I wonder if our civil society is also divided on the opinion or is religiously biased as well.

Swami Asemanand’s confession has opened Pandora’s Box, and the bees of the box have stung so many men in authority, it has further demolished the credibility of countless men in uniform who are on oath to be un-biased and neutral.

It is heart quenching to know as, how the police built cases against innocent men, accusing and implicating them of terrorist attacks be it on Malegaon, the Samjhauta Express, Ajmer Sharif and Mecca Masjid. Those in political power kept quietly approving this biased investigations and any doubts raised by social activists, while victims of police atrocities were brushed aside.

Unfortunately large section of Media also kept quiet and underplayed the involvement of any other (non Islamic) elements, and so most of the incidents did find space on front pages were about the involvements of Muslims, whereas the voices of victims, social activists and rational men were purposely tucked in the back pages in a subdued manner.

Whatever the reasons for the trap that was set by the police, this is a chilling story of malafide intent and elaborately cynical charades that shames the criminal justice system of our country and the lofty ideals of justice that it is meant to champion.

In our country we need to have a mechanism in place whose job should be to keep watch that no innocents are falsely accused and wrongly booked, as years of incarceration ruins them and their families completely. It also remains to be seen as how the Indian Government is going to right the wrongs done by some communal law enforcing men. Will the offending officers be booked under the same stringent laws which were abused by them?

Another important precedent deserves attention here is that the liberal & intelligentsia flocks around commenting on the issues if a non Muslim is booked in some criminal or sedition charges, which is very much evident in the cases of Dr.Binayak Sen, journalist Azaad or even an Arudhuti Roy .But then, the protest by the same broadminded & liberals are either limited or negligible, if a Muslim goes through the same agony, which is unfair in any Laissez-faire multicultural society. This regrettably forces me to wonder if our civil society is also divided on the opinion or is religiously biased as well.

While it is to be seen if the government of India just likes their counterpart in Australia apologies and compensates (as in case of Dr. Mohammed Haneef) to the innocents who were wrongly detained, charged and imprisoned. As all those who stands for the Democratic society with the concept of human rights expects the above as this will be the first step of reparation owed to the innocents, accused and their devastated families.

Therefore it is yet to be seen if India can defend its record of multicultural & multireligious tolerance…