NEW DELHI: The announcement that the Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao had ordered a comprehensive review of cases relating to those arrested in the post December 6 violence comes close on the heels of sharp criticism from Members of Parliament and the press that persons belonging to the minority community were being unduly harassed by the police.

According to official sources, the decision to review such cases was taken by the Center four days ago; Chief Secretaries of all States have been instructed to conduct a review of those arrested in the countrywide riots and blasts in Bombay and Calcutta following the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

States have been asked to furnish information about those charged with serious offences such as arson/rioting/murder apart from persons held under preventive detentions. The Government is of the view that in the immediate aftermath of riots a large number of people are picked up by the police many of whom may not be deeply involved in the violence. It is such cases which need to be reviewed, the sources maintained. Politically motivated review: Predictably, the BJP recently said the Prime Minister, instead of letting the law take its course, had ordered a politically motivated review in cases of person arrested in connection with violence and sabotage in recent months.

Though there have been suggestions earlier, the Government has been the subject of attack in the press for not just arresting persons under substantive sections of the Jaw but for illegal detentions as has been the case in Bombay.

While an eerie silence has descended on those who participated in the Shiv Sena led camage of Muslims in the metropolis in the second round of violence, the focus of the Bombay police seems to be concentrated around only the accused in the March 12 blasts.

There have been allegations responded in Parliament that scores of families have been picked up including women and children, ‘This follows the classical “logic” of the police that if you detain the relatives of persons who are wanted the individuals come forward.

Following the huge seizure of RDX explosive, an entire Muslim family was picked up in a coastal Maharashtra village for being in the possession of “missile like™ objects, if one is to go by reports appearing in the press. The “missiles” on closer examination turned out to be “spindles” as the family had been maintaining all along.

There is considerable awareness that following the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the resultant riots a sizable chunk of those beJonging.to the minority community believe that the Congress(J) can no Jonger be trusted to play the role of a neutral umpire in communal situations.

Even the Railway Minister, C Jaffer Sharief, cautioned the ruling party against continued harassment of members of the minority community in a recent newspaper interview.

Angry at the failure of the Congress (l) to protect the Babri Masjid, Sharief, according to the news report, faced a hostile reception from Muslim voters during his campaign for the party nominee in the Yelahanka Assembly by-election in Karnataka.

“They are waiting and watching as to what measures we are taking in fighting the divisive and communal forces. I personally feel that the secular parties of the country would have commands to prevent the virus of communalism from playing havoc in the country,” the Minister was quoted as saying.

Clearly, the decision to review cases of arrested persons is not without a political message. Whether such steps are going to check the alienation of the Muslims from the ruling party at the Center after the events of December 6 and after remains to be seen.

Article extracted from this publication >>  May 28, 1993