THE custodial death of 84-year-old Jesuit priest and tribal activist Stanis laus Lourduswamy, or Stan Swamy, is shocking, inasmuch as it was a result of pointed misapplication of a draconian law. Even the Bombay High Court la men ted: “Despite our best efforts, Father Stan Swamy could not be saved.” Whither lie our fundamental rights, enshrined in the Constitution?
The idea of civil liberties in India is dead, rotting. It suffocated, yet survived the horrible onslaught of the Moghuls, but was brutally stabbed and left to die during the Raj. Independence was supposed to resurrect the dead and hope staggered along, albeit with an ugly limp, before political apathy beat it down, again. As liberties were suspended during the Emergency, Amnesty International estimated 1,40,000 arrests, without trial, during those 20 cruel months. Those were the days of the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). Passed in 1971, it gave then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her dispensation broad powers, including indefinite preventive detention, search and seizure of property without warrants, even wiretapping. Poet and activist Varavara Rao was detained during the Emergency, under MISA, as were hundreds of other intellectuals.
As memories of the Emergency faded, in 2002, came the brutal and draconian The Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA), passed on March 26, 2002. This replaced the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) of 2001. It was supposed to be softer than the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) (1985-1995). It was anything but.
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