Welcome decision by the cabinet

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WE welcome the approval of a draft bill by the cabinet to drop the provision that gives the courts the power to issue warrants of arrest against editors, publishers, writers and reporters in defamation cases. This goes to meet a long standing demand of the journalist community. Editors, publishers and journalists are often harassed through such cases whenever complainants fail to accept reports in the right spirit. This usually happens where quarters, having both political and financial clout, feel aggrieved by some exposure they cannot come to terms with. It is not known how many editors, publishers and journalists have faced this situation over the years while reporting on corruption and abuse of power or gross violation of social norms.
The gravest threats do not emanate from states. Real threats mostly come from fanatics with frozen thoughts, who can transform into terrorists sometimes. But alleged state excesses do arise in the process of combating terrorist activities. In the tense and confused situations created by terrorists, it becomes difficult to adjudicate whether those excesses were due to a bona fide wrong assessment of the ground realities or deliberate misdeeds.
Our present democratic institutions are hopefully strong enough to keep the country's power under control. In situations where the state needs to guard its citizens against real or perceived terrorist attacks, many innocent people do end up being tortured. That leads to a bottomless pit of violence.
In this game, only God understands human rights. Where selfishness or power counts the game may take the form of banning of minarets in Switzerland or harsh interrogation techniques in Guantanamo.

Gopal Sengupta
Canada,
e-mail: gopalsengupta@aol.com