This is a tribute to Thingnam Kishan Singh, who is the latest victim of a series of killings perpetrated by militants as well as by the official counterinsurgency forces in Manipur. His death has brought thousands of people, especially mothers into the street for protests against the mass killings. His voice of social commitment is echoed in their protest.
COMMENTARYEconomic & Political Weekly EPW april 4, 2009 vol xliv no 1415has been used to ban secessionist and terrorist organisation. It also empowers the centre to ban as an “unlawful associ-ation” any outfit that spreads group hatred which is punishable under Sec-tions 153-A and 153-B of the Penal Code. Why this behaviour is not included in the definition of “unlawful activity” which remains confined to secessionism, is inexplicable.That former union home minister L K Advani and his colleague law minister Arun Jaitley dropped that ingredient in POTA is understandable. That Shivraj Patil’s Act also dropped that very ingredi-ent is significant. The omission is deliber-ate. Section 7 of his Act which inserts the definition of “a terrorist act” as Section 15 of the Act of 1967, adds the word “in any foreign territory” after the words “strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India”. No amends are made in the Act of 2008. In illiberality there is nothing to choose between L K Advani and Shivraj Patil.The flaws which the Act 2008 adds to the Act of 2004 have been widely noted. Ravi Nair’s critique (EPW, 24 January 2009), as one might expect, defies im-provement. The revised definition of “terrorist act” dilutes, if not deletes, the requirement of mens rea, the guilty mind. The powers of arrest have been widened.Section 12 inserts a new provision in the main Act of 1967. It is Section 43F which gives unfettered powers to the police to ask anybody to furnish information in his possession “in relation” to an offence un-der the Act “on points or matters” where he has reason to believe it “will be useful for or relevant to the purpose of the Act”. The offence of failure to provide that information is triable summarily and attracts punishment with imprisonment which may extend to three years. The demand need not be made in writing. Journalists are not exempt from this sweep-ing provision.Both, the Acts of 2004 and 2008, are permanently inscribed on the statute book. TADA andPOTA had fixed terms. While agitating against the provisions of the Act of 2008, the immediate wrong, its parent of 2004 must not be ignored nor the grandparent of 1967. What we need is a small group of earnest persons who, shunning publicity, quietly do re-search on this law, drawing on foreign studies, and publish a critique to alert public opinion. Precisely what advan-tages have the Acts of 1967, 2002 and 2004 provided to the detection and prevention of crime?Remembering Thingnam Kishan SinghTilottoma MisraThis is a tribute to Thingnam Kishan Singh, who is the latest victim of a series of killings perpetrated by militants as well as by the official counter-insurgency forces in Manipur. His death has brought thousands of people, especially mothers into the street for protests against the mass killings. His voice of social commitment is echoed in their protest.Let me begin by recreating three scenes, one from a play, another from the pages of a diary and the third from a recent newspaper report, all are eerily similar and related to the trau-matic experiences of the women from north-east India, who are looking on help-lessly at the total collapse of the govern-ment machinery that should have ensured the protection of their loved ones. Scene 1Four Manipuri mothers with babies tied on their backs, sing lullabies and light lamps on top of the hills to bring back peace to their devastated land. Some of the lines they sing are: In the land shredded to pieces,Sinking with each movementNo one is allowed to speak,Even if they can speak.No one is allowed to walk,Even if they have feet....The humans, living without souls, have turned into black oak trees on the hillside after the wildfire, unable to express their pent-up sorrows with heartrending wails.– From Ratan Thiyam’s play Nine Hills, One Valley.1Scene 2So, armed with a tirpal to sit on, and a few placards proclaiming our intentions and requests, six of us, all women, set out for Bongaon,on a rickety jeep of a well-wisher…The few odd people around the charialilooked at us, as we spread out our tirpal under the shade of a tree, and dis-played our placards. These were simple and to the point – “Where is Sanjoy?” “Return him back safely. ‘We want peace’. We could see people glancing, almost surreptitiously at them, almost as if they were aware of the purpose of our visit, yet did not want to ac-knowledge the fact…Yet, strangely enough, not a single person came to talk to us” – From Sumita Ghose’s account inSanjoy’s Assam.2Scene 3On 17 February 2009, Manipuri women staged a sit-in demonstration on the roads of Imphal in protest against the killing of Thingnam Kishan Singh and two others. Romita Devi, the widow of Kishan said, My husband left home along with five others in the office vehicle to attend a meeting on Friday morning. He was supposed to return on Saturday. We saw his body being brought Tilottoma Misra (tilottoma_misra@rediffmail.com) is a writer and social analyst based in Guwahati.
COMMENTARYapril 4, 2009 vol xliv no 14 EPW Economic & Political Weekly16Microsoft
COMMENTARYEconomic & Political Weekly EPW april 4, 2009 vol xliv no 1415has been used to ban secessionist and terrorist organisation. It also empowers the centre to ban as an “unlawful associ-ation” any outfit that spreads group hatred which is punishable under Sec-tions 153-A and 153-B of the Penal Code. Why this behaviour is not included in the definition of “unlawful activity” which remains confined to secessionism, is inexplicable.That former union home minister L K Advani and his colleague law minister Arun Jaitley dropped that ingredient in POTA is understandable. That Shivraj Patil’s Act also dropped that very ingredi-ent is significant. The omission is deliber-ate. Section 7 of his Act which inserts the definition of “a terrorist act” as Section 15 of the Act of 1967, adds the word “in any foreign territory” after the words “strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India”. No amends are made in the Act of 2008. In illiberality there is nothing to choose between L K Advani and Shivraj Patil.The flaws which the Act 2008 adds to the Act of 2004 have been widely noted. Ravi Nair’s critique (EPW, 24 January 2009), as one might expect, defies im-provement. The revised definition of “terrorist act” dilutes, if not deletes, the requirement of mens rea, the guilty mind. The powers of arrest have been widened.Section 12 inserts a new provision in the main Act of 1967. It is Section 43F which gives unfettered powers to the police to ask anybody to furnish information in his possession “in relation” to an offence un-der the Act “on points or matters” where he has reason to believe it “will be useful for or relevant to the purpose of the Act”. The offence of failure to provide that information is triable summarily and attracts punishment with imprisonment which may extend to three years. The demand need not be made in writing. Journalists are not exempt from this sweep-ing provision.Both, the Acts of 2004 and 2008, are permanently inscribed on the statute book. TADA andPOTA had fixed terms. While agitating against the provisions of the Act of 2008, the immediate wrong, its parent of 2004 must not be ignored nor the grandparent of 1967. What we need is a small group of earnest persons who, shunning publicity, quietly do re-search on this law, drawing on foreign studies, and publish a critique to alert public opinion. Precisely what advan-tages have the Acts of 1967, 2002 and 2004 provided to the detection and prevention of crime?Remembering Thingnam Kishan SinghTilottoma MisraThis is a tribute to Thingnam Kishan Singh, who is the latest victim of a series of killings perpetrated by militants as well as by the official counter-insurgency forces in Manipur. His death has brought thousands of people, especially mothers into the street for protests against the mass killings. His voice of social commitment is echoed in their protest.Let me begin by recreating three scenes, one from a play, another from the pages of a diary and the third from a recent newspaper report, all are eerily similar and related to the trau-matic experiences of the women from north-east India, who are looking on help-lessly at the total collapse of the govern-ment machinery that should have ensured the protection of their loved ones. Scene 1Four Manipuri mothers with babies tied on their backs, sing lullabies and light lamps on top of the hills to bring back peace to their devastated land. Some of the lines they sing are: In the land shredded to pieces,Sinking with each movementNo one is allowed to speak,Even if they can speak.No one is allowed to walk,Even if they have feet....The humans, living without souls, have turned into black oak trees on the hillside after the wildfire, unable to express their pent-up sorrows with heartrending wails.– From Ratan Thiyam’s play Nine Hills, One Valley.1Scene 2So, armed with a tirpal to sit on, and a few placards proclaiming our intentions and requests, six of us, all women, set out for Bongaon,on a rickety jeep of a well-wisher…The few odd people around the charialilooked at us, as we spread out our tirpal under the shade of a tree, and dis-played our placards. These were simple and to the point – “Where is Sanjoy?” “Return him back safely. ‘We want peace’. We could see people glancing, almost surreptitiously at them, almost as if they were aware of the purpose of our visit, yet did not want to ac-knowledge the fact…Yet, strangely enough, not a single person came to talk to us” – From Sumita Ghose’s account inSanjoy’s Assam.2Scene 3On 17 February 2009, Manipuri women staged a sit-in demonstration on the roads of Imphal in protest against the killing of Thingnam Kishan Singh and two others. Romita Devi, the widow of Kishan said, My husband left home along with five others in the office vehicle to attend a meeting on Friday morning. He was supposed to return on Saturday. We saw his body being brought Tilottoma Misra (tilottoma_misra@rediffmail.com) is a writer and social analyst based in Guwahati. 
COMMENTARYapril 4, 2009 vol xliv no 14 EPW Economic & Political Weekly16Microsoft
