Indian Supreme Court Judges Adjudicating Kashmir Petitions Sound Like Cheerleaders For Article 370 Repeal!

 

by

P.S. Sahni

 

The aforementioned title sums up the impressions after watching live telecast of the ongoing court proceedings. A few observations are in order:

·        Judges in the classical mould were expected not to let anyone guess which way their mind is swaying; the judges in the instant case are no respecter of this old tradition. There appears to be an attempt to get their ‘attendance and views’ marked at the rulers darbar as fast as possible.

·        The old men’s club of senior advocates are given humungous time compared to senior women lawyers as also a senior advocate who self-confessedly belongs to the LGBT community. Why should more time be granted for arguments to male advocates with advanced age?

·        The Muslim lawyers from Kashmir were given very little time with a young lawyer being egged on to finish his short submissions fast; even as 20 minutes of court’s time was wasted while judges and Mr. Rajeev Dhavan talked about personal matters relating to libraries.

·        Two senior advocates, Kapil Sibal and Rajeev Dhavan were seen laughing and talking while a Kashmiri lawyer was arguing.

·        The comment made by the Attorney General for India that in case of a medical emergency, often a limb is amputated to preserve a life, alludes to Article 370 as a leg to be amputated. If this was an emergency treatment by rulers why was the aftercare of Kashmir needed in an ICU not provided for for full 4 years; this only entailed an immediate stay on the disintegration of J&K. In any case the analogy of limb vis-à-vis Kashmir is no different from that of a Shudra being compared to leg. It is Brahminical sophistry as old as Manusmriti.

·        Let us accept that Kashmir is the heart and brain of India (both literally and metaphorically) and the whole of India is represented by two arms, two legs, full abdomen and pelvis – to wit the major part of the body. In that situation would we dare cut the heart and brain? Then India itself would have died. In that situation then the Attorney General would have advocated a bypass surgery of heart and brain and not amputation of heart and brain solely for the selfish purpose that India survives.

·        The Attorney General’s comment merits outright condemnation since amputation for limbs was done to save lives about a 100 years back. Presently even in a malignant tumor of the leg of a child salvage surgery is done to preserve the limb even as the tumor mass is locally removed. Limb transplants from donor to recipient is also an alternative. Not just the Indian government but also the President of India failed to prevent the limb from being amputated. The Presidential Orders to the effect then were a fraud on the Constitution. If Mr. Venkataramani were to do a simple Google search with the words typed as ‘limbs salvage surgery’ he will get dozens of references on limbs salvage surgery. In fact if a student appearing for M.S. (Orthopaedic Surgery) were to give the answer as provided for by the Attorney General for India that student would never clear the M.S. examination. Clearly the Attorney General is spreading obscurantist ideas about surgery which has the mischief to mislead a generation of doctors.

·        The fact that the Supreme Court of India took up the Kashmir petitions which required immediate emergency treatment after 4 years is suspect. The Supreme Court should have immediately heard the petitions and given a stay on the Presidential Orders of 05.08.2019 & 06.08.2019 and the Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Act of 2019.

·        Remember the obiter dicta of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul then that if need be they can “turn the clock back”. Is the dream all but over?

·        Being dimwitted may I ask why we are going further with the formalities of the court proceedings when the judges have already opened their mind?

·        Though one does not expect justice from bourgeois institutions could one hope that the judiciary like the corporate press does not get labelled ‘godi’ judiciary?

·        The rulers of India have apparently forgotten the most important lesson from Ramayan even as they are building a Ram Temple in Ayodhya viz:

 “रघुकुल रीत सदा चली आई, प्राण जाए पर वचन न जाई”

                    (Raghukul’s custom has always been followed;

Life may extinguish but promise will not)

 

Come what may the promise made by the Indian State to the people of Kashmir in 1947 should never be renegaded – now or ever.

 

P.S. Sahni

[P.S. Sahni is a qualified orthopaedic surgeon & a member of PIL Watch Group.]

Ethnic Cleansing of Muslims in India – Appeal to Chief Justice, Punjab and Haryana High Court

 

Respected Sir,

 

Following the mass scale demolition of Muslim settlements in Nuh, Haryana two Hon’ble judges of your court took suo motu cognizance of the matter and stayed further demolitions. Since then the case is being tossed around from one bench to the other. Too hot to handle? Political pressure at play? Leaving Haryana administration to fudge records, plant backdated legal notices for demolition? Ensuring that most Muslim victims would have migrated out of Nuh due to fear or police pressure or both?

 

I am sharing a first-hand experience which may help the Court while passing the final order. For most part of the period 1984 to 89 I had worked voluntarily at Jagat Mata Kusht Ashram, Tilak Nagar, New Delhi. On 05.06.1986, the Delhi Development Authority (D.D.A.) bulldozed slum tenements of these leprosy patients. Mrs Kapila Hingorani (now since deceased) raised the matter before the Supreme Court of India. During the court’s summer vacation a bench of the court headed by the then Chief Justice, P. N. Bhagwati passed a two page final order on 02.07.1986 inter alia stating:

 

“It is elementary that even if a person is unauthorisedly in possession of land or has constructed structure without lawful authority he cannot be forcibly evicted from such land or structure and whatever action is taken for evicting him, has to be in accordance with law. Since the learned counsel for the D.D.A. is unable to produce any order of the appropriate authority we must take the tentative view that action of the D.D.A. was not in accordance with law and if that be so, it is obvious that the person whose huts have been demolished and who have been forcibly thrown out should be provided with accommodation.” (emphasis provided)

 

The D.D.A. reconstructed the demolished jhuggis at state expense at the same site. Out of affection the leprosy patients named that part of the colony as ‘Justice P.N. Bhagwati Block’.

 

To the best of my knowledge this final order of the Supreme Court has not been set aside by a larger bench; this is the only such order passed by a court since 1947. You could Sir, use this order and pass a judgement to the effect that all the 1200 odd properties of Muslims be rebuilt at same site at state expense where these existed.

 

One way to nail the administration if it has fudged records or planted backdated legal notices is to call for the physical records. The movement of every one of these alleged legal notices should be on physical records at every level of bureaucracy; and then the post-office records of speed-posted letters/notices. A forensic analysis could be done of the files to ascertain if pages have been added at a later date. The local administration is bound to take the infamous plea that it had pasted notices on these 1200 odd properties of Muslims. But digital records will nail their lies as date, day, time of pasting 1200 odd notices will not be easy to fudge on videos, photos taken on mobile phones by the administration.

 

The nation is at crossroads. Your order could decide whether India slips into full-fledged fascism or on recovery road to secularism.

 

May you Sir, always pursue the path of truth!

 

Thanks,

Yours sincerely,

P.S. Sahni

Member, PIL Watch Group

Email: pilwatchgroup@gmail.com

Open Letter to A Co-worker Who is Presently the Attorney General For India

Dear Venkataramani,

 

Recall that 40 years back in 1983-84 we – including you and me – were all active members of Jhuggi Jhopri Nivasi Adhikar Samiti (JJNAS). Many of the members of JJNAS contribute articles for Countercurrents.org e.g. Walter Fernandes, Prof. Shamsul Islam, Dr. Aurobindo Ghosh, Tapan Bose, Sumanta Banerjee, PUCL,  PUDR and Ankur to name a few. CC is edited by Binu Mathew.

 

A fact-finding team of three of us had gone to Derawalan Nagar, North Delhi to enquire into the razing of dwelling units by bulldozer. The team included your good-self; Dr. V. P. Srivastava and myself. We had prepared the report and made a demand on the administration inter alia to rehabilitate the victims made homeless. Remember a girl child named Parvati had died during this demolition drive. JJNAS had roundly condemned the demolition without notice.

 

I also recall your concern and efforts when JJNAS learnt of the death of a slum dweller, Wilson who had died due to police torture on the mere suspicion that he had stolen a ceiling fan. I cherish those times when a movement against demolition of dwelling units became a force to reckon with. Then 1984 genocide of Sikhs happened and most of us got involved in relief and rehabilitation of these victims.

 

Under the present regime demolitions (without notice) of dwelling units have become a practice especially after acts of social violence get reported. I am sure all this must be weighing heavy on your heart because I worked with you for years at that time. You were a source of inspiration to me.

 

I understand that the post of Attorney General for India is a political appointment. But recall India’s first Attorney General for India, M. C. Setalvad who could stand up to the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru on issues where Mr. Setalvad differed. Yesterday’s issue of Countercurrents.org carries a piece by a perceptive and sensitive journalist Mr. Vidya Bhushan Rawat. The title of the piece is ‘The Supreme Court Must Stop Bulldozer Raj’. You may find time to go through it.

 

On 4 January 2019 the Indian Express carried a piece titled ‘The country’s counsel’ written by C. Raj Kumar, Dean, Jindal Global Law School and Khagesh Gautam, Associate Professor, Jindal Global Law School.

 

“The Constitution does not provide for Attorney General of India. It provides for Attorney General for India. This would seem to indicate that the AG’s client is not the government but rather the people of India.” and

 

“The AG is “Attorney General for India”, not attorney general for the government of India. In that, the AG is special for he acts “for India” and not the government. There is a constitutional expectation on the AG and other legal officers to exercise independent judgement and provide wise counsel to the government,..” and also

 

“In our system, the AG is obliged to speak truth to power and help the government to adhere to the Constitution.”

 

My friend Venkataramani, you have the powers to summon the files pertaining to the Nuh violence and the subsequent demolition. The buck stops at you. You alone can decide how justice could be done to Muslims. This one time exercise by you could send a message to the administration, police and local government to treat Muslims as human beings firstly and Indians in the same breath. If you can do that you will be remembered in history as someone who saved the country from a potential civil war. Of course you must weigh the risks involved in taking a principled stand. Besides I make this demand of you to stand up to the stature of Justice H. R. Khanna. After all during the JJNAS movement you inspired a lot of activists.

 

As for me, my friend Venkataramani, I am precisely where I was 40 years back. I have no status to speak of but my conscience is clear. I may be dimwitted but I do understand that power and prestige are big factors for most individuals. I am not apologizing for any liberty I may have taken in addressing you this letter. I do not know much about protocols. If my letter merits legal action against me so be it.

 

Thanks and best wishes,

P.S. Sahni

[Presently I am a member of PIL Watch Group and ABVA Collective.]