IPT 2.3 | June 2023 | Section 8
A response to a Right to Information Application by the newspaper The Indian Express to Karnataka Home Department in April shows how victims of communal violence, lynching, hate speech have been denied their right to remedy by the BJP-led government during its term in office, from July 2019 to April 2023. BJP led state government dropped 385 criminal cases, including 182 on hate speech, cow vigilantism and communal violence. Between February 2020 and February 2023, the government issued seven orders to stop prosecution in 385 criminal cases, with 182 of these pertaining to communal violence. Some of the beneficiaries from these orders include a BJP MP and MLA. The cases within those 182 also included withdrawal of prosecution against four incidents of cow vigilantism, anti-conversion. Cases dropped also included four against Hindutva non-state group Hindu Jagran Vedike, and those on incitement against Hindutva leader of Sri Ram Sene Siddalinga Swami.
A Muslim man, Rakbar Khan, was lynched to death by a mob led by cow vigilantes in Rajasthan’s Alwar district in July 2018. The victim, a dairy farmer and his family’s sole bread winner, was declared dead on being taken to the hospital, while he managed to identify some of his assailants in his dying statement. In May 2023, a court in Rajasthan convicted 7 men of culpable homicide (not amounting to murder) with a 7 year prison sentence. This is the first conviction in a cow lynching case in the state. While one of the accused, Naval Kishore who is a leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad was acquitted for want of evidence, the conviction also watered down the charges from murder to culpable homicide, reducing the number of years of sentencing for those convicted. An investigation after the incident had uncovered that Rakbar died in police custody due to a delay in taking him to a hospital, as the police officers spent crucial time instead, taking the cows he was transporting to a cowshed (gaushala).
Following the arrest of right-wing member Puneeth Kerehalli in the murder of Idrees Pasha (covered in the last IPT here), two more Muslim men have lodged a police complaint against Puneeth and other Hindutva extremists for assaulting them and demanding extortion money a few days prior to the murder. The incident, according to the victims, Rafeeq and Aleemulla Baig, occurred on March 20th in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The attackers accused the victims of illegal cattle trade and demanded INR 1,00,000 (USD 1,222), and tortured them when they could not pay the amount. The video of the assault was shared on social media by right-wing groups, with the police instead arresting the victims under the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020 and releasing them on bail, a week after the attack. Kerehalli was arrested in April after he had evaded arrest for some time, and was granted bail in May.
Most incidents of inciteful speech pass off without police action against the perpetrators. BJP politicians continue to incite and provoke violence with no accountability, even when such instigation lead to mass violence, such as the 2020 Delhi riots following speeches by BJP leaders Kapil Mishra. This is in sharp contrast to student activists, journalists and human rights defenders face the ire of the law and remain in prolonged detentions under hate speech charges. Repeat Hindutva offenders such as T.Raja Singh, Praveen Togadia, Yati Narsighanand, Bajrang Muni, are granted easy bail, when they are arrested, and continue to incite violence with impunity (see here, here, here).
The Supreme Court had, in April, directed all state police forces to proactively register cases against those making hate speeches. In October 2022 the Supreme Court made similar directions to state police chiefs. As it turns out, directions by the apex court remain mere words, as criminal proceedings even against those calling for genocide and ethnic cleansing of minorities drag on, with no accountability for perpetrators. Examples of evidence of lack of enforcement include Supreme Court judges noting in January this year of no progress in investigation against the genocidal calls against Muslims made at the Haridwar and Delhi Hindu religious gatherings in 2021, In February this year (over a year after the speeches) the Supreme Court bench ordered the police to file a chargesheet without further delay. There are no updates on the cases and perpetrators continue to instigate and incite.
BJP leaders Anurag Thakur and Pravesh Verma continue to face no accountability for their role in inciting the Delhi 2020 riots. In April, the Supreme Court issued a notice to Delhi Police, 3 years after the incident, for still not lodging a formal complaint and initiating investigation against the accused, despite videos showing them publicly egging on their audiences to repeat inciteful speeches after them.