The political utility of convicted rapists and murderers

Indian public life has been debased: If an individual has political utility in influencing followers to cast their ballots in a particular way, never mind murder and rape

There are panchayat polls and a high-stakes bypoll in Adampur, Haryana, on November 3, that will apparently influence future political signalling in the state. It is reportedly linked to this electoral event that the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, serving a prison sentence in Haryana's Sunaria jail, has been granted parole for 40 days. According to newspaper reports, the Dera chief, with lakhs of followers, who had created mayhem at the time of his arrest, had earlier come out of prison on month-long parole in June and for three weeks in February. He's a very special convict.

He is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two women disciples at his ashram in Sirsa, where the Dera is headquartered. He was also convicted along with four others for hatching a conspiracy to kill a Dera manager and, in 2019, along with three others, was convicted for the murder of a journalist more than 16 years ago.

But no matter. Indian public life has been debased to the extent that if an individual has political utility in influencing followers to cast their ballots in a particular way, never mind murder and rape. The Haryana jail minister, meanwhile, said the 40-day parole was granted by the Rohtak Divisional Commissioner on the recommendation of officials concerned.

Read | Was numb for two days, says Bilkis Bano on release of rapists

Gujarat also has a high stakes election later this year. And therefore in end August, 11 men convicted in the gang-rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of several members of her family, also walked free. The Gujarat government released the 11 convicts under its remission and premature release policy after one of the convicts moved the Supreme Court. Replying to a legal challenge to this release in the Supreme Court, the Gujarat government revealed that the release of 11 convicts was cleared by the Home Ministry of India even though the CBI and courts had opposed it. Again, these were men convicted for heinous crimes such as rape and murder, including that of a child.

Yet in their release, too, there is apparently some perverse form of 'virtue signalling'. The released men were feted and garlanded on their release, and traditional analysis from Gujarat says it's part of the symbols and rituals of Hindu supremacy invoked since the 2002 bloodbath. There are apparently political gains to be made by freeing such convicts. It is also believed that the public thrashing of Muslim males who were tied to a pole during the recent festivities also 'consolidates' a certain sentiment as people apparently revel in violence against certain sections of society.

Political parties have long had use for traditional criminals as muscle. Likewise, criminals would gravitate towards political parties for protection. But there is a subtle difference in what is unfolding now, with perpetrators of the most chilling crimes getting a free pass. Worse, they are seen by some as symbols of some kind of religious-political assertion. Under the current regime, what is noteworthy is that these criminals have access not just to the levers of the state machinery but have also, in some instances, been consecrated as 'patriots' and defenders of the faith. Remember the 2018 spectacle of then Union minister of state Jayant Sinha meeting eight men convicted in the Ramgarh lynching case in Jharkhand when they were released on bail. The minister went on to garland the men who had been held guilty by a lower court of lynching to death a man named Alimuddin Ansari in Jharkhand's Ramgarh.

It's not just minorities that should worry about the India that is emerging. All Indians should ponder the hate being promoted in the land that attained independence mostly through non-violent protest. The British could be cast off, but we have allowed the demons within us to be nourished and fattened. A society that commits violence against one section also does so against others, and we have horrific accounts of terrible crimes against Dalits and Adivasis that continue with troubling frequency.

Also Read | Cruel tales of real India

All Indians should worry about enabling so much violence. Lore and historical accounts describe the Thuggees of India as murderers and looters that would also pass off as respectable members of society simply through their claim to be worshippers of the goddess Bhawani. The English word Thug is drawn from the infamous Thuggee.

The worrying consequence of men who commit great violence being feted by society is not just for the victims of their crimes. It is ultimately also about the brutalisation of those who condone such acts. Modern democracies are meant to work towards attaining enlightened ideals and values of universal brotherhood, liberty, equality and fraternity. Our society should not be regressing to public floggings, lynching, hate assemblies and calls for community boycotts, as was recently done in Delhi by a BJP MP.

Simultaneously, as the nation-state is being recast away from the values of the Indian Constitution, the judiciary has become the last resort for Indian citizens hoping to get the state machinery to do its constitutional duties. Despite the record of the judiciary itself being patchy in terms of upholding the rule of law, it still enjoys greater credibility than other institutions.

Occasionally, we get extraordinary judgements that are an act of enlightenment in a dark age (such as Justice D Y Chandrachud's recent judgement on abortion rights). But when the judiciary becomes the only institution that people turn to for a modicum of justice in an age when violence in words and deeds is not abhorred, and institutions and individuals backed by the state actually commit the acts, it also implies that our democracy is perilously placed.

(Saba Naqvi is a journalist and author)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.