Dear Prime Minister, lam writing this letter with some anguish and considerable anger because lam finding it increasingly difficult to understand, much less appreciate, how a civilized Government can permit the thwarting of civil liberties and human rights on a scale that is being practiced in several parts of our country, more particularly in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, North East, and now Tamil Nadu. The proximate cause of my concern is the arrest, handcuffing, ill-treatment and the continued custody of Justice Ajit Singh Bains, former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and President of the Punjab Human Rights Organization. That a well-respected and prominent figure like Justice Bains could be subjected to such treatment at his age of 71 years highlights not merely the attitude and practices of the Punjab police but more alarmingly the role of a so-called “elected” “popular” state government and indirectly the role of the Central Government. On hearing the news of Justice Bains arrest, I had issued a statement which you might have seen, I enclose a copy of that for your ready perusal, At that time, I was not aware of the full facts and circumstances of his arrest, I regret that my earlier statement was “feeble.” One cannot sufficiently strongly condemn the action of the Punjab police and the state government. The quotations from Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi in my statement would, I hope, have a sobering effect on you and your government.
Where the executive government fails the people, the judicial system is expected to provide the needed relief to the aggrieved. Even our courts, including the Supreme Court of India seem paralyzed with what I don’t understand, I am told that an earlier decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court striking down some of the provisions of the by-now obnoxious TADA had been stayed by the Supreme Court of India five years ago and the Supreme Court is yet to find time to take up the case for hearing! Are we going back to the days of ADM, Jabalpur?
The Independent initiative had organized a meeting in New Delhi on 4/18/92 jointly with the Committee for information and initiative on Punjab, it was a well attended meeting. The meeting adopted a unanimous resolution of which I enclose a copy. I could not be present at the meeting but a large number of my colleagues in the Independent Initiative and others like Justice Tiwatla, Prof. Rajni Kothari, Shri Nikhil Chakravarti, Lt.Gen.J.S. Arora, Shrimati Bains and several others were present and heard with horror the details regarding the arrest of Justice Bains, as also the treatment meted out to other human rights activists, one, whose arrest is not even being acknowledged by the police and the other who has gone underground, The meeting also noticed that human rights activists, and not “terrorists”, seem to be now attracting the special attention of not merely the Punjab police but also the police in other states, This is an extremely dangerous development, which can undermine our democracy more swiftly than anything else.
If I have written at some length, it is only to impress on you my concern and the concern of all the right minded people of our county regarding developments of the type I have referred to above. I hope you recognize the dangers inherent in these actions to our polity and will take immediate steps to direct the state government of Punjab (as also other state governments) to order the release of Justice Bains and all others who have been detained under TADA and similar anti-people laws.
I also understand that TADAs life is coming to an end soon. It can’t end too soon for me. However, I urge that no attempt is made either to extend its life or to reenact it in some other guise. V.R. Krishna lyre President, Independent Initiative.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 22, 1992
