LETTERS

Jayalalithaa

The law is supreme and plays a big role in shaping a democracy. When a person with a criminal background manages to hold high offices, it is the duty of law-makers to protect the unwary voters. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa is a victim of her own acts of commission and omission ("Under legal siege", September 28).

R. Ramasami
Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu

One core institution that has not figured in the debate over Jayalalithaa's continuance in office is the Election Commission. It is impossible for the President or a State Governor to invite anybody to form a government without the declaration of the election results by the Election Commission. If a disqualified person is eligible to form a government, does a candidate who is declared defeated by the Commission qualify to hold the office of Prime Minister or Chief Minister?

If a person disqualified by the Election Commission can become a Minister, then a person who has not passed the Union Public Service Commission examination concerned is eligible to become a government official.

In the United States, even the President can be prosecuted. But in India, the Governor enjoys immunity from prosecution.

Why did the Election Commission, the Central government and the present Governor of Tamil Nadu not file petitions before the apex court against the appointment of Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister by Governor M. Fathima Beevi? The Supreme Court would have remained a silent spectator but for the public interest petitions against the former Governor's action.

S. Prakash
Mutharasanallur, Tamil Nadu

Jayalalithaa herself is to blame for the delay in the legal proceedings. When she was out of power, she repeatedly sought the intervention of the courts in every matter in the cases against her under one pretext or the other.

Now, after becoming Chief Minister, she demands speedy hearing by the courts.

R.N. Vaswani
Mumbai

Terrorism and the law

In the article "The big stick is a boomerang" (September 28), Praful Bidwai sounds warning bells. The Centre is reportedly redrafting the Terrorism (Prevention) Bill. Clauses 3 and 14 of the Bill seek to punish those who possess information or material relevant to "terrorist acts", to compel their disclosure. No doubt this will infringe the freedom of the people, especially journalists. But the devastating terrorist attacks in New York and Washington offer a justification for redrafting the Bill. The Centre's advice to the States to enact their own laws against terrorism, insurgency and organised crime must also be viewed in the context of the developments in the U.S. We have been victims of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and insurgency in the northeastern States.

The law-makers must study how the other countries cope with terrorism through legal means. Two visiting Judges of the U.S. Supreme Court - Sandra Day O'Connor and Stephen Gerald Breyer - said recently that in their long careers they had not felt the need for any special law to deal with terrorism. If the U.S. does not seem to need a law like the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, why should India require one?

Onkar Chopra
New Delhi

Human rights debate

This has reference to R.K. Raghavan's article "The human rights debate" (September 28). Former Director-General of Police K.P.S. Gill fought terrorism in Punjab, risking his and his family members' lives. With the help of several brave, dedicated policemen at his command, he achieved success. Where were the human right activists in India and elsewhere when he was fighting terrorism?

K.S. Rama Iyer
Madurai

NDA disarray

Every party in the NDA has a vested interest ("NDA disarray", September 14). These entered the coalition with their own agendas and will leave it when their goals are achieved. The BJP got a golden opportunity to prove itself, but it could not fulfil its promises. By remaining in power, it is only strengthening the Opposition. Its policies have affected the lower and middle classes and its mismanagement of problems, especially in Kashmir and in the financial sector, has ensured that it will not come back to power. The BJP has no agenda except the Ram temple issue. It should strengthen itself by adopting suitable policies. Otherwise there will again be an NDA, but without the BJP.

Akhilesh Kumar Sah
Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh

The editorial "Misalliance and bad governance" was timely and insightful. The common man is not asking for the moon. What he wants is a simple but respectable life. The government's "achievements" are reflected in the share market, the low export growth, the inflation, the falling rupee, unemployment in all sectors, the starvation deaths, and so on. Will the government be able to concentrate on these problems when it seems to be more concerned with increasing the salaries of Members of Parliament?

The editorial reflected the common man's feeling that the 13th Lok Sabha "keeps one of democratic world's worst - most divisive, reactionary and inept - governments in office at the expense of every elementary interest of the Indian people". No other newspaper or magazine in the country has so boldly expressed the feeling of the masses as Frontline has.

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee
Faridabad

Rainwater

With 500 million acres of arable land, India is not able to feed a major section of its population of 1,000 million ("Upholding the right to food", September 14). Our failure to make use of rainwater is one of the reasons for this situation. India receives about 4,000 trillion litres of rain water annually and its total water consumption is only 700 trillion litres. We have failed not only to use this natural boon but to preserve many of our natural and man-made reservoirs. The need of the hour is to ask farmers and city dwellers to harvest rainwater at the local level.

Alok Sharma
Morar, Madhya Pradesh

For better policing

The article "For better policing" (September 14) was educative. But it appears to overemphasise the police's relationship with the magistracy and the divide between officers of the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Force. The crucial issue is how to make the police serve the people.

The police always appear to be in an adversarial relationship with the people. The public perception of a policeman is that of an intimidating, highhanded personality who puts people in illegal custody and resorts to third-degree methods.

The National Police Commission itself has pointed out that the powers of arrest, search, seizure and institution of criminal cases, which mark several stages in executive police action, afford vast scope for misconduct by police personnel of different ranks, particularly those at the operational level. Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah, former Chief Justice of India and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, pointed out that 60 per cent of all arrests in India were unnecessary and unjustifiable. The percentage may be higher if we include illegal detentions, which are not shown as arrests. While the midnight arrest of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and others led to an uproar and the appointment of a commission of inquiry, instances of common people being arrested in a more ruthless manner go unnoticed.

The National Police Commission in its Third Report expressed deep concern about the manner in which arrests are made generally and suggested that broad guidelines be laid down in this regard. According to the Commission, an arrest during the process of investigation of a cognisable offence can be considered justified in one or the other of the following circumstances: 1. If the case involves a grave offence such as murder, dacoity, robbery and rape and if it is necessary to arrest the accused and restrain his movements so as to infuse confidence among the victims; 2. If the accused is likely to abscond and evade the processes of law; 3. If the accused is given to violent behaviour and is likely to commit further offences unless his movements are restrained; and 4. If the accused is a habitual offender and, unless kept in custody, is likely to commit similar offences again.

The Commission also said that it would be desirable to insist through departmental instructions that a police officer making an arrest should record in the case diary the reasons for the arrest. In Joginder Kumar Vs State of Uttar Pradesh and others (1994 SCC (CRL) 1172), the Supreme Court endorsed and reiterated the recommendations of the Commission. It emphasised that no arrest could be made merely because it was lawful. The court made it clear that the existence of the power to arrest was one thing and the justification for the exercise of the power was quite another. No arrest should be made without the police officer concerned being reasonably satisfied after some investigation about the genuineness and bona fides of the complaint and about the person's complicity and the need for his arrest. Unfortunately, these recommendations, made over two decades ago, have not been implemented. Recently, the Law Commission of India made similar recommendations but they have also not been implemented.

P. Venkateswar Rao
Warangal, Andhra Pradesh

India and Pakistan

The article "On the edge of peace" (September 14) is over-optimistic in saying that more people-to-people contact between India and Pakistan will ease tensions and bring lasting peace to the subcontinent. As long as the Pakistani ruling class comprising military officials, fundamentalists, landlords and the elite exists, no amount of bonhomie between individuals or groups of like-minded people can change the ground-level realities in Kashmir.

Varun Shekhar
Scarborough, Canada

Education

The communalisation of the educational system began with the removal of pro-Left historians from the Indian Council of Historical Research and filling similar research institutions with persons who are ideologically close to the Sangh Parivar ("Secular challenge", August 31).

There is an attempt to falsify historical facts and establish the superiority of Aryan civilisation over other civilisations. The main reason for identifying the Vedic culture with the Indus civilisation is to prove that the former is one of the oldest civilisations in the world. The claim of Hindutva historians that Aryans were the inhabitants of present-day Haryana lacks historical evidence.

The decision of the University Grants Commission to introduce Hinduism-oriented courses, especially astrology, in universities reflects the extent of communalisation of the educational system and Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi's chauvinistic nationalism.

Vimal
Kannur, Kerala

Dalit assertion

The Dalits of Guravareddypalem in Andhra Pradesh's Prakasam district have created history by defying the upper castes and drawing water from the village well ("A blow to caste bias", August 17). It is surprising that caste-based discrimination continues in various parts of the country in this modern age.

It was in the post-Rg Vedic period that the classification of various social groups began on the basis of division of labour. But it was in the medieval period that casteism became a serious problem. The upper castes exploited the lower castes using and perpetuating their ignorance. It took a long time for those in the lower rungs of society to realise that they had been exploited.

Social reformers played a major role in creating an awareness in Dalits about their rights. The Constitution has provided for some privileges to them. But, unfortunately, the uplift of Dalits remains a dream because they are still economically dependent on the upper castes.

Casteism is deeply entrenched in politics too. Most political parties, especially the regional parties, are plagued by it. In States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, the success of many politicians is decided by caste equations.

Casteism has crept into all spheres of life to the detriment of progress. It can be eradicated only by establishing economic equality, and not just by enacting laws and passing resolutions.

Buddha Dev Nandi
Bishnupur, West Bengal

The Railways

Indian Railways are one of the largest undertakings in the world. Their performance is on the decline mainly because of the lack of timely infusion of funds to upgrade the tracks and the rolling stock ("The signal for long-haul reforms", September 28). There is no reason why operations such as the maintenance of retiring rooms and departmental catering cannot be handed over to the private sector. The involvement of private players will bring in more funds and professionalism.

A new generation of locomotives, compartments, and wagons is needed. Track renewal and improvement of communications should be given priority.

D.B.N. Murthy
Bangalore

Mohammad Ali Jinnah

In "A ringside view" (September 14), Mohammad Ali Jinnah's former chauffeur Sayed Shah Abdul Hye is quoted as saying that people exaggerated facts about Jinnah and that he had never seen him drinking "except maybe some wine during dinner". The article said that although Jinnah was not a devout Muslim who prayed five times a day, he attended the Idgah on special occasions. Jinnah might have had a certain quantity of liquor in the evenings but he performed Friday prayers. Although he came from a family of Bora Shias, if asked whether he was a Shia or a Sunni he would say, "I am a Muslim". He was buried according to Sunni rites and the prayer was said by a Sunni maulana. Jinnah had an elegant life-style but he was financially clean.

Jinnah had magnetic eyes, was reserved and never talked against people behind their backs. Occasionally he showed a sense of humour. Jinnah spoke in broken Urdu to the staff because his family hailed from Gujarat and they spoke Gujarati. He learnt Urdu after Partition and made many of his public speeches in Urdu. In 1997, I interviewed Brigadier (retd.) Noor A. Husain, one of the last three aides-de-camp to Jinnah, in Rawalpindi.

According to Hye, unlike several Muslim leaders who were elected in the 1937 provincial elections, Jinnah would not fly the Muslim League flag on the bonnet of his car "until and unless Pakistan was won". This is an important testimony to the turning point in Jinnah's political thinking.

Zariani Abdul Rahman
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia