Judiciary on Manipur
A civilised person’s heart should bleed after reading the report on the horrific statements made by the two women survivors in Manipur (Inside pages, “As mob approached, policemen refused to help: gang-rape survivor”, August 1). The strong strictures passed by the Supreme Court of India against the law and order machinery in the State and the Court’s summoning of the State Director General of Police only highlight the volatile situation. Any reply made in Parliament ought to be comprehensive, covering the entire gamut of the ethnic clashes, the reasons, the failure of governance in the State and the various measures to bring an end to the violence. It should also list the steps that will be taken to restore trust in the traumatised State.
V. Johan Dhanakumar,
Chennai
“There is no key.” This reply by a policeman sitting in a police jeep to one of the survivors who begged him to save her from a mob is chilling. In Manipur, there is no key to the prison of apathy in which the State government has barricaded itself. And the Centre’s spare key to maintaining law and order is not being rushed there any time soon. It is no wonder that the Court has expressed ‘surprise at finding both Centre and the State groping in the dark for facts about crimes which are public knowledge’. Maybe a master key is being hammered out in the nation’s conscience and the facts about the breakdown of the 6,000 first information reports will be released.
Vasantha Surya,
Bengaluru
The report was chilling. It is one more piece of evidence that men can turn beasts when emotions arising out of basic instincts rule. When the state and its apparatus fail to protect its own citizens, the outcomes are horrific. The intervention by the Supreme Court seems to be the only ray of hope.
Byju V.,
Thiruvananthapuram
The observations made by the top court are forthright and highlight the graveness of the situation in the State. However, nothing much can be done as long as the governments, at the Centre and State, remain indifferent. The Manipur problem requires a political solution which will emerge only if the ruling dispensation at the national level sheds its partisan approach and puts the country’s interests above narrow political gains.
Manohar Alembath,
Kannur, Kerala
It is clear from the strong reactions coming in from the Supreme Court that the executive failed in its duty to protect life and property in Manipur. The stony silence at the top political level and the politicisation of ethnic clashes by drawing a parallel between Manipur and unrest in Opposition-ruled States have only set the cat among the pigeons. Ironically, the top leader received the Lokmanya Tilak National Award, given to those “who have worked for the progress and development of the nation....” It was Mark Twain who said: “It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.”
Avinash Godboley,
Dewas, Madhya Pradesh
Stop this loss
The picture of earthmovers “clearing” lush and fertile green fields in Mel Valayamadevi village in Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu was painful (Tamil Nadu, August 1).
Whatever be the government or the judiciary’s stand, the search for minerals should be stopped at once. The loss of nature’s bounty and a productive mother earth will hurt us for generations. I hope better sense prevails.
S. Venkataraman,
Chennai
