown inside through broken windows to ignite the fire.
BJP spokesmen who apparently are aware of the 1,000 page long Interim Report has many questions to ask in this regard. On 17 January, Jaitley, spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata Party hit out powerfully at the Bannerjee Report poohpoohing it as having no âlegal basisâ. And he fired ten posers at Mr Bannerjee. Thus, he asked:
<b>
-
</li> - Did you consider the evidence that two meetings took place on the night of 26 February 2002 at the Aman Guest House (close to Godhra station) where the conspiracy to set fire to Bogie No. S-6 of the Saharmati Express was hatched?
- Did you consider the evidence that one of the conspirators, Salim Badam was verifying the movement of the Sabarmati Express at 1.30 a.m. on 27 February 2002 from the Godhra Railway Station? Since the train was running four hours late, the conspirators re-assembled at the Aman Gust House at 6.00 a.m.
- Did you consider the evidence that 140 litres of petrol was purchased from a nearby petrol pump on the night of 26 February 2002 and kept at Aman Gust House itself?
- Did you consider the evidence that chain pulling was simultaneously executed from various compartments to get the train stopped so that the mob at the platform could indulge in stone-throwing?
- Did you consider that evidence of workers who have deposed about the transportation of petrol from the Aman Guest House to the Station?
- Did you consider the evidence that the conspirators entered Bogie No. S-7 and cut open the vestibule cord between S-6 and S-7?
- Did you consider the fact that burning rags were thrown into Bogie No. S-6?
- Do you realise that the âaccident theoryâ was propounded by the accused in the case and repeated by Lalu Prasad Yadav? You have merely stamped the `Laloo Theoryâ.
- Do you accept that a committee appointed by the Railways cannot go into the issue of `conspiracyâ? Policing is a state subject and prevention and detection of crime on Railways is the constitutional responsibility of the State Government.
- Did you not realise that your report is an `extra-constitutionalâ interference in the administration of justice since the trial is pending before the Court?
There were many other questions that put Justice Bannerjee squarely on the mat. It was pointed out to him that what he has done is to act as the defence of the culprits when no one had asked him to do so. <b>He was asked why he had accepted to head a departmental inquiry on a matter where a criminal trial and a Commission of Inquiry are already pending. He was further asked why he preferred to address a press conference to release his Interim Report when a judge only submits his report and it is up to the government to release it. </b>
The BJP also wanted to know <b>how come Lalu Prasad got a copy of the Report in advance, considering that he also released it simultaneously from his residence in Patna?</b> These are all important questions which Bannerjee will have to answer. What comes as a shock is that any responsible judge will accept the leadership of a Committee appointed by LaluPrasad Yadav to inquire into a matter on which the Ministerâs views are only too well-known!
Even as the Report was being released came the news that Lalu Prasad was severely reprimanded by the Election Commission, for breaking the moral code of conduct just prior to the Assembly elections. He has been let off much too easily. What are we coming to? Who is fooling whom?
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->