IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt has been sentenced to life imprisonment for custodial torture, which led
to the death of Prabhudas Vaishnani, back in 1990. Sanjiv Bhatt might
appeal against the sentence in a higher court. The brother of Prabhudas
Vishnani is said to become a registered member of BJP in 1995.
There’re different theories
circling around Sanjiv Bhatt’s sentence. The very first one is that he’s
critical of Modi and alleged his role in 2002 Gujarat riots which led to his
sentence. Especially during the election campaigns, it gets highlighted more
than anything. Congress for the killings of Sikhs in 1984, and the BJP for 2002
riots. None of the political parties prove the other’s involvement in court.
The Congress party has ruled India for ten years after 2002, but they couldn’t
prove Modi’s involvement in the riots. On the other hand, BJP came into power
for more than 10 years after 1984, even they couldn’t find the direct
involvement of the Congress party. Although Sanjan Kumar, a Congressman, has
been sentenced to jail for the remainder of his
life, which the
BJP followers are claiming to be possible because of the efforts of the party,
but the Congress, Congressmen and their followers said it’s just an individual
who’s responsible for the genocide, not the Congress party.
The value of human life has become
negligible under the cult leaders of the political parties whose main motive is
to stay in power or to come into power with any means possible. Freedom
fighters who gave their lives before the partition of India would never have
thought that it’d come to this after their martyrdoms.
If Sanjiv Bhatt really had a role in
torturing the man which led to his death, then the verdict is really laudable.
And it shouldn’t be limited to only Sanjiv Bhatt but also the other police
officers in other states which used the extreme methods to overcome a situation
by doing the grave human right violations. We’ve the examples of Punjab police
in the late ’80s and ’90s which’re awarded by the governments for their
‘bravery’ to squash the ‘terrorism.’ Also the situation in Kashmir on which a
human rights violation report has been written by the APDP and JKCCS, which
should be thoroughly scrutinized and legal action should be taken against the
security personnel involved in the killing of innocents. No person should be
spared just because he’s an ‘army’ or ‘police’ officer.
On the other hand, if the sentence
of Sanjiv Bhatt is totally based on his critical attitude towards Modi or BJP,
then it’s a grave mistake by the authorities who’re executing the orders. The
police and the military forces should be clean in all the manners because they’re
the people with guns. If a free hand is given to them, then the people like Herojit
will be bred in the bureaucracy to suppress any revolt against the government
or country.
While going through the confession
of Herojit, I was so shocked to hear how the ‘unity’ and the ‘peace’ is maintained
in the states affected by the militancy. Not only in the north-eastern states,
even during the eighties and nineties in Punjab the same mistakes were made by
the forces to restore ‘peace.’ Unity and peace, if need to be maintained with
the death of innocents, then we’re not less than the Mughals and Britishers. We
blame them for the atrocities of their time but turn a blind eye about the
viciousness of the Indian forces and police.
Only few people like Herojit
are there who confess to the vile acts while serving the forces. The cases
like these, if not become public, the nation would never come to know about them.
And those who talk about it bluntly without caring about their lives will never
be heard by the crowd. Those who come in public, or confess in court, are not
the only ones who are the culprits. In India, and the other countries, there’re
not any agencies who will investigate these matters without political pressure.
Many people spend their last days in cosy beds because the radar doesn’t catch
them.
On one hand we’ve the life imprisonment
of Sanjiv Bhatt, on other four
police officers pardoned by the Punjab governor. These four officers were
sentenced to life imprisonment for the killing of an innocent person back in 1993,
but are released after serving 2-3 years! These officers were rewarded for
their ‘brave’ act by the government back in those days. Why the laws in India
are so bad and have become a laughable stock for the world? The
Sikhs who’ve served in the jail for more than twenty years can’t be
released because of TADA, then why these policemen are released? If they’re terrorists
according to the CoI, why aren’t the policemen? Didn’t they kill the innocent?
Or is there some amendment made which says rebels should be punished more
severely than the ‘guardians of India’? And why the policemen were not convicted
under TADA, POTA, UAPA, or any other hard laws to put them behind the bars
forever?
Who’s responsible for the release
of these police officers is not the concern here; SAD can blame Congress, Congress
can blame SAD, and Khaira or AAP can blame both or any of their choice. The
issue is with the powers given by the CoI to the government and the misuse of
those powers by them. It’s not the first time or the last time when innocents
will be killed or put behind the bars and the predators will be roaming free.
It’s high time for the governments
and the forces to introspect and understand the atrocious acts that can be done
because of the powers bestowed on them by the CoI. If the county goes like this
forever, then the people of the country wouldn’t have any trust in either the constitution
or the government.
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