Are You Listening, Mr Rahul Gandhi? Is this how your shop of love will function for Muslims?

By Wadood Sajid, Tr. New Age Islam 15 November 2023 On November 8, an important news was broken but went largely unnoticed. The news was ignored by the national media except one newspaper. The TV channels did not report it. That the Supreme Court had lashed out at the Rajasthan government was also not reported. It is surprising that the Supreme Court had given the Satanic TV channels an important opportunity against the Rajasthan Congress government but they did not exploit it. The print media and the TV channels did not do so for the love of Congress. They spared the Gehlot government of the Congress party for the hate of the Muslims. I am, therefore, putting some questions directly to Mr Rahul Gandhi. On May 13, 2008, serial bomb blasts had occured in Jaipur. Many Muslims had been arrested as the accused. The local court had convicted four of them and awarded death sentence to them, (as is usual at this level of judiciary). The Rajasthan High Court had not only acquitted all of them but also ordered legal action against the erring police officers. The Rajasthan government appealed against the High Court judgment in the Supreme Court. On November 8, the Rajasthan government had to face embarassment and humiliation in the Supreme Court. It would be appropriate to quote what I had written to the Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot in my column Nawae Imroz on March 31. "Mr Gehlot! You might be aware of the stoy of the four innocent youth whom the Rajasthan High Court had released from.the death noose,and had given them a new lease of life. They wasted the precious 15 years of their life. When they had been arrested on May 13, 2008 for Jaipur serial blasts, they had pleaded desperately that they were innocent but the Rajasthan police had not listened to them. The special court of Jaipur had given them death sentence in 2019. Finally, the Rajasthan High Court had listened to their pleas and adjudged after 15 years that they were innocent. "On the one hand, the High Court had acquitted the youth and on the other, it had placed the police and the investigating officers in the dock. The High Court has protected the honour and credibility of the judiciary. The honourable exposed the shameful act of the investigating officers and ordered the DGP to initiate action against the guilty police officers. The court has also ordered the Chief Secretary to personally look into the matter in the larger interests of the people. It means that the Court has indirectly indicted your government as well. "Mr Chief Minister! You cannot return the acquitted youth the precious years of their life that was ruined due to the false accusation of terrorism against them, nor can you return them their reputation and dignity which was damaged by the false propaganda run by the terrorist media at the time of their arrest. The media had declared them perpetrators of the blasts even before the investigations were completed by the police and the investigating officers.You can also not return them their peace of mind that was taken away by these mischief mongers. The High Court judgment requires that you should dismiss all the police officers, get them arrested and initiate legal action against them immediately as per the High Court order. If you have the slightest feeling of the pain and loss suffered by the youth, you should pay them appropriate compensation and give the government jobs. "Mr Gehlot! The additional counsel of your government Rekha Madnani has made it clear that the High Court judgment will be challenged in thr Supreme Court. If your government is going to the Supreme Court against this clear and judicious verdict, it will mean that you want to hang these youth at any cost. It would also mean that you do not have the intention to take legal action against the investigating officers who ruined the lives of the youth." (Excerpts from my column Nawai Imroz March 31) The Chief Minister of Rajasthan government did not take any notice of the above quoted column. The government knocked at the door of the Supreme Court despite a clear and realistic verdict of the High Court and appealed for stay on it. On March 17, 2023, the SC refused to stay the verdict. The Rajasthan government was in a great hurry to get a stay. The three judge bench comprising Justice B. S. Gawai, Justice B. S. Narasimha and Justice Arvind Kumar said that they cannot take a decision in such an important judgment in a mechanical way without listening to those whom the court had acquitted. When the High Court had acquitted the youth and ordered action against the guilty officers on March 29, 2023, the additional counsel of Rajasthan government Rekha Madnani had said in the court complex that they would challenge the judgment in the SC. We had thought then that she had made the statement due to the embarassment caused to the government by the High Court order. That's why I had made an appeal to the CM directly. Now, after the judgment of the SC, it has become clear that the decision to challenge the HC judgment in the SC was not taken at the lower level but the highest level of the leadership of the state government was also involved. Had it not been so, the seniormost law officer of the country, the Attorney General would not have represented the state government in the SC. When the case was brought before the bench, the court said to AG R. Venkataraman: "Your appeal against the acquittal of the accused is unique and unprecedented. To consider your extraordinary appeal, it is necessary to study whether the HC order is flawed or has some discrepancy. The court also observed that after a judgment acquitting the accused comes the view about their innocence gets more strength. The Attorney General is the senior most officer. In principle, he represents the central government in the Supreme Court.The next comes the Solicitor General. Then there are his deputies. In the state, the most senior law officer is the Advocate General who represents the state government in the HC. There are deputies in the state as well. If the state has to make an appeal in the SC the additional Advocate General represents the state government. The state does not request the representative of the central government, that too, the Attorney General, to represent it. This proves that the state government was hell bent on hanging the innocent youth. For that, it acquired the services of the AG. It appears that the SC also felt the gravity of the matter and observed that such an appeal was unique and unprecedented.It should be noted here that on the first hearing, the SC had demanded the entire record of the case from the trial court of Jaipur. But it was not submitted till the second hearing on November 8. It is surprising that the Jaipur trial court could not submit the record before the SC even after six months.On November 8, the SC again ordered the registry to make the record available. The counsel of the acquitted youth, Rebecca John told the court that despite their acquittal, the youth had been ordered to register their presence at the anti-terrorism police station from 10 am to 12 pm every day. The Court told the AG that this condition limited the freedom of the youth. The AG argued that though the HC had acquitted them, they could not be permitted to move about freely. Therefore, they appealed for a stay. Mr Rahul Gandhi! All this has been done with the four innocent youth by your Rajasthan government. I am addressing you because CM Gehlot has exposed fully the 'real man' inside him but we do not expect that degree of nakedness from you though it is also a fact that a large number of youth have been framed in terror charges under the Congress and the UPA governments. Still we hope that you will not allow this to continue. The case of the four youth is a litmus test for you. Your Gehlot government presents the youth in the SC as a threat and wants to limit their freedom despite a clear verdict in their favour. As a journalist, I can only address you in decent words but if you want to know my views as a common Indian, I have no decent words for your Gehlot government except the words of condemnation. This veteran politician and ruler terms the youth as a threat and wants to put them in shackles even after they have already wasted 15 years of their lives for an uncommitted crime though the HC has not only acquitted them but also put the police and the entire judicial machinery in the dock. All this is happening at a time, Mr Gandhi, when your party is in the poll fray to form the government in two states and is trying to wrest power from the BJP in one state. In these circumstances, we repose our trust only in you. Will you do something in this matter? We await your response. (Inquilab 14 November) ------- Urdu Article: Where are you Mr Gandhi! آپ کہاں ہیں مسٹر گاندھی URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/rahul-gandhi-strange-shop-of-love-for-muslims/d/131117 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism