It’s fine to deliberate about the concept of human rights as long as it does not become an excuse to let terrorists go scot-free. In this context, the state must ensure an effective criminal justice system
On December 10, the world observed International Human Rights Day. The concept of human rights looks fine on paper. Countries all over the world follow it, or at least some part of it, as long as it suits them. Successive Governments in India have also expressed their commitment to human rights. Yet, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, in Paris, has been reduced to a pious expression of a wish — and nothing more.
There are some professional human rights activists, whose sole mission is to seek publicity for even dead terrorists. It is strange that despite major attacks on Indian cities and the mindless slaughter of hundreds of Indian, India still accords basic human rights to terrorists even though the latter do not care to return the courtesy to its victims.
This writer simply does not understand why the Government of India is about the human rights of terrorists. India is no stranger to terrorist attacks, and over the years, many major Indian cities have been targeted. According to the 2014 Global Terrorism Index report, India was among the top 10 countries to be affected by terror activities in 2013.
Here is a chronology of the major attacks carried out within India over the last two decades. On March 12, 1993, a series of 13 bomb blasts took place in Bombay (now Mumbai) that killed more than 350 people and injured as many as 1,200. The attacks were coordinated by Dawood Ibrahim, chief of the international crime syndicate D-company, ostensibly in retaliation for the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh in December 1992.
On December 30, 1996, a bomb went off on the Brahmaputra Mail in Assam, kiling at least 33 people. In February 1998, a series of 12 bomb attacks at 11 locations in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, killed 58 people and injured more than 200. In October 2001, the Jammu & Kashmir State legislative Assembly complex in Srinagar was targeted by a car bomb and three suicide bombers, leading to 38 deaths.
In August 2003, two car bombs on killed 54 people and injured 244 in Mumbai. In October 2005, three explosions killed 62 people and injured at least 210 others in New Delhi.
The year 2006 turned out to be an especially bloody one. In March, there was series of bombings across Varanasi killing at least 28 people and injuring 100 others. On July 11, seven bombs went off in a period of 11 minutes on suburban trains in Mumbai, killing 209 people and injuring more than 700. In September, at least 37 people were killed and more than 120 injured in three simultaneous blasts in Malegaon, Maharashtra.
Next year, on February 18, the Pakistan-bound Samjhauta Express passenger train was bombed, killing 66 people, mostly Pakistanis. On August 25, there were two bomb blasts in Hyderabad that killed 42 people and injured more than 50.
In May 2008, nine bomb blasts rocked Jaipur on May 13, killing 63 people and wounding about 216. In July, a series of nine bombs exploded in Bangalore in which two people were killed and 20 injured. The incident was followed by a series of 21 bomb blasts the next day in Ahmedabad. In September, there were five blasts in New Delhi that killed 30 people and injured more than 100. In October, 18 bombs went off in Guwahati, killing at least 77 people and injuring more than 450. November saw the 26/11 carnage, which was followed by the German Bakery blast in Pune u February 2010.
In 2011, Mumbai was targetted again with three coordinated bomb explosions that killed 26 people and injured 130. Delhi was attacked in September when a bomb blast outside the High Court killed 17 people and injured 76 others. In 2013, there were two blasts Hyderabad, killing 16 people and wounding 119, followed by bomb blasts at an election rally in Patna that killed six people and injured
85 others.
It’s not just the terror attacks but also our slow-moving judiciary that remains a cause of immense concern. At the beginning of 2011, there were 9,928 cases pending trial and more than 10, 000 CBI cases were also pending trial. Of these, over 2,200 cases with the CBI are pending trial for over 10 years as the agency suffers from shortage of more than 1,100 officers at various levels. In fact, in 2011, as against the sanctioned strength of 6,565 officers, the actual strength of the CBI was 5,389.
As of July 2009, 53,000 cases are pending before the Supreme Court, 40 lakh before High Courts and 2.7 crore before lower courts. This is an increase of 139 per cent for the Supreme Court, 46 per cent for High Courts and 32 per cent for lower courts. In 2011, our criminal justice system, with a staggering 2.63 crore cases pending in the district and subordinate courts (of which 29.49 lakh cases pertain to traffic challans and motor vehicle claims), was already close to collapse with relatively unimportant cases clogging the judicial system.
In 1987, the law Commission, recognising that the low judge-to-population ratio was leading to pendency of matters in courts, had recommended that India raise the number of judges from an average of 10 judges for a million people to 50 for a million. In the quarter-century since, the ratio has not improved.
But missing judicial officers are only one part of the story. Physical infrastructure needs to be expanded and the necessary support staff have to be provided to declog the system. The 13th Finance Commission had provided States with Rs5,000 crore for developing judicial infrastructure, and the 12th Plan (2012-17) working group of the Union Ministry of law and Justice came up with a series of recommendations to overhaul the judicial system. However, there is little to show by way of implementation and reform.
For instance, the Government proposed setting up 5,000 gram nyayalays in 2009 to ensure that “opportunities for justice were not denied to any citizen by reason of social, economic or other disabilities”. However, only 159 had been set up by March this year.
Before the Government talks about human rights, it must bear in mind that the security and safety of Indian of all religions, caste, and creed comes first, and everything else is secondary.