Simple equation

Sir ? Ashok Mitra tries to bring out the brighter side of things in his article, ?A serenade to Gujarat? (March 31). The point of his argument, so far as one can understand, is that one should not lose hope in human and humane values prevailing over evil because for every Narendra Modi from Gujarat, there is also a Teesta Setalvad, ?the brave young social activist from Mumbai? who almost single-handedly brought the Best Bakery criminals to book. But just as ?the sins of...Narendra Modi? should not be ?sufficient reason for blackening Gujarat?, it is also true that one Setalvad cannot be used to paint the rest of India as a homogeneous force of goodness. Setalvad?s efforts ensured that justice was done in the Best Bakery case, but the perpetrators of the carnage against thousands of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984, the killers of innocent farmers in Nanur or Keshpur in 2000-2001 have all gone scot-free for want of a braveheart like Setalvad who could have taken up cudgels against them. Let us hope that a day will come when there will be many more Setalvads in India to stand up against every kind of injustice.

Yours faithfully,
S.B. Gupta, Calcutta

Sir ? The point of Ashok Mitra?s article is somewhat obscure. He says that it would be wrong to equate Gujarat with the activities of the Bajrang Dal and its cohorts. But a state is an abstract concept; it is the people inhabiting it that make or mar its image. The results of the last assembly elections in Gujarat, which came just after the pogrom, proved that the people of the state have no problems in being led by a man like Narendra Modi. If they had so wished, they could have easily toppled Modi by voting against him. Lone crusaders like Teesta Setalvad will always be there, but to prevent their fights from becoming irrelevant, the people should stop pretending to be helpless and use the powers that democracy vests in them. The tarnished image of Gujarat can be salvaged only when the people of the state call out for an end to the politics of violence.

Yours faithfully,
Paroma Maiti, Calcutta

Sir ? Human beings tend to interpret events in terms of black or white. It is easy to canonize or demonize a person or an event, and we are lured into doing this every now and then. We like to forget that standards of judgment are relative and what seems good to one might be adjudged evil by others. Besides, as rightly pointed out by Ashok Mitra, ?a deviant part could never claim to represent the whole?. Dismissing Gujarat as the state happy to be mired in communalism will do nothing to solve the problems that plague it. It is also a lopsided view as it ignores the achievers who have hailed from the state. Gujarat has produced some of the greatest industrialists of India and the presence of the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad has ensured that quite a few brilliant minds still emerge from the state every year.

Yours faithfully,
A. Ghosh, Calcutta

No mercy

Sir ? The Rajasthan high court has shown great sensitivity in ruling that the punishment for rape must depend on the conduct of the accused along with the gravity of the act and not on the social status of the offender (?No status shield for rapists?, April 1). In the case which occasioned the ruling, the two accused, Mahaveer and Balveer, had tried to plead for a reduction of their sentence on the ground that they were ?well-respected? people. They were clearly trying to take unfair advantage of their position in society ? a strategy often resorted to by the accused in rape cases. The high court ruling will hopefully discourage offenders from using their influence to escape punishment in the future. The sentence of ten years? imprisonment, and a fine of Rs 10,000 each, was, however inadequate punishment for a grievous offence like rape. The fine can be easily paid and once the term of imprisonment is over, the accused are free to commit the same crime again. The punishment for rape must be such that the fear of the law will deter the convicted from a sexual offence ever again in his life.

Yours faithfully,
Moumita Nandi, Calcutta

Sir ? The Rajasthan high court?s ruling in the recent case of the gangrape of a 25-year-old housewife is welcome, particularly in the context of the rising incidence of rape in India. But India?s record remains dismal when it comes to implementation of the laws on sexual crimes. As a result, these crimes are never on the decline. What is most important is to bring the guilty to book as fast as possible. Installing more judges and lower courts, handing over investigation to independent agencies, and bringing in laws to prevent witnesses from turning hostile, can go a long way in stopping crimes like rape.

Yours faithfully,
C.R. Bhattacharjee, Calcutta