The cause of justice often unites individuals both within and outside the system. A common set of principles, shared values and the abiding...
The cause of justice often unites individuals both within and outside the system. A common set of principles, shared values and the abiding faith in goodness bands together disparate individuals into an informal coalition to pursue justice.
Justice for the victims of the Gujarat carnage and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots was pursued by such coalitions, comprising human rights activists and lawyers, NGOs, journalists, and police and judicial officers. They forged on, unceasingly and doggedly against institutional indifference, inaction and state complicity for years – sometimes decades. It was due to the relentless efforts of these groups that justice was secured, at least partially, in Gujarat and in some cases in the 1984 riots.
The Delhi riots that broke out earlier this year are different – for no such coalition has so far coalesced or has been allowed to form around the cause. Recently, a few chargesheets were filed against members of both the Hindu and Muslim communities. But no offences have been registered against politicians who gave the inflammatory speeches that instigated the riots.
There is also judicial or public pressure to act against them. There has been no monitoring of police investigations by the judiciary, no journalistic interventions in the form of investigative reports.
Rights activists, who...
