Nearly 100 retired bureaucrats on Saturday wrote an open letter to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, expressing pain at the “constant plumbing the depths of depravity and callousness in governance” and demanding punishment for the officials who had failed the Hathras rape victim.
They, however, reminded Adityanath that as the chief executive of the state, he bore the ultimate responsibility for what had happened.
“Your actions over the past three-and-a-half years give us little reason to believe that your actions are motivated by respect for the rule of law. We urge you to conduct your administration in accordance with the letter and spirit of the Constitution of India, to which you have sworn allegiance when you assumed office,” the letter, written on behalf of Constitutional Conduct, a collective of retired civil servants, said.
The letter expressed hope that the chief minister would deliver justice to the Hathras victim and her family “without fear or favour, despite the efforts of specific upper caste groups to interfere with the course of justice”.
It referred to the haste with which the victim’s body was cremated in the dead of the night without her family’s consent or participation.
“Being a person attached to a persuasion of the Hindu faith, you would be well aware that Hindu customs require the nearest kin to offer agni to the mortal remains. Both the sacred traditions and the family’s pleas that they would perform the cremation in the mo-rning were ignored,” it said.
“To add insult to injury, a policeman is reported to have told the bereaved family that they were also to blame and the district magistrate has apparently been captured on video making veiled threats to the family that they should be careful about their statements to the media, because the officials would be around even after the media departs.”
The collective voiced its scepticism as it referred to reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked Adityanath to fast-track the case to secure an early conviction.
“With our experience as erstwhile administrators in different departments of the central and state governments, our group of former civil servants had, in the past, highlighted the brazen violations of the rule of law in the Unnao rape case and in the murder of the police inspector in Bulandshahr,” the letter said.
“We note with concern that, even after two years, the ghastly murder of a brother officer has not stirred the UP police and your administration to bring the case to closure. In these circumstances, we may be forgiven for viewing UP’s fast-track justice system with scepticism.”
Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh was shot dead in December 2018 while trying to control a mob rampaging in Bulandshahr over an alleged instance of cow slaughter.
The letter expressed concern also about the “novel interpretations of fast-track justice” on Yogi Adityanath’s watch. “In recent days, we have seen two instances where alleged criminals have met their deaths while being transported by the police to Uttar Pradesh. Even if they were guilty of the offences listed against them, they were entitled, under the Constitution of India and the laws of the land, to a fair trial. Denial of this right amounts to violation of Article 21 of the Constitution,” it said.
The collective described as “reprehensible” Adityanath’s decision to withdraw cases registered against him in the past.
“Politicians never tire of saying ‘the law must take its course’. Why depart from this article of faith for your party and government?” the letter asked.
Among the signatories to the letter were former national security adviser (NSA) Shivshankar Menon, former health secretary Sujatha Rao, former deputy NSA Vijaya Latha Reddy, former finance secretary Narendra Sisodia, former ambassadors Navrekha Sharma and Deb Mukharji, and former Bengal DGP (Intelligence) A.K. Samanta.
