Interview with Justice Sawant: ‘Trappings of a fascist regime’

Justice P.B. Sawant, former Supreme Court judge, on the infringements of civil liberties.

Published : Oct 10, 2019 07:00 IST

Justice (retired) P.B. Sawant served as a judge of the Supreme Court of India from 1989 to 1995. He also served as a judge in the Bombay High Court, before which he was an advocate practising all branches of law. Deeply involved in social activism after retirement, he is known to take an unequivocal position on human rights and civil rights and against communal forces.

He was one of the three retired judges appointed to the Indian People’s Tribunal, an independent investigation set up in 2002 to look into the post-Godhra violence in Gujarat. The report strongly castigated Narendra Modi, then the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

Justice Sawant also headed the P.B. Sawant Commission of Inquiry appointed by the government of Maharashtra in 2003 to investigate the charges of corruption levelled against four Ministers by the anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare. Two of the Ministers eventually resigned.

On December 31, 2017, Justice Sawant, along with Justice (retired) Kolse-Patil, organised the Elgaar Parishad, a meeting to spread the message of fighting communal forces, in Pune. While both judges have repeatedly stated that they were the sole organisers and funders of the meeting, a first information report filed by a Pune businessman alleged that the Parishad was the cause of the violence that occurred at Bhima-Koregaon on January 1, 2018. Some of the civil rights activists who participated in the Parishad were arrested on the grounds that they belonged to outlawed Maoist groups and were part of a conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both judges had, at the time, said that the only conspiracy was to silence any criticism of the state. Indeed, the subsequent persecution of the activists—and the recent instance of five judges of the Supreme Court recusing themselves from trying the case of Gautam Navlakha, one of the arrested activists—has only served to corroborate their statement.

Justice Sawant has regularly spoken out against the anti-constitutional measures of the Modi government. In the context of the continuing assault on civil rights, Frontline spoke to Justice Sawant about the dilution of Article 21 of the Constitution, the diminishing strength of institutions such as the Supreme Court and the Election Commission, the growing number of cases in which civil liberties are being blatantly abused, and the general trend that indicates that democracy is in severe danger.

Justice Sawant’s email response to Lyla Bavadam’s questions

In order to appreciate my answers to your questions, I must first point out that civil liberties are the foundation of democracy and an infringement even of one of them seriously affects the democratic functioning of society. Secondly, civil liberties also consist of inherent and inalienable rights of man. These rights are born with man, and in a democratic society they are the essential accoutrement of the citizen. They are not given by any statute, including the fundamental statute, the Constitution, and hence they cannot be taken away by any statute. That is why the right to life is not mentioned in our Constitution in specific terms and is assured, while imposing the restrictions on its deprivation in Article 21.

Instances of repression of civil rights have been galore since the Bharatiya Janata Party/Modi government came to power in 2014. You have already mentioned some of these instances, such as the abrogation of Article 370, including the clampdown on the media; the treatment of the Bhima Koregaon activists; the vindictiveness against the police officer Sanjiv Bhatt; the recent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act amendment; and the action against Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa. In addition, mob-lynching and the persecution of Dalits and members of religious minority communties have to be strongly emphasised. There are many such instances which are not reported in the media taking place almost every day in all corners of the country. The other prominent instances are the murders of Judge B.H.Loya and Haren Pandya, the Sohrabuddin encounter, the Malegaon bomb blast conspiracy where Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Thakur are the accused. It is interesting to note that Amit Shah, who was one of the accused in the Sohrabuddin encounter case, is the president of the ruling party and now the Home Minister. These are some of the prominent cases which come to mind in answer to your question. As regards the Election Commission, some of its decisions have raised many questions of public importance.

We should not be surprised by these developments. This government does not accept our Constitution and they have, from time to time, made it clear, including in their manifesto, that they want to change the same. They are against democracy, secularism and socialism. Their avowed objective is to establish a dictatorship, a Hindu Rashtra, in this country and give free rein to the free market economy. In pursuance of this objective, they have already made inroads into key institutions of governance and have even been trying to control the judiciary by various ways, including interference in judicial appointments. The media are infiltrated by the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh] gentry and are also repressed by controlling the owners of both print and electronic media. The critics of this regime are trolled, the opposition is sought to be silenced, and even independent writers, speakers and social activists are sought to be subdued. Untruth, false propaganda, illusions and manufactured events are being used as weapons for misguiding and fooling the people. These are all the trappings of a fascist regime, to which the country has been treated since the inception of the present regime.

Kashmir

I have already made an appeal to the nation with regard to the alleged abrogation of Article 370. The uproar of our Kashmiri brothers and sisters was expected, and that is why a few days before August 5, 2019, over 10,000 Army personnel were rushed to and stationed in Kashmir. Thereafter, all prominent leaders, including former Chief Ministers, were placed under house arrest, and all communication, including the media, was completely suppressed. And yet, today it is falsely propagated by Amit Shah that the discontent exists only in the minds of critics and there is no discontent in Kashmir.

Elgaar Parishad

As regards the Bhima Koregaon activists, strangely enough, both the criminal proceedings against the activists and the Commission of Inquiry into the incident are going on simultaneously. This is against the principles of natural justice. We expect more such cases, like the vindictiveness against police officer Sanjiv Bhatt and Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa. The amendment to the UAPA Act, and now the declaration that the entire country will be subjected to the verification of citizenship, show which way the wind is blowing. More such measures may be expected.

The present government and the ruling party do not believe in democracy and their entire objective is to have a dictatorship. That is also clear from the fact that they believe in Manusmriti and not in our Constitution. They, even today, swear by Chaturvarnya and the caste system. These are the portents of the future.

Civil liberties

As regards your query on the suppression of civil liberties, including the attempt to dilute the right to information, this is the fallout of the present economic system, namely capitalism, and its child, corporatocracy. At present only eight families rule the economy of the world. This is the natural culmination of capitalism into monopoly capitalism. These families not only dictate economic politics but also interfere in the political, social and cultural life of every country in order to strengthen their economic hold over the world. In the past, we had imperialism which tried to colonise the world by grabbing territories and ruling them. Today we have its new incarnation, economic imperialism, which is imperceptible but more deadly. There is not a single country where corporatocracy does not rule. Hence, peace, the environment and justice are threatened all over the world. The trade war and the competition to capture markets, the hunger for more and more profits by any means, including the destruction and pollution of the environment, global warming and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few to the detriment of almost 99 per cent of the population, have become the prominent features of the present age. The growing stock of all sorts of weapons of mass destruction, the threats given by the holders of nuclear weapons from time to time and the suppression of liberties of the citizens who protest against these developments have become the signature mark of the present world.

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