How Modi govt stooped low in its bid to conquer

The Narendra Modi Government today came up with two politically loaded arguments while countering the NHRC’s legal plea for a retrial o...

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The Narendra Modi Government today came up with two politically loaded arguments while countering the NHRC’s legal plea for a retrial of the Best Bakery case.

The state’s counsel, Additional Solicitor General Mukul Rohatgi, seemed to have a dig at the Congress party culture when he said it was no more a system in which chief ministers depended on ‘‘the mercy of others.’’

Echoing the line which the BJP has been using ever since the elections, Rohatgi, in a reference to the massive mandate Modi received after the riots, said, ‘‘He is democratically elected.’’

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This prompted Chief Justice of India V N Khare reacted sharply saying ‘‘Democracy does not meant you will not prosecute anyone.’’

Khare was equally dismissive of Rohatgi’s strenuous efforts to elevate the subversion of law in Gujarat to the status of a general systemic failure in all riot cases ‘‘for the last 40 years’’ throughout the country.

Citing the example of the 1984 massacre of Sikhs, Rohatgi said ‘‘the malady in our system is such that the guilty persons in riot cases are mostly not punished.’’

The court questioned, ‘‘Are you saying the rioters in Gujarat should also be acquitted
because of this malady?’’

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Rohatgi’s reference to the general record of riot cases in the country is an echo of a letter
Modi shot off to President Kalam last month in the wake of the NHRC’s intervention in the Best Bakery case.

In an attempt to turn the tables on the Congress party, Modi had asked the President to collect data on the conviction rate in riot cases since Independence in various states.

Rohatgi repeatedly said that the law requires
to be amended to remove the lacunae which help
the riot accused get away. At one point, the apex court took Rohatgi’s submission as a gratuitous attempt to blame the collapse of the Best Bakery case on the trial judge.

‘‘We have absolute faith in our courts. If the Government does not bring facts and evidence before the court, what can it do other than acquitting the accused,’’ the bench said.