Each episode of communal violence creates formidable challenges for the possibility of justice, because of a long almost unbroken tradition...
Each episode of communal violence creates formidable challenges for the possibility of justice, because of a long almost unbroken tradition of impunity for perpetrators of hate crime in India. There are highly fraught moments when the prospects for justice become even more remote, such as during the anti-Sikh violence of 1984, Bhagalpur communal violence of 1989 and the Gujarat communal massacre of 2002. But the outlook for justice is even more distant after the Delhi communal conflagration of February 2020.
This is because in 2002 (as in 1984) although the highest executive was allegedly complicit and culpable in enabling the violence, other institutions of the state rose to the defence of justice. In 2002, the Supreme Court passed a series of landmark judgements to advance justice for the survivors of the violence, and the National Human Rights Commission stewarded by Justice JS Verma became a beacon for defending the constitutional rights of those felled by the violence. India also had then a far more independent and outspoken mainstream media. Large sections of civil society were vocal in their anguish and solidarity with the survivors.
All of these are completely missing in action in the India of 2020.
A burst of hope
The winter of 2019-’20 was memorable, indeed...
