IGP Kalluri, the man alleged to have committed untold
atrocities on clueless tribal people in Bastar, and the scores of human rights
activists who have tried to intervene time and again in order to demand at
least a semblance of justice for these innocent people, (who have been
mercilessly mass-murdered, raped, beaten ruthlessly, maimed etc.) has been very
graciously asked by the government to proceed on ‘medical leave’. This, after
the activist Bela Bhatia was openly threatened and forced to leave Bastar, and
the NHRC took notice and put the government and IGP Kalluri in the dock. This
is not the only incident though, where the man has been accused of hounding
human rights activists. In the recent past, there have been a series of
incidents where any human right activist who has tried to stand up for the
people of Bastar, has been either abused and hounded out of the state, and in
some cases, even slapped with a murder case, by the State actors themselves, under
the able leadership of IGP Kalluri.
It is pertinent to understand here that any action or
inaction by the police force under Kalluri’s leadership has to be read as the
action and inaction of the State as well. The declared agenda of Kalluri
against the tribal population of Bastar, and any human rights activists trying
to represent the concerns of that tribal population, could not have been
practiced so blatantly without the implicit and tacit support of the State. It
is in fact the best indicator of the State policy. Keeping in line with this
very policy, Kalluri has been asked to proceed on leave. There has been no
requirement felt by the State to suspend the man and at the least institute an
enquiry against him. Instead, he has been rewarded with a gracious period of
long leave, on medical grounds (where none existed), after which he can be
quietly asked to re-join service at some other place and the horrific crimes
committed by him during his tenure at Bastar, can be easily forgotten about.
In all this hogwash, where should one look even for a ray of
hope for justice, even if delayed, for the innocent tribal population that has
faced wrath at the hands of the State itself, the State which is
constitutionally and legally bound to protect them? How will justice be
delivered to those who dared and keep daring to stand up to this State
repression, incidentally forced to step in because the State chooses not to do
its job? This whole ‘proceed on leave’ drama is just another wily step by the State
to wriggle out of the mess it has created for itself.
The big question, however, still remains unanswered. The
Constitution and the legal-justice system emanating out of it has divided the
State into three organs, the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. The
Legislature is responsible for passing laws and ensuring their compliance. The
Executive is responsible for implementing these laws and maintaining law and
order in the State. It is responsible and answerable to the Legislature. The
Judiciary is responsible for administering justice to the common man when their
rights are trampled upon by the State or the non-state actors. All these three
organs are collectively responsible to the Constitution, and finally to the
people of the nation, as it is “We, the people” who have given ourselves this
Constitution. Now, if this very State and the humungous system created (at
least theoretically) by the people and for the people, turns against those very
people, to whom should the people turn to? Why is it that justice should have
to be demanded and struggled for and snatched from the system, by few
individuals and groups who care? Human rights, as the term itself indicates,
are rights that every human being has, just by virtue of being a human. Why is
it then that there is a need for a special category of people called the
‘’human rights activists”, fighting incessantly (against the State itself) for
these basic minimum human rights to be guaranteed to the people?
The proceeding on leave by Kalluri may be a brief respite
for the harassed people of Bastar, however, in effect it is only a tactical
move by the State, a move out of compulsion. The State should not be allowed to
get away with trying to mask a necessity as a virtue.
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