Communalism, Communal Violence and Human Rights

Author(s): Asghar Ali Engineer

Source: India International Centre Quarterly , DECEMBER 1986, Vol. 13, No. 3/4, THE
RIGHT TO BE HUMAN (DECEMBER 1986), pp. 161-172
Published by: India International Centre

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23001443

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

India International Centre is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
India International Centre Quarterly

This content downloaded from

203.194.99.153 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 07:15:18 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Communalism, Communal Violence and
Human Rights
Asghar Ali Engineer

c
COMMUNALISM and communal violence seem to have become
endemic to our society. There cannot be any doubt that this is a
structural problem, integral to the processes and nature of social
transformation. Communalism creates the 'appropriate' milieu for
communal violence; and communalism has become germane to the
peculiar social structure of Indian society and its transformative dyna
mics. This process of transformation changes the correlation of forces
in the existing structure, disturbing its stability, and it brings about
confrontation among the newly emerging correlation of forces. The
level and intensity of violence depends on the nature and intensity of
this correlation. Amitai Etzioni makes a similar statement in his
analysis.1

In a sense, the "discrepancies between the desires of members

and the provisions of society to grow" is the key factor in generating
communalism and communal violence. This discrepancy is aggravated
if the central authority of the communal units, or that of society as a
whole, is very weak, and if it allows itself to be manipulated by the
communitarian forces. The state structure, representing the central
societal authority as a whole, supposedly reflects normative ideological
values (religious or secular); but in reality it is dominated and mani
pulated by a complex pragmatic reality. More often than not, the
ideological has to yield to pragmatic values.

Again, it must be noted that the state is notional and the government

161

This content downloaded from

203.194.99.153 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 07:15:18 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
162 ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER

functional. State structure is determined by its philosophy of ideals,

whereas the government is run by the politicians who represent not
only class interests but also personal ambitions. It has been observed
that ideological interests dominate in the initial period, and with the
passage of time when new forces are released due to the process of
development, politics tend to become manipulative.

The founding fathers of the Indian state had adopted democracy

and secularism as its philosophy. They also enshrined in its constitu
tional document certain guarantees for the rights and privileges—both
linguisitic and religious—of minorities Both secularism and democracy
are bourgeois ideals, highly necessary for developing a capitalist
society. These ideals had inspired those who had fought for India's
freedom. The Indian bourgeoisie had its own ambitions and aspirations,
which could be fulfilled only by adopting secularism as the state creed
in a multi-religious, multi-lingual society. In such a society a viable
state structure could be built only by integrating these variant religio
linguistic groups. Geographical integration could be guaranteed only
by bringing together the people of different locales.

Politics in the initial period, as pointed out above, was dominated

by the ideal of secularism, and inter-communal friction remained within
legitimate limits. However, as time went by and the process of deve
lopment released new forces, the ideological came to be subordinated
to the manipulative. Today it is the politics of manipulation that plays
the key role while the politics of ideology has lost all significance in
national life. Caste and community feelings are shrewdly manipulated
to win elections. In a way the process of development deeply disturbs
the shared values of various societal groups due to maladjustment
of newly released forces.

There is another reason for the breakdown of not only shared

values but of values in general. The urban growth based on the influx
from rural areas has produced anonymity, a sense of inner vacuum.
The sense of belonging to a village or to a community produces inner
certitude which is necessary for emotional stability. Thus with fast
urban growth due to the continuous influx of population from rural
areas we have a total breakdown of traditional shared values. The
ground is ready for such movements that provide a sort of inner
certitude to the lower-middle class people who constitute, along wit
working classes and lumpenproletariat, the bulk of the urban
population.

It is observed that the fundamentalist movements among Hindus

as well as Muslims are urban-based, drawing their support mainly

This content downloaded from

203.194.99.153 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 07:15:18 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 C0MMUNAL1SM AND HUMAN RIGHTS 163

from the lower-middle classes. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, various

other Hindu Senas and the Jamat-e-lslami swell their ranks. These
fundamentalist movements create a sense of belonging to a religious
community, and compensates for the loss of traditional values and
association with the village community. Add to this the inherent
conservatism of the Indian people, and we have all the rationale for
these fundamentalist movements.

However, the founders of the fundamentalist movements are not

as innocuous as those who join them for psychological reasons. They
have certain political motives, some apparent and some not so appa
rent. Religious orthodoxy is sought to be harnessed for political
purposes. Thus these movements soon adopt confrontationist postures
vis-a-vis the other community. In Minakshipuram district in Tamil Nadu
the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which became very active after the
conversion of a few Harijans to Islam, has since then been involved
in many communal riots. The Jamat-e-lslami has also quickened the
pace of its propaganda for Iqamat-e-Din (i.e. consolidation of religion).

The Hindu and Islamic fundamentalist movements are not only

reinforcing religious orthodoxy, but they are also creating an atmos
phere of communalism. As already noted, the atmosphere is highly
conducive for sparking off communal riots. These movements high
light obscure issues such as the Ram Janam Bhumi Mukti Andolan.
It is alleged by the organizers of this Mukti Andolan that Babar, the
first Mughal emperor, had demolished the temple in Ayodhya and
constructed a mosque there known as Masjid-e-Babari.

A huge Rath yatra was organized in the first week of October 1984
to claim the temple. According to The Times of India report, "Ram
Janki Rath", carrying the image of Lord Rama and Janki, arrived in
Ayodhya late in the evening.

The Rath was followed by a large convoy of jeeps, cars, trucks, motor-cycles
and bicycles, carrying the devotees of Lord Rama... The Rath is being taken out
on a long march from Sitamarhi in Bihar to Lucknow by the 'Ram Janam Bhumi
Mukti Yagna Samiti', for the liberation of the Ram Janam Bhumi temple in
Ayodhya, where, according to legend, Lord Ram was born. The Ram Janam
Bhumi temple has been under receivership, appointed by a civil court in 1949. A
part of the temple was believed to have been demolished by the Mughal ruler
Babar in 1526.2

Earlier the Vishwa Hindu Parishad had also organized a country

wide yatra (march). The politicians are not slow to take advantage
of such situations. Politicians of different parties (except perhaps

This content downloaded from

203.194.99.153 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 07:15:18 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
164 ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER

those of the left), incapable of solving the crucial problems of poverty,

backwardness and unemployment, find a convenient diversion in
communalism. In a parliamentary democracy such as that of India, the
battle of the hustings can also be easily won with caste and commu
nity armour. Obscure issues can arouse Indian masses emotionally.
'Liberating' a mosque or a temple is far easier than liberating human
beings from ignorance and poverty. Who cares if in the process of
'liberating' a mosque or a temple, a few hundred human beings die?
This is literally what happened in Meerut in September-October 1982.

The controversy in Meerut centred around a temple and a mazar

(a holy grave) which the Hindus and Muslims sought to 'liberate'.
The whole dispute was over a few metres of land on which both the
temple and the grave were supposedly situated. A careful investiga
tion revealed that there was neither temple nor mazar, that these were
fabricated stories. Yet the riots over these fictitious issues continued
for over a month, and more than a hundred precious lives were lost.
The most disturbing disclosure was that crafty politicians of the BJP
and the Congress (I) inspired these riots!

Take the Biharsharif riot in May 1981, which involved a dispute

over cemetry land belonging to Muslims. The Yadavas, in order to
claim land in this rapidly developing urban centre, where prices were
soaring, constructed a Shiva temple overnight. The fight between the
Hindus and Muslims in Biharsharif claimed more than 150 lives, accor
ding to a reliable unofficial finding. The official report admitted about
54 deaths, along with several 'missing' who were later found to be dead.
The Bhiwandi riot of 18-25 May 1984 was sparked off by Bal Thackaray's
allegedly insulting remarks about the Prophet and the Muslims.

Religious orthodoxy is carefully cultivated by politicians. It is

used for promoting communalism, which in turn is used for provoking
communal riots. It is indeed a sad fact that the ignorance and
religious sentiments of the impoverished masses are being exploited
by clever politicians. It is even more pathetic that the modern media,
including television, radio and newspapers, are also being systemati
cally used for carefully promoting religious orthodoxy as well as
communalism. With few exceptions, newspapers print provocative
accounts of communal violence, blaming one or the other community.
One is dismayed by the total lack of objectivity in many of these
accounts.

During the Bhiwandi-Bombay riots of May 1984 one of the wor

affected areas was Kherwadi (near Bandra, a western suburb

This content downloaded from

203.194.99.153 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 07:15:18 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 COMMUNALISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS 165

Bombay). In an atmosphere charged with tension a reporter of a major

English daily in Bombay published an 'investigative' report which
asserted that more than 18 Hindus were stabbed by Muslims in a day
in the Kherwadi area. The report was false, and even the police
authorities declared it invalid. The damage that such concocted
'investigative' reporting can cause, especially in a situation suffused
with communal sentiments, is incalculable.

This distressing state is worse when one turns to the vernacular

press. Hindi, Marathi and Urdu newspapers vie with each other in
publishing highly emotional stories in hyperbolic language. A careful
analysis of regional language newspaper reports of the Meerut, Baroda,
Malegaon, and Bhiwandi-Bombay riots reveals highly provocative
accounts of the proceedings. During the Bhiwandi-Bombay riots
the Marathi papers published astonishingly different reports from the
English counterparts of the same group of newspapers. Loksatta and
the Maharashtra Times of the Indian Express and The Times of India
group, for example, carried entirely different versions of the same
events. It is also important to note that the vernacular papers are read
by the lower-middle classes, as well as the poor masses who are
already the victims of communalism. Such highly biased reporting only
aggravates an aggrieved situation.

The role of T.V. and radio, although government-controlled,

reflects the same unhealthy trend. During and after the Bhiwandi
Bombay riots I carefully listened to various radio broadcasts and was
shocked to note that the programmes, meant for promoting communal
harmony, were couched in highly conservative religious idiom. They
were obviously meant to reinforce orthodoxy and conservative tradi
tions and left me wondering whether they were designed to promote
religious orthodoxy in general, and Hindu orthodoxy in particular. One
could find hardly anything enlightening and progressive, or conducive
to social change, in these programmes.

The radio has a wide reach, not only in urban but even in rural
areas. This is, one can say, a typical example of how technology can
be pressed into the service of orthodoxy and conservatism. It can
hardly be doubted that the government does it deliberately, in order to
promote the forces of religious orthodoxy, although in a secular
state like India this is highly undesirable.

Every religion has doctrinal as well as value structures. Doctrinal

structures may clash with each other, but value structures are com
plementary and integrative. Each religion has a unique value structure.

This content downloaded from

203.194.99.153 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 07:15:18 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
166 ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER

Hinduism's value structure is built around its principal value of non

violence; Buddhism's value structure draws its sustenance from
relief from dukha (i.e. pain); Islam's value structure is inspired by its
belief in brotherhood and equality. Christianity's value system
emphasizes love as of prime importance. Non-violence, relief from
dukha, brotherhood and equality and love are all complementary to
each other—whatever their ritual and doctrinal systems. However,
religious authorities tend to push aside the value system, and
emphasize the doctrinal system, thereby perpetuating differences.

It should also be noted that doctrinal differences assume violent

proportions—not by their virtue of being doctrinal differences, but by
other more operative factors affecting the interests of a section of or
an entire community. For example, there are doctrinal differences
between Islam and Buddhism, between Islam and Christianity and
between Islam and Hinduism. The doctrinal differences in the two
former do not build up into violent conflict; but the factors operative
between Hindus and Muslims are of a political and socio-economic
nature, affecting the interests of the elites of both the communities. In
the present context there is no violent conflict between Buddhism
and Hinduism (though there are serious doctrinal differences bet
ween the two) in India, but in Sri Lanka violence has erupted between
Buddhist Sinhalese and Tamil Hindus—although both claim their
origin from India. The conflict between the Buddhists and Tamils has
arisen due to factors extraneous to the respective religions. Doctrinal
differences in times of such conflicts get highly accentuated, and
are often perceived to be the root cause of such conflicts. Today
there is no conflict between the Christians and Muslims in India;
and so doctrinal differences of a very serious nature between Islam
and Christianity remain quite subdued; but they had acquired a highly
volatile character during the Crusades, the reasons again being
extraneous to religion.

II

We have dealt with a few aspects of communalism and communal

violence in some detail. We now propose to treat this subject
from the point of view of human rights which in the modern democra
tic era have acquired great significance. The consciousness of human
dignity and individual rights has assumed a great deal of importance.
Witness the work of Amnesty International and several other human
and democratic rights groups. Even after the Emergency, serious
violations of human rights continue in our country. As communal
violence is all-pervasive, one can expect a greater degree of violation
of human, civil and democratic rights in this arena.

This content downloaded from

203.194.99.153 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 07:15:18 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 COMMUNALISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS 167

One of the most serious violations of human rights is the arbitrary

detention of a person. During communal riots hundreds of persons
many of them innocent—are arbitrarily detained. Also, in such arbitrary
detention, the communal bias is operative. It has been observed that
the minorities communities are the worst sufferers. Several examples
can be cited. Justice Krishna Iyer, retired Supreme Court Judge, saw
in the Meerut riots a serious violation of human rights with a com
munal bias. After visiting Meerut he wrote a letter to the late Prime
Minister, Indira Gandhi:

. .. Simultaneously, there must be the realization that the official element in

volved in the process of implementation must be totally secular and must
appear to be secular so that they may create credibility in the common people
regardless of religion.3

He further observes:

I addressed the Meerut Bar Association and told them that they had a role to
play in protecting human rights when communal riots take place. They must
have a legal aid wing specially devoted to the cause, which will come into
action when communal orgies erupt. I told the Collector and the Bar that it was
violative of law and human rights to keep juveniles under 18 in adult prisons. I
was told that there were cases of teenagers being kept in jails. This is illegal
and inhuman. They should be forthwith released. Likewise the sole male bread
winner, leaving behind a wife and children, should not be kept in prison. They
are all poor people and have no means of living and if released, with condition
to report to the police station daily, will involve no risk. After all the police can
shadow them to ensure that there is no breach of the peace.4

Justice Krishna Iyer has made some important observations in

this letter. Generally poor people who have no one to defend them, or
get them released on bail, are the ones to be arrested. In Meerut
most of those arrested were rickshaw-pullers or poorly-paid workers
in small cottage industries who were not guilty of organizing or
executing the riots. What is worse, many of them were arrested in the
course of defending themselves against rioters. So too during investi
gation of the Biharsharif riots there was a case where a person was
arrested when he came to complain to the police that six of his
relatives had been killed. While admitting the arrest of Momtaz, R.S.
Singh (the district police official) maintained that he was wanted in
another case and now orders had been issued to release him.5

The communal situation worsens as the real culprits enjoy

political support and remain at large while innocent people, often the
bread-earners of their families, get detained. The families of the latter
are reduced to starvation. Justice Krishna Iyer suggested to the

This content downloaded from

203.194.99.153 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 07:15:18 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
168 ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER

Bar in Meerut to form legal aid committees in riot situations to

safeguard the rights of such victims.

The most shocking communal evidence in such situations is when

Hindu advocates refuse to defend Muslim accused and vice-versa.
During the Bhiwandi-Bombay riots in May 1984 when 8977 persons
were arrested,6 separate committees of Hindu and Muslim advocates
were formed to defend the accused of their respective communities.
When a Hindu advocate took some cases involving the Muslim
accused, Hindu advocates entered into violent argument with him.7

Police officials and advocates are not the only ones whose
decisions have communal overtones. Even lower court judges and
magistrates do not remain unaffected by communal bias while granting
bail to the accused of a particular community. D.N. Santani of the
Bhiwandi court cited several such instances when I was investigating
communal riots in Bhiwandi in 1970. In the Bhiwandi riot of May 1970,
police officers up to the rank of the Superintendent of Police had
forged their diaries so as to victimize a minority community. The
Madon Commission had passed severe strictures against these police
officers. Justice Madon points out in his report:

None of the reasons advanced by Additional I.G.P. Modak and S.P. Bhave can
be tully accepted for some of them can fit in with the number of arrests made.
The places where the acts of arson and rioting by Hindus took place and the
fact that at most of these places there were police pickets or patrol parties
shows that the true explanation is that the police practised discrimination in
making arrests and concentrated upon Muslim rioters turning a blind eye to
what Hindu rioters were doing.8

He further points out:

It was alleged that innocent Muslims who had nothing to do with the distur
bances were arrested from their homes, mosques and other places where they
were taking shelter and charged either with committing cognizable offences or
breach of curfew order. It is not possible to believe that every Muslim who was
arrested was innocent. A number of Hindus have been killed and injured in the
disturbances and a number of Hindu properties set on fire . . . The evidence
however does show that some Muslims were wrongly arrested, and that the
order given by additional I.G.P. Modak to enforce the curfew strictly, or in other
words, as he himself described it, the order for mass arrests was interpreted
as the mass arrests of Muslims and not of Hindus and Muslims both . . .9

Whatever the intention of the order, it is clear that innocent people

were arrested on account of a communal bias. We are concerned here
not with the community, but with innocent human beings whose

This content downloaded from

203.194.99.153 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 07:15:18 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 COMMUNALISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS 169

democratic rights are trampled under just because they belong to a

'different' community. This is a gross violation of human rights.

Apart from arbitrary arrests and incarceration, the loss of human

lives is a more serious affair. One can hardly find any excuse for it
unless one ceases to have any belief in the sacredness of human life.
Communal riots result in the loss of several hundred lives every year
in India. In the Bhiwandi-Bombay riots in 1984, in its first phase
from 18 to 25 May, about 258 lives were officially declared lost.
According to a reliable non-official source, more than 400 persons
were killed in Bhiwandi alone and many more were killed in the Thane
Bombay area during the week 18-25 May. This in itself is no negligible
figure.10

The seriousness of the occurrence of communal riots can be

gauged from the fact that in 1977 as many as 6258 riots took pla
This totals almost 20 incidents a day. The figure fell to 3690 in 19
but again rose to 4000 in 1983. In the Assam riots alone, more than
3500 persons were killed last March.11

Most of the casualties are due not to rioting, but to the shooting by
the protectors of law and order. In Assam I was told by the bereaved
that the Assam police was in the forefront in the attack.12 In the
Meerut riots the PAC dragged out a number of innocent people living
in Feroze building and shot them; the death toll was more than 50. In
the Hyderabad riot a Sub-Inspector is alleged to have shot two
young boys returning from school.13 Many such occurrences in other
places can be quoted.

ill

In India every year communal violence not only deprives thousands

of people of their civil liberties and human rights; it also deprives
several hundreds of their lives. There is another dismal aspect to
such communalism. Those killed in air or train accidents are entitled
to adequate compensation; but those killed in communal riots are
given a very paltry sum, usually not exceeding a thousand rupees.11
The Minorities Commission's 1982 report does not recommend any
definite sum for those who die in communal riots. It merely says that
in cases where the victims of riots are the earning members of their
families the bereaved must be given monetary assistance to enable
them to maintain themselves; in addition, employment should be
provided to at least one member of each bereaved family; and those
who were wholly or partially incapacitated, as a result of the injuries
received by them, should be given adequate monetary and material
assistance to enable them to earn a living.15

This content downloaded from

203.194.99.153 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 07:15:18 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
170 ASGHAR A LI ENGINEER

Referring to the question of compensation by the Minorities

Commission, Judge Justice H.R. Khanna, said:

Apart from the legal liability of the State, the question of the moral responsibi
lity of the State may also have to be considered. The State does admit its
liability to give adequate relief to victims of floods and cyclones, even though
there is no law fastening any such legal liability on the State. In such cases, it
is not the cause of such floods and cyclones, but it is the human suffering
caused by such phenomena that is the paramount consideration. The loss of
life and property that is caused by communal riots may be placed on par with
the loss of life and property caused by natural phenomena.16

Though Mr. Justice Khanna considers it a moral responsibility of

the state to pay adequate compensation to those killed in communal
riots, there is no such move on the part of the government. The families
of the victims continue to suffer, especially when the breadwinner dies
or gets injured seriously.

All this calls for a serious attempt to check the repeated occur
rence of communal riots in our country. But this is easier said than
done. When I was about to finish this article there came the news of
the outbreak of serious communal violence against the Sikhs in
Delhi and several other states, including U.P., Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. It is reported that about 1500 Sikhs
were killed in the three-day violence in Delhi alone. About 106 were
killed in the Bokaro steel city of Bihar.17 It is difficult to estimate how
many were killed in other states. The loss of property would run into
several crores. It is for the first time in the history of India that anti
Sikh riots have taken place. What is more shocking is that members of
the Congress (I), a secular party, were openly inciting violence against
the Sikhs. With these riots, communal violence has acquired another
dimension.

This content downloaded from

203.194.99.153 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 07:15:18 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 COMMUNALISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS

NOTES

1. "Three sociological concepts are useful in exploring the relationship betw

the structure and processes of society and its level of violence. These are
societal bonds, which indicate the degree of social integration, and are also
seen in shared values, necessary economic exchanges, and the ability of central
authority to speak for the unit; societal structures which are the patterns of
relationships among social groups; and societal processes, which are the
mechanism through which the bonds and structures are maintained and
changed. Societal processes may be responsive to members or they may allow
discrepancies between the desires of members and the provisions of society
to grow. The greater the discrepancy, the greater the violence potential."
Etzioni Amitai, "Collective Violence" in Merton, R.K. and Nisbet, R. (eds)
Contemporary Social Problems (4th edition) (New York, 1976), 721 pages. See
also Pravin J. Patel, "A Socio-Cultural Analysis of Increase in Communal
Violence: The Baroda Situation", a mimeographed paper, p. 32
2. See "Rath Arrives in Ayodhya" in The Times of India, 8 October 1984.
3. Krishna Iyer. V.R. "Lessons from Meerut", Mainstream, 20 November 1982,
pp. 10-11. Ibid., p.11.
4. Ibid., p. 11.
5. Engineer, Asghar Ali. "Case Studies of Five Major Riots from Biharsharif to
Pune" in Communal Violence in Post-Independence India (ed. Asghar Ali
Engineer). Bombay, 1984, p. 243.
6. Engineer, Asghar Ali. Bhiwandi-Bombay Riots—Analysis and Documentation,
Bombay, 1984, p.165.
7. Mr. D.N. Santani, an advocate from Bhiwandi court, who is a campaigner for
communal harmony told me of this event.
8. See Report of the Commission of Enquiry into the Communal Disturbances at
Bhiwandi, Jalgaon and Mahad in May 1970 by Justice D.P. Madon. Vol. Ill,
Part III (Bombay, n.d), p.13.
9. ibid., pp. 13-14.
10. Engineer, Asghar Ali. Op. cit.
11. Engineer Asghar Ali, "The Problem of Assam—Communal or Regional or
Linguistic" in Communal Violence in Post-Independence India, op. cit.
12. Ibid.

13. Engineer, Asghar Ali, "Hyderabad Riots—An Analytical Report" in Communal

Violence in Post-Independence India, op. cit.
14. Recently after the Bhiwandi-Bombay riots the Chief Minister of Maharashtra
announced a compensation of Rs 5000 for those killed, Rs 2000 for those
injured and Rs 1000 to those who received minor injuries. After the anti-Sikh
riots from 1-4 November 1984 in Delhi, which followed in the wake of the

This content downloaded from

203.194.99.153 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 07:15:18 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER

assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, a compensation of Rs 20,000 for those

killed was announced. It is for the first time that such a high rate of compensa
tion was granted.
15. See Second Annual Report of the Minorities Commission (for the year ending
31 December 1979) (Delhi, 1980) pp. 6-7.
16. Minorities Commission Third Annual Report (for the year ending 31 December
1980) (Delhi 1982), pp. 70-71.
17. See The Times of India, 9 November 1984, p. 13.

This content downloaded from

203.194.99.153 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 07:15:18 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms