“Democracy comes naturally to him who is habituated normally to yield willing obedience to all laws, human or divine.” – Mahatma Gandhi
The Capital of India burned by the sparks of hate between the Pro-CAA and Anti-CAA supporters, witnessed large scale damage of public property and death of people. The recent deaths, which reached 40, including an on-duty policeman and the murder of an intelligence bureau officer, reflect the law and order situation in the capital. The statements of those holding constitutional and responsible positions, that all measures had been taken to avoid the massive mob-violence through the proper mechanism, seems like a fabricated story to overshadow the reality of the violence and its impact on the citizens of India. The recent drastic increase in targeting public places, arson and death of people by riot-ready mob uncovers that neither was the police capable of controlling the masses nor did it have the proper mechanism to curb the violent activities.
The Story So Far In Delhi-NCT
The story of dilemma in Delhi begins with the Shaheen Bagh protest, where Muslim women have been protesting against CAA and NRC doubting on the intention of the act, that it will peril their citizenship. The protest at Shaheen Bagh is totally peaceful and constitutional. The protesters there are giving the message to the world how in a democratic setup, using non-violence as a tool, one can challenge the laws which are inconsistent with caste, religion or to the whole mankind. The protesters there, especially women, old and young staying put peacefully, braving Delhi’s winter, refusing to get provoked by threats and temptations.
The protest is the epitome of taking non-violent steps to raise one’s voice against any law which is against the secular nature of the country. The Supreme Court had also appointed interlocutors to go at the protest site and try to understand the problem of the protesters. It is only after the interlocutor’s request that the administration had opened the way to Shaheen Bagh which was blocked since the protest.
The Commencement Of Chaos
The recent violent scenario in North-East Delhi depicts that some external agents (political and religious) whosoever they were, didn’t like the legitimate protest at the Shaheen Bagh and tried to de-legitimise it by taking violent measures. In one part of N-E Delhi, the anti-CAA protesters were protesting through non-violent means, on the other part of the area, a gathering of pro-CAA protesters was instigated. An inflammatory statement by a politician had converted the gathering into rioters who clashed with the anti-CAA protesters resulting in a communal clash between the two groups, resulting in the death of approximately 40 people and damaging of public and private property. Now a question may arise here – how did a non-violent, legitimate protest at Shaheen Bagh change its shape into a violent attack of masses making NCT a high violence-prone zone?
The Police In Its Own Handcuffs
The failure of the police to control the communal riot which had turned N-E Delhi into a burning ball of fire reflects the loopholes in the Indian police machinery. It shows that police lack tools and techniques to foresee violent activities in an area and to control it before it slips from the hands, the Delhi violence had brought not only the Delhi police but also the Indian police capabilities into the limelight.
It may not be the correct time to criticise the policemen but the police functioning and ineffective decisions taken by the higher officials are time and again, a subject to be questioned. The videos circulated on the social media portrayed that the police made the people succumb to death and force them to chant “Jan Gan Man” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” in place of hospitalising them, shows the lack of training skills in the police personnel. The shoot-at-sight order given by the superintendent of police of affected areas also reflects the graveness of the situation in Delhi. Giving these type of orders without taking proper care can be misused especially in these situations, and must not be allowed in the civilised democracy without any checks and balances.
The incident had shown that Delhi police fell flat in saving its credibility and its men. The motto “Shanti, Seva, Nyaya” is in peril because the cops had been unable to maintain peace (Shanti), giving service to citizens (Seva), and delivering justice (Nyaya). It can be asserted that if the police had given the full authority to act in its own style, without any political influence then the violence might have been avoided. Machinery which controls the police system must be questioned. Why the police had been unable to control the mob even when they had known the situation? Was there someone who had restrained them from doing their duty? Is the police system still lacking proper training and mechanism to avoid mob violence? If the answer is in affirmative, then it will be easy to find the perpetrators of the violence.
Riot-Ready Mob
In order to understand Delhi violence more precisely, let us first know the difference between protesters and rioters regarding CAA. Protesters are those who are protesting against or in favour of CAA through constitutional and non-violent means contrary to rioters, who are politically or ethno-religiously motivated to use violent means either to go against CAA or support it. The mob which was responsible for bleeding the capital consist of rioters rather than protesters. The rioters were both Anti-CAA and Pro- CAA. Both camps were instigated to act violently in order to make each other more influential over the other. It is beyond one’s power to understand why these people want to legitimise or delegitimise a law through unlawful means. At this point, there is also the failure of the government to provide any effective and active channel of communication between them and the protesters.
Politics Beyond Understanding
Violence cannot happen without the influence of politics. The inflammatory statement of some political leaders has been the main cause of violence. They have instigated the mob by their unconstitutional, immoral, and derogatory statements. Yet, no FIR has been registered against them, reflecting how the government failed to take any action against the perpetrators. The government had also ignored the guidelines of Hon’ble Supreme Court in Lalita Kumari v. Government of U.P and others in which the SC had observed that “registration of FIR is mandatory under section-154 of the CrPC, if the information discloses commission of a cognizable offence and no preliminary inquiry is permissible in such a situation.”
The government went one step further and transferred Justice S. Murlidhar of Delhi High Court, who rebuked the Delhi police for failing to lodge FIR’S against the leaders of BJP for inflammatory speech. Normally judges are given a ten-day notification in a transfer but it had issued immediately after his statement against political leaders, showing the vindictive and mala-fide intention of the government.
It can be argued that if the government had taken rigorous steps against the political leaders such an incident might have been avoided. Even no minister had visited the affected areas and consoled the people who were traumatized by the riot. In NE Delhi, the situation presently is under control but it may have been avoided completely. Delhi High Court had even compared the Delhi violence with the Anti-Sikh Riot of 1984 and warned that it might have converted into the same situation if some more time had passed without taking effective measures.
The blame game of politics had made the parties unaccountable to the general public, they must realise their accountability and face the music. Now the question stands who is accountable for fearmonger, bloodshed and arson in the capital city of India.
Back To Normalcy
The NCT is reinvigorating back to its normalcy, after the deployment of 34 PAC companies. The markets are opened and people are on the streets for their day to day business. But the communal clash had highlighted India at the international platform and gives a chance to the international organisation to criticise it. The organisation of Islamic countries had condemned the violence and alleged discrimination against Muslims. The USCIRF’S annual report on Indian Minorities says, “the NRC is a tool to target religious minorities and, in particular to render Indian Muslims stateless.”
The statements made by international organisations and reports were rebuked by India as factually incorrect and misleading. The life of the people of Delhi will return to its normalcy but the question will still stand in the years to come who is responsible for the communal riots which resulted in the death of 40 people and damage to public and personal property. The time will absolutely give the answer to the question but what we can expect from the justice system is that it should drag the perpetrators and punish them so that the credibility of law and justice be restored in the heart of the Indian citizens. Till the time, it is on the people of India to find the responsible face behind the communal-conflict.