This story first appeared in India News Stream
It is ironic, and sad, that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) now has to increasingly defend India from adverse foreign commentary on the country’s internal processes. It is tragic that the country’s “independent judicial system,” once universally upheld as a beacon of enlightened fair play, is coming under heightened global scrutiny with judges, when abroad, being forced to defend their record and impartiality.
Dismissing as “misleading and unacceptable” comments by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that legal action against Teesta Setalvad and two others was “persecution for activism,” MEA spokesman Arindam Bagchi lashed out, saying “remarks by OHCHR are completely unwarranted and constitute an interference in India’s independent judicial system. Authorities in India act against violations of law strictly in accordance with established judicial processes,” he asserted. A day after Setalvad was detained, United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, said the police action and Setalvad’s detention was “deeply concerning.”
Interestingly, the MEA comment came on a day when eminent constitutional lawyer and senior advocate Kamini Jaiswal said the ruling of the Supreme Court dismissing the appeal of Zakia Jafri, widow of Congress legislator Ehsan Jafri who was killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots, based on which Setalvad was taken into custody, is “completely illegal, unconstitutional and violates every tenet of law and fundamental rights.” Speaking at a public gathering, Jaiswal said, “What is unpardonable and violates every tenet of law and fundamental right is para-88 (of the judgement),” wherein the judges urge that the appellants be themselves “placed in the dock.” Setalvad was a petitioner in the case, on behalf of Zakia Jafri.
It is also a sad irony that on the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed the “2022 Resilient Democracies Statement” in Schloss Elmau in Germany, along with the leaders of the G-7 and four other countries, Delhi Police arrested journalist Muhammad Zubair, co-founder of AltNews, an organisation that vets news and attempts to weed out the copious quantities of fake news that abounds on the social and other media. He was arrested reportedly for “spreading hatred” on the basis of a tweet he posted in 2018. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s suspended spokesperson Nupur Sharma, whose despicable remarks against the Prophet of Islam triggered widespread protests across India and abroad and a volley of international censure, remains free and, apparently untraceable, despite multiple FIRs against her!
Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee was among top political leaders from the opposition who lashed out at the central government over the arrests of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair and social activist Teesta Setalvad for “trying to expose the truth” and wondered how those who spread “hatred among communities” are roaming free.
“Those who spread hatred and violence in the country are not being arrested;” she said. “Those who create animosity among communities are not even touched by them (BJP). But those who fight against such people are being harassed,” Banerjee said.
It is this lack of even handed treatment to people for the same alleged crime that has civil society in India and all those who value human rights worldwide that is causing India to increasingly come under adverse international scrutiny. Those who are part of the ruling establishment face little or no judicial process while the law-enforcement authorities are very swift in dealing with perceived opponents, particularly of the ruling party and its particular ideology. The overwhelming targeting of people from a particular minority community, along with many advocates of freedom of speech has become too noticeable to miss, even while the establishment chooses to look away.
India has proudly and rightly reaped considerable international dividends for being a democracy including, most recently, an invitation for the outreach session of the group of the world’s richest nations, the G-7. Germany, the current chair of the G-7, did not invite China, the world’s second largest economy, but invited India, along with Argentina, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa, as guests for the summit to “recognise these democracies of the global south as its partners.”
The 2022 Resilient democracies statement, which the prime minister signed, states that “Democracies enable open public debate, independent and pluralistic media and the free flow of information online and offline, fostering legitimacy, transparency, responsibility and accountability for citizens and elected representatives alike. We are prepared to defend these principles and are resolved to Protecting the freedom of expression and opinion online and offline and ensuring a free and independent media landscape through our work with relevant international initiatives.”
It is supremely ironic that the Delhi Police arrested Zubair, showing a “blatant violation of the country’s commitment on the global platform given by none other than the Prime Minister himself,” the Press Club of India stated in a statement condemning Zubair’s arrest.
Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing on behalf of Zubair, stated in court that her client was “targeted” because of his profession and religious community, since several others who had posted the same tweet remained free.
While the MEA and its spokesman may spring to defend India’s record as a democracy where the rule of law is upheld for all and where the right to free speech and dissent is enshrined in the Constitution, the defence sounds jaded and at variance with the reality of mounting cases of the abuse of process and India’s pride of place as the world’s largest democracy is getting increasingly tarnished as time goes by. – INDIA NEWS STREAM