Inhumanity and Injustice: from We Have No Orders to Save You

 

As a society, we tend to look at the decaying world through our rose-colored glasses. We don’t want to see anything less than perfection in the world. We are numb to all of the destruction happening outside of our little bubble. In the passages titled ¨Manipulation of Police Reports,¨ ¨Detaining Muslim Youth,¨ and ¨Relief Camps and Rehab,¨ from the report We Have No Orders to Save You, researcher Smita Narula gives insight into the inhumane treatment of Muslims along with the injustice of law enforcement. She illustrates this through interviews of those affected, witnesses, as well as narration of an experience the Human Rights Watch had while visiting the ̈relief camps.¨

Narula interviews individuals and witnesses who have experienced police brutality or injustice in order to assert the idea of police corruption. In her passage ¨Manipulation of Police Reports,̈ Narula interviewed an attorney who assists victims and their families and he stated

When witnesses file complaints, the police enter their statements according to their preference. They don’t file complaints properly. People are uneducated and the police don’t show them the statement, they just get them to sign it. The police don’t record statements properly. In some cases, they won ́t write the name of the accused (48).

This demonstrates the crook-like behavior of the police. They fill out the victim statements, twisting their statements for personal gain rather than justice for these individuals. Officers in that area want to make sure they keep their jobs even if it means blatantly lying about helping those in dire need. Another grievance civilians have with officials is the unjustified detainment of many Muslim youth. Many of these youth are young men whom are being falsely accused of crimes they did not commit. A victim, Gomptipur, was beaten by police and stated 

The police pulled me out, slapped me, and hit me with the butt of their gun twice… Then they grabbed the boys and took them and beat them… Those boys were arrested and have not returned. Five people were killed in police firing, those cases have been filed against the boys that they took (50). 

According to the Human Rights Watch, about twenty-six Muslim youth were arrested between the dates of February 28 and March 1. Among one of those arrests, the Human Rights Watch spoke to an individual who was involved in the legal proceedings and they stated

̈A woman named Jainab was burned alive here by the police and the RSS. That case is on our boys under section 302 [murder] of the Indian Penal Code and there are many other charges against them¨ (50).

The brutality of officers is going completely unnoticed by higher government officials, and instead, the blame is being put onto several young Muslims. Justice is not being served for anybody in this case. The officers are not being held responsible for what they did, and the boys are paying the price for something they did not do. Interviews with the victims and witnesses is not the only way Narula demonstrates the severity of injustice that is happening during these Gujarat riots. She also uses imagery and word choice to exhibit the inhumanity of these so-called relief camps. 

About 98,000 people were displaced due to the communal violence happening in Gujarat. Most of these people had no other choice but to go live in makeshift camps . The majority of these displaced individuals happen to be Muslim. The Human Rights Watch stated

̈The state government of Gujarat has failed to provide effective and equitable protection to those displaced by the violence. Security in the camps remains precarious, and there have been serious delays in the delivery of assistance, compensation, and rehabilitation support. The camps continue to lack medical support and there are reports of discrimination in the delivery of assistance to Muslims, as compared to Hindus affected by the violence ¨ (52).

This shows the inhumane conditions inside the camps, where human beings are being denied basic human rights to assistance and more importantly, health care following brutal attacks. It also shows the discrimination between the two groups of people affected. Narula alludes to the oppression Muslims faced in the camps as opposed to the Hindu population that was also severely impacted by the violence. Narula explains the conditions of the camps, stating

̈Each classroom in the municipal school building approximately fifteen by fifteen feet in size, housed fifty to sixty people, mostly women and children ̈ (52).

She also says

̈The men slept outside under makeshift shelters. For over a week following the attacks, residents lived and slept in the same clothes in which they fled. Many left their homes without even shoes ̈ (53).

This clearly paints a picture in the reader’s mind of the size of this claustrophobic box that human beings are staying in as a form of shelter. It also could paint a picture in the reader’s head of the similar concentration camps that the Jewish population were being put into. They, like the Muslim people, were also being oppressed based on their religious views. Another horrific comment coming from the Human Rights Watch stated

̈Residents were living in the most inhumane conditions. The camp is situated in a Muslim cemetery. Many of its 6,000 residents were literally sleeping between the graves ̈ (53).

They also noted, while visiting the camps, that there was

̈limited food rations ̈ as well as ̈no police posts¨ and ̈no security had been provided to camp residents, leaving residents unprotected ̈ (53).

The imagery provided almost makes the reader feel as if they themselves have walked through the camps and seen every gruesome condition in which these individuals were thrown into. 

Smita Narula delivers a powerful message in her report to those who may be naive to the injustice and inhumanity that happened in Gujarat. Her use of emotional appeals as well as the interviews from the victims themselves helps to emphasize her message. Her intention is to open up everybodyś eyes and have people speak up about the bigger issues going on. We tend to focus on the attacks and the perpetrators while the victims and unjust arrests are almost always overlooked. This is the reason why so many officers and the government-established ̈relief camps ̈ have gotten away with so many things. We need to look at the bigger picture of human beings being treated like animals, put into camps with little to no assistance, being left to die; as well as those incarcerated, left to their own devices for something they didn’t do. Hopes and prayers are not going to help justice be served; Muslims will still face religious persecution, the system will remain corrupt, and death totals will continue to climb. 

 

Work Cited

Narula, Smita. “We Have No Orders to Save You.” Apr.  2002, https://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/india/gujarat.pdf. Accessed 14 December 2019.