BANGALORE; Justice P.K. Shyamsundal Commission which inquired into the violent clashes in Bidar town has indicted the administrative machinery its total failure to anticipate the events and to take timely preventive action.
Even after the trouble had erupted teh administrative machinery proved hopelessly inadequate to contain the spread of disturbances according to the commission report presented to the state assembly.
The violent clashes in Bidar followed by widespread arson on Sept 14 and 15 1988 had resulted in the death of 6 Sikh students of Guru Nanak Dev Engineering college and loss of property.
R The commission said when a troublesome situation had developed on the night of Sept 14 and one would have expected the local administration to spring into action. Absence of such positive approach exhibited the clear incapacity of the administration to foresee things in the right perspective and to act to contain volatile situation.
Stating that he was convinced that whatever had been done was done to belatedly that it proved absolutely ineffective the commission observed that the intelligence wing appears to have become absolutely steeped in languor.
Commenting on the role of police the commission noted there was not even a semblance of a forcible show of authority on the part of the police while engaged in the task of maintaining law and order. If this be the display by police which lacked both verve and punch the part played by the additional district magistrate was even more quiescent. He appears to be a person with a tendency to vacillate when exigency of the utmost kind was expected from him.
It is understanding this effect (addl dist. magistrate) being the district. magistrate primarily responsible for maintenance of law and order chose not to venture out into the town to make an in-depth study of the situation himself instead of asking the subordinates to go round once again and thereafter report to him the Commission said.
The commission observed that neither the superintendent of police nor the additional district magistrate were men who could be depended upon to move and act swiftly during an emergency or a crisis. “Neither of them appears to be of a calibre needed to manage a crisis-filled situation. It almost appears as if there was an ego war between these two as to who should go to whom first i.e. whether the SP should go to the dist. Migrate being only an asst. commissioner belonging to the KAS cadre or vice versa.
On the events and circumstances leading to the disturbances the Commission said that he alleged denigration of Lord Ganesha on Sept 14 had led to the incidents of Sept 15 and 16 leading to the killing of Sikh boys and large scale arson of properties of Sikhs. The incident on Sept 14 was not an isolated one.
It had definitely triggered off the incidents on Sept 15 and 16 though what probably added grist to this tornado of communal fury that went through Bidar on those days was probably the feeling among the locals regarding the alleged misbehavior of Sikh boys towards women of Bidar.
The Commission has concluded that those who caused the disturbances were clearly the anti-social elements mainly from Bidar and possibly a few from outside Bidar as well.
The Commission has recommended that the media be it newspaper radio or T.V. should not indulge in emphatic propagation of any religion through its means.
It was also advisable for those in vital positions of responsibility in the state not to make a public exhibition of their religious sentiments that kindles needless fervour _in the mind of ordinary men creating a feeling of over-zealour attachment to religion.
To make the local police officers more alert and duty-bound they must be told that whenever a not breaks out in a particular area or locality the police officer in charge will be automatically suspended and action take against him holding him responsible for the breaking down of law enforcing machinery.
The commission suggested provision for summary trial of mischief makers to be concluded within three months. Provision should also be made for collective fines on the area of turmoil
The intelligence wing of the police department must be strengthened and made more active. In the district headquarters a posse of 10 units of reserve police representing the strike force should always be stationed for immediate dispersal on a round the clock basis.
The Commission had also squarely indicted the management of the Gurdwara which is running Gurunanak Dev Engineering College for not providing adequate hostel facilities for the students and Gulbarga University in not making sure that the college provided adequate hostel facilities. It suggested that the college should be directed to provide hostel facilities to all the students from outside Bidar within six months failing which the university should be asked to withdraw its affiliation.
It also suggested that the students of the college should be provided with identity cards and they should be barred from entering restaurants in Bidar town wherein liquor is sold and all bars should be out of bounds to them.
On compendation the Commission recommended that the parents of each of the six students who lost their lives should be awarded an ex-gratia payment of Rs 20.000 Each already made. Businessmen. Who had sustained losses should be given cash compensation equivalent to the losses and damages sustained by them based on the estimation made by the deputy commissioner. The DC should assess the damages suffered by the engineering college as also the Gurunanak Public School and government pay cash compensation
Article extracted from this publication >> January 11, 1991
