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Madhany: Victim Of State Terror

By B.F Firos

28 April, 2007
Countercurrents.org


The case of Abdul Nasar Madhany’s imprisonment for the last nine long years simply belies India’s much-trumpeted democratic values and judicial system. He has been lodged in the Coimbatore jail as a trial prisoner as one of the accused in the Coimbatore bomb blast case without parole or bail. But the issue goes unreported in the mainstream media and such a serious instance of human rights violation unheard of in the post-independent India continues to remain as a bloat on Indian’s democratic credentials.

Madhany, hailing from a village in the Kollam district in Kerala, was basically an Islamic cleric (the word Madhany denotes to a religious degree). It was in 1993 that he founded People’s Democratic Party (PDP), an outfit consisting of backward communities like Muslims and Dalits. For the first time in the history of India, here was a man advocating “power to the untouchable”.

Post-Babari demolition, Madhany’s political party gained momentum in the context of reasons like the political degradation of parties representing Muslims, like Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the rise of Hindutva forces and the sidelining of the marginalised sections including Muslims and Dalits. His fiery and articulate speeches on several burning issues annoyed the mainstream political parties, especially IUML, a party claiming to espouse the cause of Muslims.

He intervened on issues like the persecution of Muslims in places like Palakkad post-Babari demolition. One of his targets was the then north DGP Raman Srivastava - whose open call to his subordinates “I want the dead bodies of Muslim bastards” ended up in the killing of an innocent 11-year-old girl in Palakkad at the height of the post-Babari demolition riots. The many issues that he took up were enough fodder for the extremist Hindutva forces to target him. He lost one of his legs in a bomb attack by the RSS. And the culprits of this crime are still at large.

The wide-held impression that has been circulated in the mainstream parlance is that Madhany is an accused in the Coimbatore bomb blast case that killed 59 persons in 1997. But consider the following. Even after nine long years of interrogation and grilling of 2760 witnesses, numerous cross examinations and filing of chargesheet running into 2760 pages (weighing up 47 kilogram), neither the Tamil Nadu police nor the prosecution has been able to prove his connection to the Coimbatore bomb blast case. The prosecution has not so far been able to produce even a single witness or a trace of evidence against Madhany.

Looking back, one can find that Madhany’s arrest was connected somehow to the now-infamous Kozhikode ice-cream parlour sex racket case involving powerful IUML leader and former Kerala Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty.

It goes like this: Madhany, in association with ex-Naxalite leaders K. Ajitha and K. Kunhikannan decided to initiate a state-wide agitation against the ice-cream case. On the very third day (31st March, 1998) Madhany is picked up by Kozhikode Kasaba police on a charge of making provocative speech that took place five years back. None asked why Madhany was not arrested during those five years after the arrest warrant was issued in the case of making the provocative speech.

Soon after arresting Madhany on charges of making provocative speech, he was transferred to the Tamil Nadu police in connection with the Coimbatore bomb blast case. It will be interesting to enquire into on what grounds Madhany was linked to the bomb blast case. The Tamil Nadu police wanted to grill Madhany as they found that Basha, the key accused in the Coimbatore bomb blast case, had a one-and-half minute’s conversation with someone in the office of Muslim Review, a magazine ran by Madhany at that time. The most intriguing factor is that in the very next issue of Muslim Review an interview with Basha was published. In fact, the phone call was made from the magazine’s office to Basha for arranging the interview. There was no trace of evidence to suggest that it was Madhany and Basha who had talked each other over the phone.

Today, even after nine years of uninterrupted imprisonment, one will find it intriguing that this handicapped man’s life and future hangs on that one-and-half minutes phone call. The alacrity of the politician-official nexus to trap Madhany was evident from the fact that the then Kasaba police Circle Inspector had given a fake testimony in the court. In the testimony the CI managed to obtain a statement purported to be made by Madhany saying he had connections to the Coimbatore bomb blast case. But in the court the testimony was summarily rejected as the signature of Madhany was found fake. (And today, that police officer occupies a top position in the police hierarchy.)

After some preliminary questioning, TN police included Madhany as the 45th accused in the Coimbatore bomb blast case. And even then the main charge was conspiracy in the bomb blast case. Though many ‘evidences’ were raised, the prominent among them was that one-and-half minute phone call.

And consequently, Madhany underwent imprisonment in Salem and Coimbatore prisons for the first four years. But no chargesheet was filed initially; and there was only the FIR. When efforts were made to approach the Supreme Court for bail, the bogey of Maintenance of Internal Securities Act (MISA) was imposed as an additional charge, making the task of seeking bail/parole tough.

Today, nine years of imprisonment has made Madhany a prisoner of so many ailments like cervical Spondylosis, back pain, ulcer, and fierce diabetic. When he was arrested his weight was 104 kg. Now his weight has been reduced to below 50 kg. And adding to all these woes is the untold hardships owing to his broken artificial leg, with which he has to perform all his daily chords.

Rules continue to be manipulated in the case of Madhany. First of all, bail or parole has been a no-no for him all these years. And looks like the jail manual has been “amended” exclusively for him! Severe restrictions are in place for his relatives/friends to visit him in jail, unheard of even in the case of hardcore criminals charged with serious offences.

Whenever bail applications were filed in the court citing his weak health and other humanitarian grounds, the prosecution opposed it one several grounds. The prominent among them were: If bail is given to him there are chances that he would leave the country; he would influence the witnesses; the possibility of he again committing these kinds of `crimes’ cannot be ruled out; the law and order situation will be in danger if he is set free, etc. Back in Kerala, he is a hot favorite of both the Right and Left wings in their election campaigns. But no serious efforts were ever taken for his release. When bail was sought for attending the funeral of Madhany's grand mother a few years ago, the TN government refused to grant it on the basis of a report given by the then Kerala Chief Minister, saying that if he is released that will create law and order problem in the state.

“These points have no legality given that Madhany can’t even walk without the help of crutches or outside help. He doesn’t have a passport to go abroad. The argument that he would influence the witnesses has no basis, given that all the witnesses in the case have already been grilled,” says Adv. Ramkumar, Madhany’s counsel.

“Above all, prosecution continues to give lots of counter affidavits in the trial court against Madhany with the aim of obstructing the trial. The court never took care of the above-mentioned arguments in favour of Madhany, despite their veracity and validity, put forward by the Madhany’s counsels at different occasions during the trail,” he says.

It may be noted here that Sankaracharya, who is facing a similar kind of charges, was given bail by the Supreme Court even before the trial. But Madhany continues to be denied bail or parole, the prerogative of any Indian citizen.

The court took into account only the version of the police and prosecution. In 2000 April, Judge Thanikachalam denied Madhany bail on the pretext that he is part of ‘bomb culture’, saying his leg was lost in bomb attack. He was also branded as a social evil because of the fact that there are so many cases against him in Kerala!

Madhany’s counsels are hopeful that the final verdict on him may be pronounced within two or three months. In case he is found guilty, he may be punished for a few years in jail. Then what about the jail term he has already undergone? Can the courts give him back the nine years of jail term he underwent? And what if he is found innocent?

Who’s really behind prolonging the incarceration of Madhany? Is it a nexus between the rightwing Hindutva forces and the officials? Or is it just a case of an effort to silence him gone awry? Whatever may be the reasons, this gross injustice being meted out to this individual is an affront to the values of justice and freedom that we espouse day and night. Long live democracy!

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