So Muthalik is an innocent baby? (Herald)

Editorial in Herald 17th June 2014

 So Muthalik is an innocent baby?

 

The law sometimes makes a  pretence of offering a level playing field even to the most obvious of the accused. But the Goa Police, seems to believe in an altogether different level of service to absolutely noted proponents of communal hatred linked to right wing fanatic organisations like the Hindu Ram Sene.

The Panjim police, in a coloured, communal and politically  biased decision, rejected a complaint made by the Congress against the Shri Ram Sene bigot Pramod Muthalik who said at an election rally in Margao that he would distribute a sword in each Hindu home and a copy of the Bhagwad Gita. The tenor of this speech went viral on You Tube. 

In the same speech, the bigot hit out against Fatorda MLA Vijay Sardesai for backing the  Congress saying that he probably has Muslim or Catholic antecedents. When this was reported in the Herald, even after the elections, Muthalik was quick to affirm that he made this speech and further reiterated that he would distribute swords in Hindu homes, making it explicit that this wasn't election rhetoric but a part of a specific communal design.

The letter of rejection is absolutely shocking beyond words. It states "This is to inform you (complainants) that the complaint filed by your good self dated May 29, 2014, at the police station against Muthalik was enquired upon. The perusal of complaint does not disclose commission of cognizable offence,” the police inspector of Panjim police station said.

Will the Panjim PI or his masters, the SP North Goa, DIG Goa, DGP Goa and Chief Minister of  Goa please care to explain why a public announcement of distributing swords for intended violent action or even for self defence, shouldn't be construed a cognisable offence. By that same yardstick, actor Sanjay Dutt, currently in Yerawada jail Pune, should have been a free man since he too only planned to keep deadly weapons in homes of Muslims during possible future riots.

Would the same police and the government further explain why no offence was made out against Muthalik but an offence indeed was made out against Devu Chodankar, whose Facebook posts stating that a BJP government at the Centre would lead to a massacre of the minorities.

The cyber cell in Chodankars case had moved the court seeking custodial interrogation of Chodankar claiming that his FB post was a larger game plan to “promote communal and social disharmony” in the state. In this case, faced with a complaint from an influential industrialist, irrespective of which hat he was wearing, the police filed an FIR under Section 153(A), 295(A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), besides Section 125 of the Representation of People Act and Section 66-A of the Information Technology Act. Some of these sections are non-bailable. Chodankar was subsequently interrogated for six hours.

The manner in which  these two cases, even if we for arguments sake equate Chodankars “crime” with Muthaliks (which are nowhere comparable), then how does a Chodankar with no links get picked up and interrogated while a Muthalik, head of a virulent communal organisation connected to the  Sang Parivar remain untouched.

This partisan treatment may only be a sliver in the large plate of communal manipulation. Yet it can't be ignored.  Even if Manohar Parrikar has taken a tough stand on Muthalik and intervened to prevent his entry into the BJP, letting him go scot free for an absolute cognisable offence proves that he can't really have a free hand on all these issues. There is a big brother watching somewhere.

Herald is completely aware that the reasoning that will be given will be along the lines of the police doing this independently and they will go on the basis of facts at their disposal. To this we humbly state, we have been in this jungle long enough, to know all its animals and their masters. Need we say more.

Herald demands that the Panjim police immediately register an FIR against Muthalik, slap at least the same charges as they did for Chodankar and bring him to Goa for interrogation. He deserves no leniency even from a government whose national masters are tainted with the same colour of communalism.