Are Indian Soldiers above the Law in Tamil Nadu?
TAMIL TRIBUNE, December 1998 (ID. 1998-12-01)
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In any civilized nation, soldiers have to obey the same laws as civilians when they are dealing with civilians outside of military encampments. This is not the case in military dictatorships. There, soldiers and military officers often behave as if they are above the law. Another exception is an occupation army. An occupation army may plunder, rape, beat and murder civilians of the conquered nation as if all normal laws of the land are null and void for them.
India is not a military dictatorship. Neither is Tamil Nadu a conquered nation occupied by the Indian army. Then why are Indian soldiers raping Tamil women and beating up Tamil men in TamilNadu with impunity? Why are they not punished? Under the colonial British rule, never once did British soldiers rape Tamil women in this century. Here, in "democratic" India, Indian soldiers are raping Tamil women with impunity. In a previous article we discussed, with actual case histories, how Hindi-speaking Indian navy men roam the villages near Rameshwaram to rape our women and never once punished for that [Reference 1]. In the present article, we look into a case of Indian navy men beating up Tamil men and getting away with it. We list here only the events of the last month but there are many more such incidents in the past. (This article is written during the month of October 1998.)
After a series of incidents in which men from the Rameshwaram Naval Base beat up Tamils from nearby villages (mostly fishermen), and seeing that because no action was taken against the culprits, the fishermen's association announced a Tamil Nadu wide demonstration. Seeing that this may receive wide publicity, the local Naval Commander promised that these beatings would not occur any more. So the demonstration was cancelled.
In spite of that promise, on September 27, 1998, some navy men beat up a 35-year old Tamil fisherman. The very next day, on September 28, navy men beat up 59-year old Jeyaraman and 40-year old Paul. Their injuries were so severe that they were hospitalized. Angered by these beatings in spite of the promise from the naval commander, people demonstrated outside the Rameshwaram Naval Base. Some navy men came out of the base with guns and threatened to shoot the unarmed, peaceful demonstrators. This in itself was an illegal act subject to imprisonment. But it was done right at the Naval Base, under the watch of the base commander. Every citizen has the right to protest and demonstrate under the freedom of speech guaranteed by the constitution. If the demonstrations were unruly or violent (that was not the case here), navy should call the local police and ask them to break up the demonstration outside the base. Navy has absolutely no right to threaten to shoot the demonstrators outside the base. It was illegal but no one was even reprimanded.
Fearing that the navy men would shoot, demonstrators went to the police station and demonstrated in front of it. The Tamil policemen did not threaten to shoot them, instead they agreed to file criminal cases under Indian Penal Codes IPC 341 and IPC 323 against the navy men who assaulted Jeyaraman and Paul. Police contacted the navy and the navy assured that action would be taken against the navy men within 10 days.
Couple of days later the local naval commander issued a statement that the navy men did not beat any Tamil men. That was the end of it. No further investigation or trial. Is this justice? Is this the justice Tamils can expect from the Indian government?
Let us look at what has happened here. Two Tamil men are in hospital and they say they were beaten up by men from the Rameshwaram Naval Base. Tamil Nadu Police wants to file criminal cases. The assaults took place outside the base and the men beaten up were civilians. So the navy is legally bound to hand over the accused to the local police for questioning. After questioning, if the police conclude that a crime was committed, a case would be filed against the accused in the local criminal court. The navy should guarantee that the accused would appear in the court for trial. The judge will hear the accusers (Jeyaraman and Paul) and the accused (the navy men) and examine any evidence they present. Then the judge will render a judgment. Only a judge can determine the guilt or innocence of the accused. If found innocent, they go free. If found guilty, navy should surrender them to the court for imprisonment. This is the law. This is the due process. None of these things happened here. The navy says its men did not beat up the Tamil men. No opportunity for the police to question the accused. No opportunity for a judge to hear both sides of the case. This is not justice.
This is not an isolated incident. There are many criminal incidents involving soldiers, navy men and central policemen assaulting Tamil men and raping or attempting to rape Tamil women. There are instances in which Tamil Nadu police officers who came to break up assaults were beaten up by soldiers. In one case even a Deputy Collector was beaten up. What concerns this writer is not just the rowdy actions of these out-of-state soldiers, navy men and central policemen but the fact that none of them were punished in any way. That is injustice against Tamil Nadu.
It seems that Tamils got better justice in colonial India under British rule than in the independent India under Hindian rule. During the 20-th century (1900 to 1947), not a single Tamil woman was raped by British soldiers. No Tamil was beaten up by British soldiers, except when Tamils participated in protest marches against British rule. This is something to think about.
(NOTE: The name Rameshwaram is sometimes spelled as Rameswaram, Rameshvaram and Ramevaram. They denote the same place.)
REFERENCE
1. Indian Soldiers on a Rape Spree in Tamil Nadu (by Usha Ramanathan), TAMIL TRIBUNE, October 1998.
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