This is a worrying development. Anyone who is accused of a crime committed on Indian soil has a right to legal counsel according to our constitution. Denying Ajmal Amir Qasab the right to representation will only delay the legal process and will not actually achieve any meaningful result. What is even more worrying is that this has been resolved by the Metropolitan Magistrate's Bar Association. In the same vein, if he is diagnosed with a life threatening disease tomorrow, perhaps the doctors should deny him treatment and break their Hippocratic oath?
And then, this one is even more horrifying. If this attitude is taken up by real estate agents all across the country, it will help the creation of ghettos everywhere. And further divide the country along communal lines. What is needed is integration, not division, if we wish to rid ourselves of the malaise of mistrust, alienation and hatemongering amongst ourselves. Because that is the mother lode that throws up terrorism of domestic origin, and aids foreign sponsored terrorists. If India is to emerge as a strong unified nation with its secular credentials intact, we have no option but to encourage integration of our people and condemn anything that seeks to further divide us.
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2 comments:
I watched a debate on CNN-IBN last night. The anger after Mumbai is justified to a point. But Harish Salve was right, I think, that Kasab, a Pakistani who had come from there to wage war against India and had done so too. should be treated and tried as a POW and not as an ordinary criminal.
The second problem is almost a repeat of what happened when Sikh militancy was at its peak. People are angry, yes, but the real reason for refusing to sell/let out property is mostly fear. No one wants to increase the risk to his and his family's life. However horrifying such developments may look to us, far removed physically from such situations, to people who face the reality of having an unknown Muslim as a neighbour, their personal safety comes first in times like these.
I agree with you...These developments are very disturbing...All criminals - terrorists or petty thieves, Indian or foreign - should be granted legal representation...I don't know how the police have been interrogating Kasab till now without a defence lawyer present...How do we know that the confessions weren't forced out?In the US, the police, FBI etc. have to give a Miranda warning and if the accused so much as even indicates he wants counsel, the police are required by law to stop interrogation...Any information obtained otherwise is not accepted by the court...
Regarding the second article, thsi problem of not renting to Muslims has been prevelant for a long time...
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