The Gujarat government is a case in the point. Narendra Modi and his rabid, Hindutva spewing henchmen shamelessly presided over a government that ignored, and as new evidence suggests, perhaps condoned, brutal acts of communal violence and mob fury that swept across Gujarat in 2002. Subsequently, in 2005, there was the alleged cold blooded murder of Sohrabuddin Shaikh (who was no saint himself, but that does not justify quietly bumping him off without due process of law) and his wife, Kauser Bi (killed to hide evidence of the first illegal killing), and then the alleged 'encounter killing' of Ishrat Jahan, a 19 year Mumbai college student along with her companions. Three outstanding officers of the Indian Police Service have taken courageous stands to expose these criminal acts of the government or officers like DG Vanzara who may have killed people without legal sanction, to independent judicial commissions.
Sanjeev Bhatt, Inspector General of Police was suspended for various 'omissions and commissions' like unauthorised leave and use of official car, after he testified to the Supreme Court that Narendra Modi had asked his Police Officers in 2002 not to intervene when riots broke out in 2002.
Rahul Sharma, DIG, who was SP Bhavnagar in 2002 was one of the few Police officers who honourably discharged their duty and their oath to defend the Constitution and the law of the land by minimising communal violence in that city. This is a man who should be honoured and feted for his commitment to the people under his charge. But no, there are no awards for him. This 34 year old conscientious IPS officer is being charge-sheeted for giving vital call records to the Nanavati Commission probing the Gujarat riots that give evidence of the call traffic between key elements who led the riots, including political leaders and those holding important positions in the state government and police force. The government contends that he should have taken its permission to give this evidence. It is quite clear what the government would have done if he had tried to seek permission. It would have refused permission and promptly destroyed them.
While I earnestly hope that the centre (Mr. Chidambaram, the Union Home Minister, has evinced some interest in the case) and the judicial system, which he was trying to defend, will intervene and stop this blatant abuse of state power, there is no doubt that this young Police officer is having to go through a lot of trouble for doing what he was sworn to do.
The third IPS officer who is suffering because of his principled stand is Rajnish Rai, who had his Annual Confidential Report (ACR) downgraded because of his unbiased investigation into the Sohrabuddin case, which led to the arrest of D G Vanzara.
I wish our Supreme Court, (I am not mentioning the Gujarat High Court here, because it has already rejected Mr. Sharma's plea on the pretext that other forums of appeal exist. Perhaps it is my lack of legal training that I fail to appreciate the importance of procedure over natural justice!) would take suo moto action to quash these baseless cases that the Gujarat government is cooking up, to persecute its finest officers. I wish I could tell my Lordship, the Honourable Justice Kapadia, that the image that ordinary citizens like me have of the Supreme Court is tarnished when I see Police officers who have truthfully deposed before court appointed commisssions being persecuted for doing precisely that. The people expect this of the Court, and the Central Government: that they will not sit mute witness as Modi tries desperately to hide his mis-deeds. As Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker in Spiderman: "with great power, comes great responsibility" .
Also, these cases underline the crying need for a good, central law on Whistle-blowing (applicable all over India) that is being contemplated.
And finally, Churchill had said that it will be the eternal shame of the German people that they accepted a man like Hitler as their leader. I hope my fellow citizens in Gujarat vote Narendra Modi out before history passes a similar verdict on us.
