Hashimpura

Searching for survivors among the blood-soaked bodies strewn around the canal and between the ravines near Makanpur village, on the Delhi–Ghaziabad border, on the night of 22 May 1987, with just a dim torchlight—the memories are still fresh in Vibhuti Narain Rai’s mind. On that fateful night, when Rai first heard about the killing, he could not believe the news was true until he, along with the district magistrate and a few other officials, went to Hindon canal. He quickly realized that all of them had become witnesses to secular India’s most shameful and horrendous incident—personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) had rounded up dozens of Muslims from riot-torn Meerut and had killed them in cold blood in Rai’s area of jurisdiction. Offering a blow-by-blow account of the massacre and its aftermath, Hashimpura is a screaming narrative of the barbaric use of state force and the spineless politics in post-Independent India.

The wheels of justice turn slowly. This increases the costs of accessing justice in addition to hampering people’s ability to access justice from the courts. India is one of the countries whose inefficient justice systems are legendary. Most cases lag for years and in so doing delaying people justice. A significant number of all the cases filed in Indian courts remain unresolved for at least five years – the number has become increasingly alarming over the years. Some cases may take as much as 20 years to resolve. During this period, the people who required justice are deprived of it. In some instances, the accused persons died before the cases are resolved. Examples of cases that have taken an extremely long time to resolve include the Bhopal Disaster, Aarushi Murder Case, Pallavi Purkayastha Murder Case, Jayalalita DA Case, Hashimpura Massacre, Raja Radhakrishna Deb Land Case, Aadhaar Scheme, 1992 Babri Masjid Demolition, Uphaar Cinema Fire Case, and 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots Case. These cases highlight some of the reasons as to why the Indian judicial system is highly inefficient. They also highlight the untold suffering that the delay of justice causes certain people while propagating the culture of impunity in the Indian society where the powerful and well-connected can get away with anything at the expense of the weak and vulnerable. Generally, the factors lead to the delay of justice in the Indian judiciary include inadequate staff, lack of enough fast track courts, corruption, archaic laws, lack of technology, lack of public education, lack of adequate integration of technology in the judicial system, inadequate Lok Adalat courts, poor staff training and management, and the court appellate structure and management. These factors increase the duration of lawsuits and reduce the access of justice to common Indians. They also increase the cost of access to justice. This book addresses these issues in relation to the Indian judiciary system and proposes measures that may be taken to tackle these challenges.

This book spans 70 years of the dark history of Anti-Muslim violence in India that have caused over tens of thousands of deaths and refugees. Violence against Muslims in India is frequently in the form of violent attacks on Muslims by Hindus. These attacks are referred to as communal riots in India between the majority Hindus and minority Muslims, and have been connected to a rise in Islamophobia.

The rioting in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, in 1961 was a watershed event for India. After the Partition, it was the first time such large-scale communal violence had taken place. The author, Prateep K. Lahiri, on his first posting, was involved in bringing the situation under control. Some time later in 1969, as district magistrate of Indore, Lahiri played a key role in dealing with the outbreak of communal violence in that city. While the violence in both instances appeared to have been spontaneously provoked by an incident - just like in Gujarat in 2002 - the reasons that later emerged for the rioting revealed the deeper malaise that continues to affect our social system. Decoding Intolerance: Riots and the Emergence of Terrorism in India is a significant book by an administrator, who has observed the minutiae of the crisis from close quarters and scrutinized the role of the police and the state administration. The author synthesizes various dimensions of the issue, including the changing perceptions of Indian Muslims in the recent past, the history of religious fundamentalism and how it manifests as communal unrest, both in India and elsewhere. The phenomenon of terrorism, which has reared its ugly head over India and the world, is also touched upon to understand the implications it has had on the shifting political scenario. Decoding Intolerance critically analyzes the recurrence of communal violence and offers a persuasive argument about the problem, with a focus on its prevention in the future.

A piercing portrait of the injustices of the Indian prison system. For decades, the narratives around prisoners in India have perpetuated arbitrary notions of the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ citizen. Stories about Indian prisons rarely make it to public notice – from deplorable living conditions, lack of medical care and legal support to intense mistreatment, violence and all manner of horrific abuse. Despite the mounting evidence, any attempts to study the systemic frailties and chilling injustices that abound within a prison complex have been few and far between. In Hope Behind Bars, editors Sanjoy Hazarika and Madhurima Dhanuka draw upon extensive research, identifying prisoners and ex-prisoners, their families and associates and gathering first-person experiences about the Indian prison system. With ten essays contributed by subject specialists, including a former Supreme Court judge, lawyers, inmates, prison officials and activists, on a range of issues, such as the rights of prisoners, the journey to justice in the controversial Hashimpura killings case and life in a detention centre, this essential collection brings prisoners’ lives and liberties to the heart of public debate and policies, presenting accounts of how hope can flower in the most unlikely places. Searing and thought-provoking, it provides the reader with valuable insight into the vexed idea of incarceration and delivers a necessary human document of the true face of justice behind bars in our country

This book presents a new and representative outlook of Indian polity, society, culture, Islamic terrorism, human rights, women s right vis-a-vis Muslim clergy, Islamic conversions in India, and communal riots. Author is quite liberal in giving expression to his view on issues related to Islam and Muslims.