Author:
Publication: Barbarindians.tumblr.com
Date: September 1, 2012
URL: http://barbarindians.tumblr.com/post/30636954839/why-the-post-verdict-discourse-is-leaving-me-cold

The conviction of BJP MLA Maya Kodnani and Bajrang Dal operative Babu Bajrangi,  along with 29 others in the Naroda Patiya massacre case was a groundbreaking achievement for India’s justice system. But what should have been welcomed with open arms as a final healing touch is becoming a rallying point for opening old wounds and pushing vested interests with increased fervor.

Consider this response by Ashish Khetan, the Tehelka journalist who carried out the famous sting operation, to Mid-day, shortly after the sting made major headlines and was playing in loop on TV channels:

Meanwhile, I had piled up lots of contacts in the Sangh Parivar who put me in touch with Dhimant Bhatt, a chief accountant of MS University, also a BJP party worker. About 20 minutes down the conversation, when he was convinced that I was on their side, he confessed his involvement in killing some Muslim leaders. He gave graphic details of killing a Muslim colleague Professor Bandukwala, a bureaucrat named Peerzada and another officer whose name he didnt mention.

Here is the problem, Prof. J S Bandukwala wasn’t killed in the riots. A month after this interview was published, he received an award from none other than Mrs. Sonia Gandhi:

Presenting the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration to J S Bandukwala and Ram Puniyani here, she said, “If we don’t fight against anti-social elements, our secular democracy would be in peril.”

As a journalist, Mr. Khetan should have immediately realized the pitfalls of a ‘sting’ operation and its limited utility in criminal cases like this. He should have realized that people are often given to self-aggrandizement in front of a sympathetic audience.  He should have known that for this reason among others, without corroborating evidence sting ops are unlikely to lead to conviction.

Yet, Tehelka and a section of civil society launched a massive tirade about how their sting was being ignored and how it was incontrovertible evidence of their version of events.  Shoma Chaudhury of Tehelka would make frequent TV appearances and claim that the biased Indian courts were not accepting the sting tapes.

Not so! Not only were the sting tapes examined by SIT, but introduced as evidence in the courts. Ashish Khetan deposed before it.

Here is Ashish Khetan in his post-verdict op/ed:

"But," I insisted, "sir, one can’t tamper with a spy camera. And since it is my spy camera footage that is in question, this is not a question I can reply with just a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ without giving a clarification."

At this, Joshi flew off the handle. He said I should not treat the court as if it was a ‘janpanchayat’: “Tum journalist is court ke bahar hoge, yahan nahi. Yaha seedha-seedha jawab do. Defence ke question ko vague kaise kah sakte ho tum. Yeh koi tamasha nahi, court hai.” For over five minutes, he kept screaming at me and even made many unwarranted personal remarks.

Perhaps Ashish Khetan believes his op/eds should have been accepted in evidence, but this is not how justice system works. Litigation procedures are strictly regimented, evolved over centuries of experience and work by wise men with legal acumen.

Even after a verdict ostensibly in line with his expectation, Khetan goes on with a contemptuous tirade against the courts.  What did he expect? A Tehelka organized lit fest in Goa where the audience would get mesmerized with his speech and then lead the convicts directly to the gallows?  Did he expect the court to invite Shoma Chaudhury to go off on one of her epic rants on the stand while the judge vigorously nodded his head?

Funny thing is, when the other shoe drops, the same journalists conjure up all sorts of miscarriage of justice. Even today they do not accept Afzal Guru’s sentencing and continue to spin conspiracy theories about the Batla house encounter case. As of this writing, the big news breaking is the arrest of 11 terror operatives in Bangalore (with subsequent arrests in Nanded and Hyderabad), including a journalist and a DRDO scientist. Here is what a journalist Samar Halarnkar tweeted about this case:

Samar Halarnkar
@samar11
Follow

If charges true, arrest of 11 Muslims, mostly professionals, indicates continuing radicalisation of fringes. Let's see if cases hold
10:53 AM - 31 Aug 2012
----------------------------

The Hindu published a cringe inducing piece on the arrest, characterizing the targets of the arrested men as being “known for their virulent anti-minority columns”, only to publish an apology of sorts later.

Activist Teesta Setalvad’s antics which earned her a censure from the courts is a topic for another post, but it just constitutes another piece in a mounting body of evidence that it is not justice these people are seeking, their agenda is far more expansive.

* * *

The Gujarat riot was most viciously exploited by India’s secular intellectuals and media.  Here is Arundhati Roy with her magical realism, shortly after the riots:

A mob surrounded the house of former Congress MP Iqbal Ehsan Jaffri. His phone calls to the Director-General of Police, the Police Commissioner, the Chief Secretary, the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) were ignored. The mobile police vans around his house did not intervene. The mob broke into the house. They stripped his daughters and burned them alive. Then they beheaded Ehsan Jaffri and dismembered him. Of course it’s only a coincidence that Jaffri was a trenchant critic of Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, during his campaign for the Rajkot Assembly by-election in February.

Slight problem, Jaffri’s daughters were not even around at the time. Roy would later issue an apology to the Jaffri family.

The TV channels and newspapers continued to display and publish graphic details of extreme violence and gore, suitably embellished with Bollywood touches. Actually, at least two channels carried programs in which Bollywood movie footage was used to depict the violence.

Yet, many of these people supported the recent ban on websites and what seems to be random Hindu twitter accounts lest rough images reach the innocent. The funny part is, the ones running amok across cities, destroying public property and beating up people were not even Hindus!

* * *

After the verdict, the Tehelka handle on twitter posted thousands of links. They have declared a victory of sorts, as though all of their magnum opus stands vindicated by the court verdict. This is decidedly and demonstrably false and they give themselves too much credit. The verdict simply proves the court accepted that those 31 criminals were culpable for heinous crimes, nothing more and nothing less. It does not elevate any of Tehelka’s opinions on the gargantuan scams by Congress party, neither does it vindicate Tehelka’s various environmental and tribal agendas. 

Taking advantage of positive swing of public opinion for their work, Tehelka continues to pretend they are some sort of poor, persecuted activists fighting against massive forces. The reality is anything but. These guys are loaded, and I mean LOADED. Their war chest is enormous.  While they continue to deny their relationship with the Congress party, it is obvious to anyone with even a sliver of thinking capacity and a little bit of google skills. Congress has been in power since 2004. Tehelka has often “accessed” documents from various Government bodies.