Saiyed Danish | India Tomorrow
New Delhi, April 25— Branding of a Muslim under-trial prisoner with ‘Om’ symbol by a jail superintendent inside the country’s premier, high-security Tihar jail in the national capital shows limits of impunity and how deep the poison of hatred has sunk into the official machinery; such incidents are product of communal and majoritarian politics and are attack on ethos of secularism, say eminent members of civil society.
A brief on the incident:
On April 12, a Muslim prisoner identified as Nabbir @Shabbir was branded with ‘Om’ symbol on his back by jail superintendent Rajesh Chauhan in Tihar jail. The victim prisoner passed on info about the incident to his family living in Delhi. They approached their lawyer. The counsel visited the jail, met his client and took his photo. On April 17, the lawyer filed a petition in the local Karkardooma court. Taking immediate action on the petition, the judge ordered probe by DGP, Tihar Jail and submission of the report next day (April 18). The judge also ordered to keep the victim prisoner away from the accused official.
Incident Shows How Deep Poison of Hatred Has Sunk into Official Machinery:
After primary reporting, the incident has disappeared from the media. Politicians haven’t spoken on the issue either. However, members of the civil society in Delhi have expressed anguish over the incident.
Speaking to India Tomorrow, civil rights activist Dr. John Dayal said, “I would have attempted to go to the court and asked them to issue an order to the jailor that the prisoner’s skin be repaired and made as it was before and that the jailor be sacked. But since I can’t do that, let me tell you the enormity of what has happened. The travesty of this event is that it happened in a jail and was done not by fellow prisoners in anger but by a jailor. This shows limits of impunity. This shows how deep the poison of hatred has sunk into the official machinery.”
Senior Journalist Aditya Menon termed the incident as another way of intimidating minorities.
“I think such incidents are definitely a product of communal and majoritarian impunity. This incident is also a way of communal forces present in the administration telling the minority that no the law will not protect them. Nothing would be more symbolic of an agenda of hate than a Muslim prisoner being burnt with ‘Om’ symbol on his back,” Menon said.
Nusrat Ali, former Vice President, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind blamed the growth of communal tendencies for the incidence.
“The ideology of communalism which had started with a few people has now grown into a large form. Today we see that hatred has made its way into the top echelons of political fraternity and bureaucracy. The kind of indoctrination is promoted by the hate-mongers, the way their mindset becomes, it is very likely that they have an opportunity to inflict torture on someone, they go for it. The fresh incident in Tihar jail is but a continuation of this growing trend of the same pattern. Police department has also been conditioned in the same way and thus we see that everyday some or the other kind of such incidences happens. We can never condemn it enough,” he said.
This is an Attack on Ethos of Secularism:
Delhi University Faculty Prof. Apoorvanand Jha also expressed his concerns over the incident.
“It is a worrisome and dangerous incident. Even more worrying is the fact that the apex court has not displayed a sense of urgency in this matter, which means that if jail authorities are taking too much time to take action on it then the court should step in,” he said.
“This incident is also an attack on the ethos of secularism. The jail authorities are expected to uphold the law while performing their duties. Even the media treated this incident in a cursory way without following up after the first time it was reported. This is also a way to tell Muslims and Christians of this country that anything can happen with them anywhere, even in jails where law is supposed to protect them,” said Prof. Apoorvanand.
People Should Speak against Injustice, They Should Not Give in to Intimidating Tactics:
Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan, Chairman, Delhi Minorities Commission said, “Custodial torture and custodial deaths have been taking place in this country since long. Both minorities and non-minorities have been the victims of such incidents of torture. The police department is corrupt and jails are run by them. What is going on there underlines the current atmosphere of people in power encouraging them to indulge in such heinous practices with the belief that nothing will happen to them.”
Dr Khan says that speaking against such injustice and approaching the right forums for grievance redressal are only way to check such incidents.
“I can assure you that once these issues come to light and reach the right forums like minorities commissions, human rights commissions, they take action. Since this case has come to the court we believe that justice will be done finally. We are also going to send them (Tihar Jail) a letter asking for report. In any case, people should and speak whenever there is injustice they should come out and don’t give in to the intimidating tactics of the perpetrators. If every victim starts doing like this, then the perpetrators know that they cannot do it anymore,” he said.
Legal Status of the Case
Acting on the court order, the jail authorities shifted Shabbir from Jail No. 4 to Jail No. 1.
The court had sought report on April 18. But in the next two hearings, says the lawyer, the jail authorities did not appear in the court, nor did they file any written reply. On April 22, the jail officials appeared in the court and sought one week more from the court for probe. The court granted the time and fixed next hearing on April 30.
