Do we have the rule of law?

India is drifting dangerously away from the sacred principle of equality before law

Alok Tiwari

Last week Delhi University professor GN Saibaba died, broken and broke. His end came just over six months after his acquittal by Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court in a case under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in which he was accused of aiding and abetting activities of Naxalites. He and his co-accused were labelled Urban Naxals, an omnibus and meaningless term often used to disparage anyone even slightly left leaning or progressive. He was convicted by a lower court in Gadchiroli after years in jail but was acquitted upon appeal by the high court on technical grounds.

The state government was so rattled by this acquittal and so desperately wanted to prevent Saibaba’s release that it urged Supreme Court to hold a special hearing on a Saturday evening to get the HC verdict stayed. SC obliged and sent the matter back to HC. This time HC examined the matter on merits and found none in the case. It found everything about the case right from sanction given by the government to prosecution to evidence against the accused without any weight and released all accused. The government, this time, did not appeal. Perhaps, it knew it had no case. It also knew it had done what it wanted to do to a disabled man in these years.

Now consider another case. The killing in Mumbai of Baba Siddique, leader of NCP’s Ajit Pawar faction that is part of the government in Maharashtra. The suspects arrested by Mumbai police have led the latter to believe that the murder was committed by a gang run by Lawrence Bishnoi. Now this by itself, while still disturbing, would not be surprising. What makes it extraordinary is that Bishnoi himself has been lodged in Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati jail for years. Yet, he is reported to be running an international criminal enterprise having hundreds of operatives ready to do his bidding including carrying out assassinations.

That is why we need to ask: Do we have the rule of law in this country? Rule of law, as different from rule of persons, means that the arms of the state will treat everyone equally and as per established and known laws. People cannot be treated differently based on their beliefs and equations with those in power. This ideal has never been fully realized anywhere. But in recent times India has drifted dangerously away from the principle. So compromised is the criminal justice system and so beholden it is to people in power that it routinely ignores even the basic rights of people and goes out of its way to appease those in good books of the rulers.

How else one is to explain the difference in ways it treats its prisoners. I am not qualified to deliberate upon the merits of cases against Saibaba or Bishnoi. But to the extent both were prisoners, their treatment should be similar. Was that the case? Saibaba had to petition courts repeatedly to get even basic facilities and medical treatment. He was reported to have been kept in solitary confinement and under constant camera surveillance, a procedure reserved for most dangerous criminals. On the other hand, Bishnoi can run his criminal gang from a jail in Gujarat, a state that many believe is run better than heaven.

Saibaba, who could not move without wheelchair, was denied use of a commode in toilet, just the way Stan Swamy, an accused in Bheema Koregaon case, was denied use of even a straw to drink water. Saibaba could not get parole even to see his ailing mother who died while her son remained in jail. But Gurmeet Ram Rahim, a man convicted of rape and murder, has been released from prison on parole/furlough no less than 17 times. Unthinkable cruelty for some, unconscionable leniency for others.

Stan Swamy, in his eighties, eventually died in prison as an undertrial. His co-accused could get bail only after going right up to Supreme Court. The cases against them have not even come for trial. Not just that, it has often emerged that the evidence relied upon for their arrest in the first place was remotely planted on their computers. While in jail they often had to struggle for extremely basic facilities that are supposed to be given to even ordinary prisoners as a matter of right.

While state unleashed such atrocity on people who basically were political prisoners, it went out of its way to make life easier criminals it considers on its side. Remember rapists and killers in infamous Bilkis Bano case? Not only were they released prematurely but were felicitated by people from party ruling in both state and centre. When their release was held unlawful and Supreme Court castigated Gujarat government for being hand in glove with the criminals, the state still delayed getting them back in prison for as much time as possible. Records revealed that they were liberally granted paroles by prison authorities even while serving their terms.

We, as ordinary citizens, tend not to get disturbed by such development. This is because we think it does not affect us. This may be true most of the time except when it is not. Right now, it may appear to be affecting the political activists but if allowed to grow one day it will affect us all. Already politicians threaten not to work for areas that do not vote for them. Imagine if the police officer who stops you for traffic violation decides the penalty based on which way you lean politically. Or the civic body levies higher tax on your house because you did not vote for ruling party. They may seem bizarre examples but that is exactly what inequality before law looks like. And it is not as far from us as we imagine.

This column appeared in Lokmat Times on Oct 16, 2024