The petioners' statement on Supreme Court order dated 5.7.11 on Salwa Judum/SPOs by justice Sudershan Reddy and Justice SS Nijjar
We warmly welcome the order by Justice Reddy and Justice Nijjar directing the State of Chhattisgarh to stop using Special Police Officers (SPOs) in counterinsurgency operations, disarm them and stop supporting vigilante movements by any name. We also welcome the order to the Centre directing it to cease from financially supporting SPOs to engage in counterinsurgency.
Judging from the personal reactions we have had – from a very wide variety of people many of whom we do not even know – the order has been widely hailed as a landmark restatement of constitutional values. If the state is to be recognised as legitimate it must act lawfully and cannot sacrifice the law and Constitution for immediate expediency. As the judges have so succinctly observed "the power of the people vested in any organ of the State, and its agents, can only be used for promotion of constitutional values and vision." However, judging by the reaction of the Home Ministry and the Chhattisgarh government, this basic constitutional principle is being willfully ignored. This simply reinforces the point that the judgement makes about the way in which the respondents are undermining the Constitution and thereby the basic human values enshrined in it. Instead of accepting the Court order for the sake of good governance and the national interest, they are talking about a review petition.
Right from 2007 when the case was first heard before the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land has consistently maintained that the state cannot arm civilians. This, it is clear from the record, has been the considered opinion of not simply Justices Reddy and Nijjar, who issued the present order, but of the judges at previous hearings, such as Justice Balakrishnan, Justice Kapadia, and Justice Aftab Alam.
That the SPOs and Salwa Judum have been engaged in horrific crimes is a matter of record. The judgement therefore directs the State of Chhattisgarh to "investigate all previously inappropriately or incompletely investigated instances of alleged criminal activities of Salwa Judum, or those popularly known as Koya Commandos, filing of appropriate FIRs and diligent prosecution."
At the same time, the judgement is as much a lesson for the Maoists as for the government. It makes it clear that the Maoists too cannot take the law into their own lands. For when the Constitution does swing into action, it has the power of people's aspirations behind it, and is a far more powerful and credible weapon in their hands than the gun.As the judges say, "the fight against Maoist/Naxalite violence cannot be conducted purely as a mere law and order problem to be confronted by whatever means the State can muster. The primordial problem lies deep within the socio-economic policies pursued by the State on a society that was already endemically, and horrifically, suffering from gross inequalities. Consequently, the fight against Maoists/Naxalites is no less a fight for moral, constitutional and legal authority over the minds and hearts of our people. Our constitution provides the gridlines within which the State is to act, both to assert such authority, and also to initiate, nurture and sustain such authority."
We therefore appeal to the Maoists to join all right thinking citizens in hailing this historic judgement and to desist from harming SPOs, or any other group of citizens in any way. They should be allowed to peacefully reintegrate into their villages. We also appeal to both the Maoists and the government to initiate peace talks on the basis of justice and constitutional principles, since ultimately that is the only way forward.
Nandini Sundar
Ramachandra Guha
EAS Sarma
(Petitioners in WP 250/2007)
AUTHORS: NANDINI SUNDAR | RAMACHANDRA GUHA | SRIRAM SRINIVASAN | E.A.S. SARMA
TAGS: MAOISTS/NAXALS | HOME MINISTRY | SUPREME COURT | SALWA JUDUM
SECTION: NATIONAL
SUBSECTION: OPINION
PLACES: CHHATTISGARH
Translate
JUL 13, 2011 07:17 PM 22 | #13:
What an audacity to libel the Supreme Court Judges as morons as if they are gullible by news reporters and lack basic intelligence to discriminate between truth and falsehood. If there is something called moral bankruptcy, there you have it ! |
JUL 13, 2011 03:14 PM 21 | If this is not full fledge war then what can be it. To general public Nandini sundar and Guha if they still stick to disarming poor villagers and let them die by naxal fire then they are simply against idea of India. |
JUL 13, 2011 03:10 PM 20 | From an article in Hindustan times : In a daring attack, over 1000 maoists atacked Orissa's district headquarters town of Koraput and looted 200 sophisticated guns and other weapons worth Rs 50 crore. they looted the district armoury, five police stations, Koraput jail, SP's office and the OSAP battalion. On November 13, 2005, Maoists laid virtual siege to Jehenabad town and freed over 375 prisoners including 130 Naxalites. The operation continued for seven hours, killing several Ranvir Sena men and police personnels. They looted 185 rifles and 2000 rounds on ammunition. On March 24, 2006, over 500 Maoists lashed with arms and ammunition attacked the Orissa State Armed Police camp in the Gajapati district of Orissa, killing three policemen. They looted arms and freed around 40 prisoners. 5) Chattisgarh Naxal attack (2006) Atleast 25 people were killed and 80 others injured, when over 800 armed Naxalites attacked a village in Dantewada district of Chattisgarh on July 17, 2006. The attack took place at Errabore relief camp where more than 4000 people had taken shelter. They also kidnapped more then 20 people, while 200 others fled from the spot. 7) Naxalites attack Police Outpost, kill 55 security personnel (2007) Over 500 Naxalites attacked a police outpost in Chattisgarh's Rani Bodi village, killing 55 policemen. 24 of the deceased belonged to the state police, while 31 others were Special Police Officers (SPOs). Most of these policemen were asleep when this attack was carried out with lobbed grenades and bombs. 8) Naxal attack in Dantewada, 303 prisoners freed (2007) The Naxalites attacked the Dantewada jail and freed 303 prisoners, 100 out of which were Naxalites. It was reported that most of the prisoners fled to the jungles of Orissa, 25 out of them were recaptured but none of them were Naxalites. 10) Nayagarh Naxal Attack (2008) The Naxal attack in Nayagarh on the night of February 15, 2008, was called the deadliest of all attacks that has been witnessed by the country. Hundreds of maoists came in buses and trucks, and laid siege of the district headquarters town in orissa. They killed 14 policemen and one civilian. They also torched the Police Training School. Over 700 state police personnel, CRPF, SOG Commandos, Special Greyhound Forces from Andhra Pradesh and IAF Helicopters launched massive offensive on the Naxals at the Gasma mountain. Although 20 Maoists were reportedly killed, there were no captured prisoners.
|
JUL 13, 2011 03:04 PM 19 | What ever is your opinion about arming the civilians or use of army vs police, you people or judges or petitioners are no expert in this area. You may not be aware how CRPF or now RAF functions. they have to say in tents with no proper food and have to keep moving for years without any leave. Today they are in kashmir then on to bengal for election and immediately moved to bastar. What about their morales. Their are numerous suicide and cases of fragging. |
JUL 13, 2011 02:14 PM 18 | Bonita Thanks for your comment (I have noticed your posts from here and I generally agree with you). The issue of which instrument the Indian state deploys to deal with the insurgency is an important one. You are quite correct that Indians should be nervous about the use of the Army (and the Army itself has no desire to be deployed to fight yet another insurgency for a variety of reasons including the fact that fighting insurgencies is an ugly and unpleasant business that brings no glory). From a constitutional and political stand point the distinction between paramilitaries and the Army is an important one; from the standpoint of the technical study of conflict it is not (Armies tend to have greater resources, training etc. than paramilitaries which is why scholars of conflict tend to think about the military in terms of armies but you are quite correct that India is unusual in having a vast corp of paramilitaries that could, with proper training and command, be deployed effectively). Either way, ensuring fairness and justice for the civilian population is difficult given the profound imperfections of the Indian state. But this is the real world and every other option is either politically unattainable (i.e. the solution that Sundar et. al. would like to see) or even more sub-optimal than decisive action designed to end the insurgency as quickly as possible through a process of force and investment in infrastructure for the benefit of the long suffering civilian population.... |
PERMALINK
LIKE (0)
DISLIKE (0)
REPORT ABUSE