An innocent woman’s long and tortuous struggle for justice was vindicated by the Bombay High Court in an a damning indictment of the Gujarat police for its ‘dishonest investigation’ of the Bilkis Bano case, in which an expectant young mother of nineteen was brutally gang-raped during the March 2002 anti-Muslim riots which followed the massacre at the Godhra railway station of a Hindu group returning from a pilgrimage. The court upheld the convictions and life sentences of 12 individuals and set aside the lower court’s acquittal of five policemen and two doctors for tampering with the evidence in an attempted cover-up.
The bench of Justices V.K. Tahilramani and Mridula Bhaskar upheld Bilkis’s testimony as ‘completely trustworthy,’ in contrast to the evidence of the police that was ‘flawed with a dishonest investigation.’
The doctors, opined the court, were ‘were not only casual in conducting the post-mortem [of the victims of the mob violence] but suppressed,’ material evidence involving the accused persons.
Bilkis Bano’s Statement
‘My rights as a human being, as a citizen, woman and mother were violated in the most brutal manner, but I have trusted the democratic institutions of our country. Now, my family and I feel we can begin to lead our lives again, free of fear... This has been a long, seemingly never-ending struggle…close friends who have stood with me through it all know how much my husband Yakub and my family owe to them for their unstinting support and love throughout this battle. For, journeys like mine cannot be made alone. I am deeply grateful to the CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] and to my lawyer who represented me during the appeal process in the Honourable Bombay High Court.’ (Telegraph, Hindu, Times of India, May 5)
Politicians, including Gujarat ministers, and others have been tried and convicted; so, too, were those responsible for the Godhra killings. There can now be closure to these terrible and shaming events.
Nirbhaya case death sentences confirmed
The Supreme Court of India upheld the death sentences in the traumatic Delhi Nirbhaya gang rape case. ‘The accused found an object of enjoyment in [the victim Nirbhaya] for their gross, sadistic and beastly pleasures…for the devilish manner in which they played with her dignity and identity is humanly inconceivable,’ said Justice Dipak Mitra. Justice Banumathi, the woman judge on the Bench, said: ‘There is not even a hint of hesitation in my mind. If at all there is a case warranting award of death sentence, it is in the present case.’
Parents reaction
The four accused – Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Akshay Kumar Singh, and Vinay Sharma, had appealed their sentences, which resulted in a marathon hearing. Their lawyer had pleaded for life sentences on the plea that this was their first criminal offence; they were young, had repented and reformed. The victim, Nirbhaya, was a paramedic student in her early twenties. Her parents Badri Singh Pandey and Asha Devi said there was a long way to go before women in India were assured of their full rights and protection under the law, but they were satisfied that justice delayed, in this case, was not justice denied. (Hindu, Times of India May 6).
Sukma arrests
In a major breakthrough, four Maoist insurgents have been tracked down and arrested for the deadly ambush in jungle in which 25 members of a CRPF force in Sukma, Chhattisgarh, on April 24, lost their lives. The search to catch other culprits continues (Times of India May 5).
Pakistani ambush in Kashmir
The ambush of an Indian security force along the Line of Control in Kashmir and the deaths and decapitation of Paramjit Singh and Prem Sagar, have aroused unprecedented indignation across India. The Pakistan authorities have demanded ‘actionable evidence’ of Indian accusations, a routine exercise dating from the Pakistani-sponsored terrorist attack on Mumbai on 26 November 2008, and other such assaults. In this instance, the trail of blood from the site to the Line of Control in Kashmir and its surrounds is stark evidence of culpability.
Indian response
Pakistani denial is evidence of a frozen state of mind that clearly requires more effective methods of de-frosting than the customary exchanges of blank charges of premeditated television sound-bites. India’s Army chief General Bipin Rawat has promised a reply at a time and place of his country’s choosing. Meanwhile the Army has intensified its security operations in parts of the valley, as jihadi robberies of banks and street violence intensifies. Every action must have an equal and opposite reaction is the first law of Newtonian thermodynamics. (Hindu, Times of India May 5).
Sukhois on Punjab frontline
The Halwara-based 221 Squadron of the Indian Air Force, dubbed ‘Valiants, ’ has inducted its frontline SU 30 MKI fighter aircraft on the Punjab border facing Pakistan. It is the most lethal multi-role strike force in the IAF. The formal induction was made by Air Marshal S. Hari Kumar of the Western Air Command (Hindu April 25).
BrahMos upscaled
The Indian Army has carried out a successful test of its most advanced BrahMos III Land Attack Cruise Missile in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the second in quick succession. The test was an operational configuration by the Army’s South Western Command-based 1 Strike Corps. Testing BrahMos at this location brings the strategic Malacca Straits within its range and signifies the changing strategic dynamics in the Indian Ocean.
Incredible feat
This fifth consecutive test of BrahMos III to hit a land-based target in ‘top attack’ mode was an ‘incredible feat by any other weapon system of its genre,’ said an Army statement. The supersonic BrahMos missile, a joint India-Russian joint venture, has land, air and sea variants. Its original 290-km range has been extended to 450 kms and plans are afoot to increase this to 600 kms. Its present steep dive capability makes it an ideal precision strike weapon (Hindu May 4).
Taliban attack leaves 150 dead soldiers
A lethal Taliban attack on an army base near Mazar-e-Sharif resulted in the deaths of 150 Afghan soldiers. The soldiers were unarmed as they ate their lunches. General Dawlat Waziri, a spokesman of the Afghani Ministry of Defence, declined to specify the exact numbers of dead, but local reports suggest that the death toll varied from 140 to 150 and rising. The Taliban spokesman, Zabibullah Mujahid, said the assailants were led by four Afghan soldiers who had been working for the Taliban (Hindu April 23).
BJP sweep Delhi polls
The BJP swept the Delhi State elections in a landslide leaving the Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Admi party bewitched, bothered and bewildered. Congress, too, fared badly. The BJP triumph was attributed by the media to the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Indian Express, Times of India, Hindu April 27).
Top bureaucrats for Akbar’s Israel visit
Six top departmental secretaries are to accompany Minister of State at the External Affairs Ministry, M.J.Akbar, to Israel to prepare the ground for the historic visit of Narendra Modi, the first by an Indian prime minister, in early July.
They are: Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Agriculture Secretary S.K. Pattanayak, Water Secretary Amerjeet Singh, Parameshwar Iyer, Secretary Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ramesh Ahbhishek, Secretary Defence Production, A.K. Gupta, Secretary Science, and Technology Secretary Ashutosh Sharma.
While defence is the bedrock of the Indo-Israeli relationship, agriculture is a leading second, with deep involvement of Israeli experts in the sector, and in water-related issues such as water harvesting and desalination. Science and technology underwrite the paradigm (Times of India May 3).
India pact with Eurasia group
India is set to formalize a free trade agreement with the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, clearing the deck for negotiations on deepening trade with four former Soviet republics that include Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, plus Russia. The trade agreement is expected to open up new markets for India. ‘The FTA with the Eurasian countries was dictated by by India’s need to diversify into new markets. We have targeted trade of $ 30 billion with the five countries by 2025 and $15 billion annual investments,’ said Sunil Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to St Petersburg on June 1 for the Economic summit will be the backcloth for crucial talks with Russian President, Vladimir Putin (Hindu April 29).
Infosys to hire10,000 Americans
India’s second-largest software company, Infosys, announced plans to hire 10,000 American staff over the next two years. As part of the initiative, Infosys will open four technology and innovative hubs across the country. The company said these hubs would focus on cutting edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and big data. These centres would also serve clients in key sectors, financial services, manufacturing, healthcare and energy (Hindu May 3).
Supreme Court rejects Hindi language petition
The Supreme court of India rejected the petition of a BJP activist that the Hindi language be made a compulsory subject in schools across India. Hindi is mandatory in Classes 1 to 9 in Central Board Secondary Education, but President Pranab Mukherjee refused to make it mandatory in education institutions in the country’s non-Hindi speaking belt. (Telegraph May 5).
