Muzaffarnagar: The expanding web of injustice and impunity in Uttar Pradesh – By Gitanjali Prasad
An Indian Express investigation published earlier this month revealed that in 40 out of 41 cases pertaining to the 2013 Muzaffarnagar communal violence, all the accused were acquitted in trial courts in cases that involved attacks on Muslims. The state’s lawyer confirmed that they will not be challenging the outcomes in high court.…
Faith in procedural laws or the checks and balances of our political system as a fix to injustice is starting to seem hollow, misplaced, and entirely foolish. What really was the point of a toothless Special Investigation Team in this case, or the countless applications for witness support in the face of relentless and brazen intimidation, or the demand last year by the Supreme Court in response to the writ petition filed by surviving witnesses and family members in the Asaram cases that the Witness Protection Scheme be implemented by Uttar Pradesh?
The criminal justice system and those instrumental to it can only ever be held accountable or made to change once we recognise all that it is – a very simple web of impunity and bias across public institutions, persevered, and even been emboldened, through successive governments in the state and Centre.
SEE ALSO:
- Muzaffarnagar’s Justice Runs Late: Victims of 2013’s horrific rapes and murders await closure, perhaps in vain – By Munish Pandey (Jul 27, 2019, Dailyo.in)
https://www.dailyo.in/politics/muzaffarnagar-riots-2013-communal-riots-in-india-rape-murders-justice/story/1/31603.html - Why DU (and India’s) students need to study about riots in our curriculum – By Maitrayee Chaudhuri (Jul 25, 2019, Edex Live)
https://www.edexlive.com/news/2019/jul/25/opinion-why-du-and-indias-students-need-to-study-about-riots-in-our-curriculum-7222.html - A Report on Cow Protection Violence in India – By Arup Kumar Sen (Jul 27, 2019, Mainstream Weekly)
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article8876.html - 3 defectors, 6 murders, 3 rapes, 1 party – BJP – By Shekhar Gupta (Aug 3, 2019, The Print)
https://theprint.in/national-interest/3-defectors-6-murders-3-rapes-1-party-bjp/271636/
