The petioners' statement on Supreme Court order dated 5.7.11 on Salwa Judum/SPOs by justice Sudershan Reddy and Justice SS Nijjar
We warmly welcome the order by Justice Reddy and Justice Nijjar directing the State of Chhattisgarh to stop using Special Police Officers (SPOs) in counterinsurgency operations, disarm them and stop supporting vigilante movements by any name. We also welcome the order to the Centre directing it to cease from financially supporting SPOs to engage in counterinsurgency.
Judging from the personal reactions we have had – from a very wide variety of people many of whom we do not even know – the order has been widely hailed as a landmark restatement of constitutional values. If the state is to be recognised as legitimate it must act lawfully and cannot sacrifice the law and Constitution for immediate expediency. As the judges have so succinctly observed "the power of the people vested in any organ of the State, and its agents, can only be used for promotion of constitutional values and vision." However, judging by the reaction of the Home Ministry and the Chhattisgarh government, this basic constitutional principle is being willfully ignored. This simply reinforces the point that the judgement makes about the way in which the respondents are undermining the Constitution and thereby the basic human values enshrined in it. Instead of accepting the Court order for the sake of good governance and the national interest, they are talking about a review petition.
Right from 2007 when the case was first heard before the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land has consistently maintained that the state cannot arm civilians. This, it is clear from the record, has been the considered opinion of not simply Justices Reddy and Nijjar, who issued the present order, but of the judges at previous hearings, such as Justice Balakrishnan, Justice Kapadia, and Justice Aftab Alam.
That the SPOs and Salwa Judum have been engaged in horrific crimes is a matter of record. The judgement therefore directs the State of Chhattisgarh to "investigate all previously inappropriately or incompletely investigated instances of alleged criminal activities of Salwa Judum, or those popularly known as Koya Commandos, filing of appropriate FIRs and diligent prosecution."
At the same time, the judgement is as much a lesson for the Maoists as for the government. It makes it clear that the Maoists too cannot take the law into their own lands. For when the Constitution does swing into action, it has the power of people's aspirations behind it, and is a far more powerful and credible weapon in their hands than the gun.As the judges say, "the fight against Maoist/Naxalite violence cannot be conducted purely as a mere law and order problem to be confronted by whatever means the State can muster. The primordial problem lies deep within the socio-economic policies pursued by the State on a society that was already endemically, and horrifically, suffering from gross inequalities. Consequently, the fight against Maoists/Naxalites is no less a fight for moral, constitutional and legal authority over the minds and hearts of our people. Our constitution provides the gridlines within which the State is to act, both to assert such authority, and also to initiate, nurture and sustain such authority."
We therefore appeal to the Maoists to join all right thinking citizens in hailing this historic judgement and to desist from harming SPOs, or any other group of citizens in any way. They should be allowed to peacefully reintegrate into their villages. We also appeal to both the Maoists and the government to initiate peace talks on the basis of justice and constitutional principles, since ultimately that is the only way forward.
Nandini Sundar
Ramachandra Guha
EAS Sarma
(Petitioners in WP 250/2007)
AUTHORS: NANDINI SUNDAR | RAMACHANDRA GUHA | SRIRAM SRINIVASAN | E.A.S. SARMA
TAGS: MAOISTS/NAXALS | HOME MINISTRY | SUPREME COURT | SALWA JUDUM
SECTION: NATIONAL
SUBSECTION: OPINION
PLACES: CHHATTISGARH
Translate JUL 10, 2011 06:36 PM 1 | Sundar, Guha and Sarma Could you please investigate the following news and take action as appropriate if this is a case of mistaken identity ?
The source is: Thank you. |
JUL 10, 2011 10:04 PM 2 | " stop supporting vigilante movements by any name." I am in complete agreement with this petition. |
JUL 11, 2011 12:12 PM 3 | People like Ramachandra Guha are more interested in getting some international award than sympathise with the ground reality,where innocent people lose their kith and kin by mindless killing by Maoists/Naxals.It is all easy to write such flowery articles sitting in air conditioned luxury.They are neither patriotic nor pragmatic like a K.P.S.Gill who initiated this Salwa Judum operation.Are not the people of Punjab leading a peaceful life today? |
JUL 11, 2011 03:17 PM 4 | The Supreme court judgement is to be honoured, but, at the same time we must seriously look at the state of affairs in Chhattisgadh. The Maoist from Andhra Pradesh had used it as a breeding and safe stay, unlike other parts of the country, Chhattisgadh is highly inaccessible and predominantly tribal belt. Over 30 years starting 1979,Maoist have been using inaccessible tribal region across Godavari river as safe haven. The successive govts had been ignoring the symptoms for too long...especially govt headed by Digvijay Singh of united Madhya Pradesh......only in the last 10 years since formation of Chhattisgadh the trouble started, all the while Maoist had unhindered growth,the modus operandi was never to carryout violent activity in that region and use it as a safe haven. Politicians afraid of Maoists used them to seek power. The situation changed drastically once the Andhra police started eliminating Maoist in cold encounter by painstaking tracking them , this could not have happened without peoples support, who were fed up of feeding them for too long, mind you it took 35 to 40 years for Andhra police to nearly eliminate these pests! The remaining Maoist cadre as a challenge to the Indian nation has raised its hood in hitherto incubation spaces in Chhattisgadh, Jharkhand, parts of WB, etc. Its all out war in Chhattisgadh...still politicians are covering up the Maoist menace in Jharkhand......for how long will they continue to ignore the problem god only knows...........! The Koya commandos & Salwa judum were used to curb the Maoists successfully......and people like Ramachandra Guha a self styled historian having political agenda have managed to get a verdict in their favour........obviously any court will not encourage the same methods as used by Maoists......but the reality is, the CRPF is untrained to fight guerrilla war, similarly, the environment is alien to them..... Remember, Punjab was saved using strong arm tactics, similarly, Maoist menace was controlled using same tactics in Andhra............why the hell are these people opposing Salva judum? don't they want peace? is peace possible without eliminating Maoist pests? are these petitioners working as over ground cadre of Maoist party ? I would be happy if a divisional bench takes a call on this national problem!
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JUL 11, 2011 04:59 PM 5 | Well written and timely petition. The price of defending rights is to constantly watch when those with power step on the toes of those without it, under various pretexts. Especially if the bully is the state. This should reign in the likes of Raman Singh who have piled up mountains of absurdities on the citizens (imagine arresting doctors on charges of treason! ), in the name of fighting the maoists. |
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