Cricket, injustice and POTA look-alikes

Many Indians are aghast! And rightly so, because an Indian cricketer (Harbhajan Singh) who was accused of making a supposedly racial remark against an Australian cricketer (Andrew Symonds), was declared guilty by ICC Match Referee Mike Proctor, without any corroborative evidence. The accusers were the Australian team (captain Ricky Pointing and co.) and the witnesses were also from the Australian team (Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke). The match umpires testified that they had heard nothing. Sachin Tendulkar who was also on the pitch, testified that he had heard nothing. Yet, on the suspicion of having uttered a racial remark, and backed by the witnesses of the accuser’s mates, Harbhajan Singh was banned. [How did the word of some witnesses prevail over the other? Was it the colour of their skin? Well, that's a point for another debate.]

The point I am making is that while newspapers and news channels and Indian citizen groups (in the country as well as outside) are crying themselves hoarse over this alleged unfairness, similar instances are happening in our own backyard. In the guise of fighting terrorism, laws are being promulgated where people can be apprehended and kept in jail on mere suspicion. Even though the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was repealed by the Dr. Manmohan Singh government in 2004, many states still have draconian laws to deal with “terrorism”. I recently attended a court hearing of a person charged under such a law.

If the case was not serious, one could laugh away the charges being levelled against him as a cruel joke. But unfortunately they were for real. I got to witness the power of the state on that day and how anybody who dared to raise a voice against the powerful interests could be put away behind bars, without even as much as a shred of evidence. I saw the State using uniformed guards to make a mockery of public opinion and create an atmosphere of suspicion by projecting its citizens as dreaded terrorists. I saw how cruelly precious human lives were being held hostage to vested interests.

Where is the public outcry and media outrage at these events? Websites are not clogged with bloggers using their free speech to express anguish. In fact, most of us don’t even know that these things are happening. Such harsh incidents hardly make it to the newspapers and other news media. Even if they do, they are tucked away in the deepest, most invisible news spaces. After all, who wants to bust the booming, zooming India story with such unexciting news?

I was wondering about why a State would want to make such draconian laws against its own citizens. The answer is not far to seek. Recent events such as acquisitions of large tracts of fertile land in the country for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) by corporates, in the name of industrial development and economic growth have dispossessed (and will continue to dispossess) thousands and millions of Indians from their only source of livelihood. Unemployment and hunger will cause great unrest among the people, and they will turn against the State and against the powerful interests which exploited them. How can this be contained? How can this be quelled? That is where draconian laws come into the picture. This political economy understanding has been around for long. Yet, we fail to see the impending danger.

So, let me call upon my fellow-Indians who are protesting against the Harbhajan Singh (Bhajji) episode, to take some time after the Bhajji storm is passed, to look into our own backyard. We will see much more injustices and blatant violations of natural justice.

Let us also stand up together and voice our opposition on these fronts. That could make a difference between life and death for people who are being victimised under these laws.

Here’s wishing all of you a more just and equitable 2008!