Caught with live bombs, Hindu priest is not a terrorist
Faizabad: The arrest of a terrorist with live bombs in Faizabad court was indeed a big achievement of the police. But after his identification as "Nankaoo Das" in the guise of a sadhu, [Hindu priest] an attempt started at once by the police and media to hush up the matter. TV channels did not feel the necessity of telecasting the news of the arrest of Nankaoo Das along with three live bombs, and print media too exposed its communal and biased mentality by treating it as an 'ordinary' news and burying it in the inside pages.
Faizabad was saved from a great tragedy that day, 2 August 2008, because of the vigilance of Faizabad police. When this sadhu-like man, a resident of a village in Shravasti District entered the court premises, police got suspicious. They wanted to check his jhola [bag]. Instead of cooperating, he started shouting that cops are looting him. Hearing his shouts, people gathered at the spot but after seeing the bombs emerging out of his jhola, people including lawyers and their clients got much scared. When police questioned this sadhu-like man and threatened him, he said that his name is .Nankaoo Das, an accused under Gangsters Act and that he was currently on bail. He said that he had come to the court in connection with the hearing of his case. He expressed his surprise at the bombs in his jhola and claimed that he does not know who put the bombs in his bag. He revealed that he had come to the courts along with a lawyer in his jeep but could not give his details except his outward appearance. After some difficulty, the said lawyer was traced but he too appeared terrified after knowing the details of the bombs. Despite this the entire lawyer fraternity stood behind him in his support. Therefore, instead of questioning the lawyer for more details, the police concentrated all its attention on the sadhu-like man. Nankaoo Das was arrested and jailed for being in possession of bombs. But at the same time the police exerted all its efforts to minimize the gravity of his crime. They described the three bombs as "crackers" fired on occasions like weddings etc. People present during the time of recovery of the bombs form Nankaoo's bag said that along with the bombs a small iron box too was recovered but police made no mention of that box in its report. It is quite possible that the box contained some device to control and detonate the bombs. There were about 20 persons with Nankaoo Das at the time of the recovery of the bombs but they all fled in jeeps after the man was caught red-handed, and the police made no mention of these people in its report nor it made any attempt to nab them. Nankaoo was previously arrested along with 32 others for rioting, arson etc under Gangsters Act. It is strange that even after being caught red-handed along with live bombs, police is not inclined to associate him with the serial bomb blasts in Faizabad, Varanasi and Lucknow courts last year in which many persons were killed and injured.
After these bomb blasts last year, security arrangements in courts were tightened. Following these blasts Maulana Tariq Qasmi, Maulana Khalid Mujahid, Akhtar and Sajjadur Rahman were arrested at different places and accused on suspicious grounds. All these people had no previous criminal records but even then the attitude of the police and lawyers towards them is as if they are really professional terrorists. On the contrary Nankaoo Das who is already an accused under Gangsters Act and was caught red-handed along with live bombs is treated by police as an ordinary criminal. Media is adopting the same attitude and instead of treating him as a terrorist, it is taking his crime very lightly, nay, it is adopting a sympathetic attitude towards him. Not only Muslims but many others view this as highly biased and condemnable act of police and media.
Seeing the condemnable attitude of police and media in support of Nankaoo Das, Muslims of Faizabad in meetings with district authorities have demanded that harshest sections and provisions of law be applied to him. They have requested Faizabad Bar Association that similar restrictions be imposed on their member lawyers not to take up Nankaoo Das case in court just as they have placed on lawyers for taking up cases of Muslim accused. Bipin Tiwari and Jamal advocates have become victims of the anger and opposition of their own colleagues in this connection.
Sheetla Singh, senior journalist and chief editor of Hindi daily Jan Morcha, who is known for his bold and fearless pen, is so much fed up with the partial attitude and the biased mentality of police and irresponsible journalists that he has gone to the extent of writing and asking in his newspaper on 4 August that if in place of Nankaoo Das such bombs were recovered from the jhola of a Muslim, would the police and media have still considered them as "crackers"? And if the Sadhu maharaj had left his jhola on the table of a Muslim lawyer and slipped away, would that Muslim lawyer too be considered innocent in the same way as the lawyer who had given a lift to the sadhu? Sheetla Singh further asks what kind of justice is this that the person named Suresh Baghel who was found guilty by the court of the conspiracy of blowing up Babri Masjid Ram / Janmabhoomi and sentenced to five years imprisonment but even then he was not called or considered a terrorist? Lawyers will fight his case to prove him innocent but those who try to fight the case of Muslims are arrested on mere suspicion and lawyers union has decreed that cases of Muslims who are arrested on mere suspicion should be boycotted. Giving a strong slap on the face of those who consider only Muslims as terrorists. Jan Morcha editor wrote that the assassins of Indira Gandhi were not Muslims. Similarly, among those who had blown up and killed Rajiv Gandhi no one belonged to the minority community and in the same way the man who had fired bullets on the chest of Mahatma Gandhi was a fanatic Hindu.
Courtesy Milli Gazette, Delhi, 1-15 September 2008