India’s police state in Manipur

I very briefly mentioned about Indian Government atrocities in Manipur, while talking about the abject state of civil liberties in India.

On July 23rd this year calm unarmed Chongkam Sanjit, a 27-year old was murdered by Manipur police. Here are a series of pictures that document Sanjit’s murder. Shoma Chaudhury’s excellent story from a month ago goes over the history of violent state overreach in Manipur. CNN-IBN has an educative news story on the same issue.

Manipur’s story seems to like that of Blackwater in Iraq. Only that it is by India’s own government on its own people.

PS: I have written several posts where I have complained about India’s media and CNN-IBN. I have to give them their due for this story and others by Arjit Sen. Good reporting.

Is Indian outrage over Khan’s questioning justified?

A couple of days ago, the leading news story in all of India’s news channels was that of actor Shahrukh Khan being questioned by US Customs and Border Protection at Newark Airport. A brouhaha was raised (I can’t tell by whom). But from this screenshot from NDTV, one might conclude that the entire country is up in arms. (That’s a different topic for another day). Famous Indians on twitter were surely expressing their displeasure. Shashi Tharoor tweeted

This also happens to 100s of innocent Muslims daily who don’t have 1 billion ppl to stand up for them. Raises real qsns abt US procedures

I am not sure if means the billion comes because he is Indian or because he is Shahrukh Khan? Then we have our bone-headed Union Cabinet Minister Ms. Ambika Soni who wants a tit-for-tat

I have always felt – even when I was frisked there – that the way they frisk us we should do the same for them here

Yeah, right. This is how a Union Minister wants to organize our security apparatus — to spite people.

I am bewildered by these folks’ (and new channels) reactions. And I am still trying to figure out what exactly outrages them. Is it the fact that an Indian star was stopped, or is it the fact that an Indian was stopped, or that the US government is (only) alleged to have resorted to racial profiling at its borders? After all, SRK was still not yet inside the US when he was stopped. Visiting the US is after all a privilege (not a right) and the CBP is well within its rights and duties to check who they let in.

And which country have these folks been living in all along? My friends tell me several stories of being stopped by police within Indian territory. I too have an incident where I had my civil liberties violated. I was travelling in a cab in Chennai. A cop stopped the vehicle and shined a torch light into the car to see what’s inside and then let us go. He violated my right to privacy. Now, your reaction on hearing about this incident will likely be one of ridicule. “Keep all your privacy, 4th amendment stuff in the US. This is India.” If that is your reaction, I have made my point.

Where where these folks when recently the story broke, of a young unarmed man shot by police while being detained by them? The news channel websites did not have such elaborate coverage. A year ago, the Andra Pradesh government admitted to torturing Muslim youths. No one seemed to care. Recently, Human Rights Watch released a report detailing abuses by Indian Police. Not a sound was heard from India’s political class. Don’t know if there are 1 billion ppl or the government that represents them standing behind these victims.

Indians are silent about such violations of civil liberties and even abuses and murders by government officials within India, but raise a hue and cry when one was merely stopped not within the US, but at its borders. Fascinating.

I have to mention how Shahrukh Khan has conducted himself. In a dignified manner he answered in an interview

They said my name was common. I was too polite to ask, ‘common to what?’

My thoughts on the ruling against Sec. 377

I am really happy today over the Delhi High Court ruling parts of Section 377 unconstitutional. The ruling is available in PDF format here. The entire judgement is awesome. The judges did not restrict themselves to narrow legal issues, but spoke overwhelmingly about broad constitutional issues such as privacy, dignity and equality.

In the run up to the court case there was a lot of discussion about homosexuals accelerating the spread of HIV/AIDS, and that was one argument for same-sex intercourse to remain illegal. I was always baffled by such discussion and to me the issue was about privacy and individual liberties in a democratic society. It was clear to me as day, that Section 377 is unconstitutional. I am glad that the Judges spoke about civil liberties in no uncertain terms.

Here are a few nuggets from the ruling:

• The ruling cites court cases from various countries including Lawrence v. Texas which struck down sodomy laws in the United States.
• I did not know that the Indian Constitution (like the United States Constitution) does not have an explicit “Right to Privacy.” On the issue of privacy there are mentions of Roe v. Wade, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

• The Court went above and beyond what it was called to do. In a single stroke, it accorded protection against discrimination on the basis of “sexual orientation.” I found this really surprising.

  We hold that sexual orientation is a ground analogous to sex and that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is not permitted by Article 15. Further, Article 15(2) incorporates the notion of horizontal application of rights. In other words, it even prohibits discrimination of one citizen by another in matters of access to public spaces. In our view, discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation is impermissible even on the horizontal application of the right enshrined under Article 15.

• The Court clearly understands that a Government or a Constitution cannot grant fundamental rights to people. Sweet :)

  In the present case, the two constitutional rights relied upon i.e. ‘right to personal liberty’ and ‘right to equality’ are fundamental human rights which belong to individuals simply by virtue of their humanity, independent of any utilitarian consideration. A Bill of Rights does not ‘confer’ fundamental human rights. It confirms their existence and accords them protection.

Kudos and thanks to Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar.

India not too late in decriminalizing homosexuality

Today, the Delhi High Court stuck down discriminatory provisions of Section 377 which criminalized homosexual behavior. This is not too late, compared to what happened in the United States. It was only six years ago, on June 26, 2003, that United States Supreme Court struck down sodomy law in Texas. The case is Lawrence v. Texas and was ruled 6-3. Add a couple of Scalias and Thomases to the court and they’d have ruled against freedom.

The Delhi High Court ruling talks clearly about liberty and equality guaranteed by the Constitution of India. A win for human rights.