Orissa Matters

Unuttered Yet Unanswered A Question of Late Asharani Pattanayak

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

My mother Asharani, the last daughter-in-law of Ex-State Tigiria’s last Rautroy (hereditary chief of the royal army till the State merged with India), the revered Late Jagabandhu Rautroy Pattanayak and wife of late Nishanatha Pattanayak, who despite being a member of a Mahatrana privileged family (hereditarily privileged to possess property without paying any royalty to the King), had given all the support for the Prajamandal Andolana (freedom movement of the inhabitants of Princely States), has breathed her last on the Hospital bed in the evening of 16 December 2011 at the age of 91. She succumbed to Gastric Adenocarcinoma, that had, by the time of diagnosis, after many weeks wasted in Kalinga Hospital without any relevant investigation, had spread into an incurable stage.

She was motherliness incarnate. She was simplicity incarnate. Aristocratic in mentality, she was most compassionate in reality.

All my childhood friends and all the children of our Sahi (neighborhood) were seeing in her the most concerned and affectionate mother that their experience could prompt them to comprehend and my childhood teachers who were coming to our house to teach me were also having the same feeling, as my revered teacher Sri Bira Kishore Mishra has told me several times.

She was a mother to all the labors that were working in our agricultural fields and engaged in household works. Never had it happened that a poor person had wanted any help from her, but was denied. As I remember my days in Tigiria, if a beggar was seemingly starving, she was not only giving alms, but also feeding him/her with utmost concern, care and affection.

Plants and animals in our compound and surrounding were one with her being always. The kindness and emotion with which they were being treated can be of seldom similarity elsewhere.

But she was of a typical Gadjati (paradigmatically highlander) personality that had, by birth, made her absolutely fearless and completely free of hypocrisy, and therefore, in her expression of appreciation or disapproval of any matter, she was honest, specific and sharp.

She was an early riser and a tireless user of time till retiring for the night. She had had no schooling, because the village Ganjara she was born to, (you may know of Ganjara from my poem first published in ‘Eureka‘ and compiled in my book on the anvil, ‘Ketebele Kemiti) had no school. A traditional Abadhan (Alphabet teacher) belonging to the astrologer caste had taught her up to the ability of reading Jagannatha Das’s Oriya Bhagavata and Sutra (formula) of basic arithmetic enough to keep accounts of domestic expenditures. But she had developed an enviable reading habit and whenever not busy in work in the home or garden, she was busy in reading poems, stories and Purans. Reading language newspapers every morning and watching Oriya news channels in every evening was one of her hobbies. But the highest of happiness she was having was in giving return gifts for every favor done to her by anybody at anytime. Even in Hospital bed, she had not given up this practice. Before she had become too shrunk to utter words, she had wanted me to give some lemons from our garden to a Doctor that had treated her quite kindly and had asked a nursing sister as to which fruit she likes most and knowing of her preference for mangos, she has given instruction to me and to my brothers to give her the best of mangoes from our garden, when the season comes.

Such and much more was my mother Asharani.

She gave a very brave fight against the pernicious disease. And, she endured the menacing pains sans any remission. Lest we in the family fall deep into worries, she was keeping her eyes closed while silently trying to suppress the tormenting aches that cancer was giving her. And, till her last moment, the dreaded disease that ate away her body, had failed to diminish her composure.

The Doctors knew that they cannot cure her. It was known that medical science cannot save her life. Yet, she was not led to peace, as the Laws of our land do not allow a terminally ill and incurable patient to die with dignity.

Her brooding about why this happens and her unuttered reaction that her tired glances were sending into my fingers had made me cry out on the screen of my iPhone on the corridors of the Hospital, in a state almost of abstraction.

I think to share one of such cries with you, because I feel, no terminally ill person of my mother’s age and condition should be compelled to suffer so severely for so many days till death terminates her breathe, when medical science pronouncedly fails to ensure a cure.

So, here is the poem – the reflection of my mother’s silent brooding – for you to cogitate her unuttered question and to speak out your mind, if you like, on whether or not there should be a Law to lead any incurable and terminally ill senior citizen to peace with dignity. The words may be mine, but mingling must be in them, the helpless cries of all the children bereft of the beloved parents in similar situations.

Let us rise above dogmas relating to life, in interest of dignity of life and on the basis of absolute love for the ones we love the most.

Here is the unuttered question:

WHY?

You know you are not able to tackle my ailment
My limbs are age-eaten,
My veins are dry.
Yet for the drips you need a way!

For parenteral feed you have pierced all my veins;
Needles have ushered in thrombosis in them.
Yet you go on making more punctures ignoring my pain.
Do I not deserve to sleep in peace
Without the needles exploring
my veins in vain?

I have lived my life for ninety years
And contributed my might to the society of ours.

I have neither wished any ill to any nor harmed any in life,
A simple citizen I always am, a content housewife.

I do not know if my atrophy is caused by age
Or by the country in rich-man’s bondage,
Or by the country’s lack of concern for common man,
Or by the spurious medicines available under prescription.

All I know is I am ill beyond your curing capacity;
My question is:
Have I no right to be led into peace with dignity?

Why is it?
Why?

Swargadwara Must First Be Freed From Biju Patnaik’s Posthumous Encroachment

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Posthumously Biju Patnaik has emerged a greater danger to Orissa than when he was alive. Not only almost all the welfare programs and mass concerned institutes are being named/renamed after him, but also public places are being arbitrarily used to erect his statues for keeping the political sky of Orissa shrouded under his shadow for the benefit of his son, who heads a government of sycophants in the State.

Even the greatest of burning grounds of Orissa -Swargadwara – to which Oriyas pour in with dead bodies of dear ones to cremate or with eagerness to stay at Puri towards the last part of life only to have the privilege of getting cremated here, which, they believe, would sure help them have salvation or with commitment to Oriya tradition of paying respect to this holy crematorium as and when they visit Sri Jagannath, has been spoilt with erection of his tomb on its chest for the same nefarious political purpose.

People of Orissa had refused him a fresh mandate, severely affected as they were by scams, scandals and corruption in every sphere of administration when he was the chief minister and so, he had to breathe his last divested of power. The people have now taken up a campaign to free the Swargadwar from his posthumous encroachment.

Even as the Swargadwara land scam has landed in the High Court where the State Government is trying to save its skin, a combine called Jagannatha Sena has started demanding demolition of the tomb, erected unlawfully on this socio-spiritual property of the people of Orissa since ancient days.

First protest against the wrong design

For me, this development is a matter of satisfaction; because I was the first to censure this unlawful erection in my animadversion on Biju Patnaik in these pages on 9 August 2006, which was, till now, the only protest against the wrong done to this famous soil for political and selfish purposes of Panaik’s family and factotums that have managed to occupy power in Orissa taking advantage of the provincial unit of the Congress party gone spoilt under shortsightedness of its so-called national high command.

Apprehension

But, there is apprehension that the litigation before the High Court may lead to legitimization of massive misappropriation of majority portion of this most cherished cremation ground of Orissa on the shore of Mahodadhi (wrongfully renamed Bay of Bengal by the British that had established their headquarters in Bengal after occupying the land).

It is so apprehended; because, the case is now coined over a mere one acre of land whereas according to available information, its expanse originally was more than 30 Acres. If this information escapes the attention the High Court and adjudication remains limited to the relief sought for, this splendid crematorium would stay shrunk for ever.

Originally serving the followers of Buddha, Swargadwara was by manipulation grabbed by a follower of Vedic exponent Shankaracharya, namely Shankara Madhusudan Tirthaswamy, through ‘marfatdari’ (caretaking), in 1889 as, by then, Buddhist Sanghas in Orissa had almost been obliterated. Yet, the land was retained under lordship of Sri Jagannatha as ‘Amrutamanohi’ property.

If the High Court does not look beyond the preferred litigation and keeps itself limited to the dispute over the one Acre, handed over deliberately and mischievously to Puri Municipality in 1985, the original Swargadwara cannot be retrieved from the trespassers that have grabbed the land by manipulative means. The transfer of this small amount of land to the Municipality in 1985 was certainly a shrewd attempt to whitewash the crime and burry below the carpet for ever the illegal occupation of 30 times more land of Swargadwar by the land-grabbers after the same was left under ‘marfatdari’ of Tirthaswamy named supra. This illegality need be quashed with retrospective effect. And, for this, “better late than never” should be the dictum to guide the judicial wisdom.

Judiciary, which is the last refuge of cheated people of Orissa, ought to appreciate that the mischief the Government is playing in this matter is devastative.

Official mischief

In the first official response to public protests against shrinking of Swargadwara, the State Revenue Secretary asserted that the Swargadwara was never in existence. When the general public vehemently protested against this notorious lie, administration amended its version to say that the place the people call Swargadwara, was created in 1985, by way of allotment of 900 decimals of land to the Puri Municipality for crematorium purpose and later, through addition of another 100 decimals thereto on acquisition from private sources, for the same purpose. Out of this 1000 decimals (one acre), the government says, some persons have taken lease from the Municipality of certain portions and thus there is no encroachment.

The details of this, veracity thereof and legality, one expects, would be looked into by the court.

But for us, it is now pertinent to see why Swargadwara needs be freed from Biju’s posthumous encroachment.

Swargadwara: Its history and uniqueness

Before that it is necessary to understand Swargadwar and its uniqueness and why for ages it has stayed so close to the hearts of the people of Orissa.

The uniqueness of Swargadwara is discernible in its geographical location on the sea shore of Puri.

The wind flowing from Mahodadhi (the sea) over Swargadwara almost always moves in the direction of the Jagannatha temple where flutters atop it the flag of Buddha called ‘Patitapavana Bana’. The flag is so named, because Purusottama Buddha, the best amongst the sons of the soil of Orissa (The Real Birthplace of Buddha by Chakradhar Mohapatra, Grantha Mandir, Cuttack) was revered as Patita Pavana (emancipator of the downtrodden).

People believe, life after death, transported from a pyre at Swargadwar by the wind from the sea (Mahodadhi) mingles with the fluttering of the Patitapavana Bana on the Nilachakra of the Jagannatha temple and gets lifted thereby up into the Gagana (sky), conceived as Buddha in Vajrayana.

The greatest amongst the sons of Orissa for all time to come (Purusottama, meaning the ‘best amongst men’), Gurudev Buddha was propitiated as “Sarvavyapinam Gaganopam” by Indrabhuti, the founder of Vajrayana, who then was also the leader of the tribal Udiyana known by the name of Udradesha/Udissa/Orissa, when he coined the epithet ‘Jagannatha‘ for Buddha (Sri Jaya Devanka Baisi Pahacha: Subhas Chandra Pattanayak: Bharata Bharati, Cuttack) .

Jnanasiddhi, the scripture he gave to Vajrayana begins with the following verse:

“Pranipatya Jagannatham Sarvajina-vararchitam,
Sarva Buddhamayam sarvavyapinam gaganopamam,
Sarvadam-sarvasatoyah sarvajna varavararjinam
Bhaktyaham sarva bhavena vaksye tat sadhanam param”.

So Gurudev Buddha is “Sarvavyapi Gagana (all pervading sky) and the Sarvavyapi Gagana is Sarva Buddhamaya (in its entirety full of Buddha) as per Jnanasiddhi where Buddha is propitiated as Jagannatha.

Therefore, here, consigned to fire, when on the pyre the dead person’s body melts into elements, life after death gets transported to the waves of Patitapavana Bana atop Jagannatha temple by the wind that blows over Swargadwara from the Mahodadhi (sea) and thereby gets still higher transformation into the high sky, Oriyas believed, life after death gets enlivened by reaching the beloved emancipator, Gurudev Buddha, who, as noted above, is the sky himself.

This was in essence Swargadwara’s uniqueness in ancient days when Jagannatha was the beloved Purusottama Buddha of Orissa, not Sri Krushna of Dwaraka or Vishnu of Vedic pantheon.

Swargadwara was the greatest renewer of people’s faith in Buddha and remembrancer of his omnipresence in the Sky notwithstanding his presence in the worshiped form of Sri Jagannatha in Purusottama Kshetra, Puri.

Evil design of Vedic chauvinists

Swargadwara is a victim of evil deign of Vedic chauvinists.

From the days of Asoka to mediaeval times, history of Orissa is a history of attack on this Buddhist land by the Vedic chauvinists coming from outside Orissa and transformation of Orissa from a Buddhist place to a Hindu region.

Rev. J. Long in his famous essay captioned ‘Notes and Queries Suggested by a Visit to Orissa in January 1859’ gives a description of how “in AD 311 a king’s daughter had concealed the sacred tooth relics of Buddha in her hair and sailed out to Ceylon, which was then becoming a place of refuge to the Buddhists from the Brahmins’ rage” (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1859, No.III, Vol.XXVIIII,pp.185-87). The Brahmins’ rage was so sharp that a sect of butchers was created by the name of Pasupat Saiva and a non-Oriya King of Ganga dynasty was rewarding the members of this sect with gold coins when any of the said sect was beheading a Buddhist monk.

In Iswara Das’s Chaitanya Bhagavat we find how the King Ananga Bhima Dev being assisted by the Vidic chauvinists had butchered 32 Buddhist monks. In the same epic of Iswara Das, description also of 84 Siddhacharyas going underground after annihilation of 668 Buddhist monks by a King of Keshari dynasty is available in chapter 148 whereas Ekamra Purana gives an account of how a top royal functionary famous as Yama (perhaps for his pleasure in killing others), who had founded the Yameswar temple, had gifted a well sculptured abode adjoining it to a Pasupatacharya known for cruel killing of the Buddhists.

Very recent salvage of as much as 18 tons of silver bricks from Ramanuja’s M.R. @ Emar Math of Puri has generated interest in finding out as to why this massive store of silver was kept hidden in the Math. Research shows that not only silver, but also massive quantity of gold was stockpiled in this Math which has no trace available now though no records are available on use thereof. As for example, on the basis of records researcher Dr. Surendra Kumar Mishra has indicated that in the 15th century (when Vedic chauvinist were most actively campaigning to convert Sri Jagannath from Purusottama Buddha to Krushna of Hindu religion), the patriarch king of Ahichhatra in the heartland of Vedic activism (modern Bareli of Uttara Pradesh) had donated 750 mounds (about 300 kilograms) of gold to Emar Math as well as gold of the same amount to the sixteen villages of caste supremacists and avowed antagonists of Buddhism, notoriously styled as Shasanas (literally meaning the sixteen seats of administration). It is now necessary to investigate into treasure troves kept secret in other Maths; but it cannot be denied, in view of events noted above, that Vedic chauvinists from outside Orissa were bribing Brahmins and Matts with massive silver and gold to destroy Buddhism in its land of origin.

And, under this design, all the Vedic chauvinists and proponents of Brahminism from Samkaracharya to Nimbarka and Ramanuja had camped at Puri and had succeeded in causing confusion in the minds of the gullible public.

The Vedic chauvinists being dedicated to empire building were determined to destroy everything Buddhist, because Buddhist order was the order of democracy, of Sangha against autocracy, of integration against segregation. Sri Jagannatha as Buddha was the only hurdle on their way in India.

This is why the Brahmins – the beneficiaries of Veda and the Royals – the political opponents of democracy, had become one in transforming Jagannatha from Buddha to Vishnu and Swargadwara from a crematorium addressed to Buddha to a burning ground linked to Vishnu.

Instance in epic

This mischief is discernible in the epic ‘Daru Brahma Gita’ of Jagannatha Das of early sixteenth century.

The legend espoused in this epic is about cremation of Srikrushna in Swargadwara of Puri where his body, not completely reduced to ashes, metamorphosed into the image of Jagannatha.

According to this narration, when Srikrishna was killed by Jara Savara, the Pandavas were his only living relations, who were entitled to cremate his body. Under advice of Sahadev, they brought the body to Swargadwara of Srikshetra Puri and put on a pyre prepared of sandalwood procured from Nilasundar forest. But fire could not consume his body except the hands and the feet; because he was to be worshiped as Buddha in the shape of a torso. Following a directive from the sky, they threw the unburnt torso of Krushna into the sea, where, while floating, it was seen by Savar Biswabasu. The Savara consecrated the torso under the banyan tree near Rohini Kunda.

This is the story of evolution of Srikrushna as Jagannatha according to Darubrahma Gita.

That, the story is a shrewd attempt to implant Srikrushna on Buddha, who in torso form, sculptured on matriarch component of Buddhism, was being worshiped as Jagannatha, needs no elaboration.

The story is clearly aimed at misleading the people to believe that the torso worshipped under Bouddha Tantra as Jagannatha, was so shaped, because Srikushna wanted to be worshiped as Buddha sans hands and feet.

The banyan tree where Buddha was meditating, which is famous in Orissa as Kalpabata, is also projected in this episode to make out authenticity for the account given by Das.

And to add strength to this concocted story, blatant lies like the Pandavas deciding to cremate Krushna of Dwaraka in Swargadwara of Puri and the fire failing to consume his body except hands and feet, and unknown voice from the sky directing the Pandavas to throw the unburnt torso into the sea, and the said unburnt torso retuning to the sea shore to be collected by the Savara for consecration under the banyan tree near Rohini Kunda were resorted to sans qualms. In the process of coining the misleading story, Das however forgot that Rohini Kunda was created after addition of Balabhadra and Subhadra to Sri Mandira system, not before that. So,the narration of the torso of Sri Krushna being brought to the banyan tree near Rohini Kunda by the Savara to be worshipped as Jagannatha cannot but be a false, frivolous and fabricated story.

Evidence on ancientness of Swargadwara

For the purpose of our present discussion, the above narration of Daru Brahma Gita is of no relevance, except that it says also of the ancientness of Swargadwar in existence before writing of this epic in early sixteenth century.

If this mention of Swargadwara as a crematorium in a sixteenth century epic fails to convince about its age, let us look at the Gazette of India on Puri District published on 15 August 1977. It records:

“The swargadwara, or the gateway to heaven, is in the sandy beach towards the south-western corner of the town. It is said to be the place where God at the invitation of King Indradyumna came down to consecrate His sacred images. A dip in the sea near it is believed to secure heavenly bliss. When men die, such a place would be the most acceptable for an easy transition to heaven, and hence it has been selected as the cremation or burning ghat for the dead. The beach near Swargadwara is always crowded in the morning and evening. It is largely frequented by bathers, specifically in the month of Kartika. On the full-moon of Kartika (October – November) thousands of people come here to bathe and the concourse is said to number at times from forty to fifty thousand persons”. (page 790)

So, ancientness of Swargadwara as a crematorium of national and celestial importance in the days of the epics, before Jagannatha was transformed from Buddha to Krushna, is also admitted in the modern historical records like the official Gazette of India in 1977.

Now the Issue

What happened to that Swargadwara, which was in existence till at least 1977, the year when Biju Patnaik emerged as a national leader using Jayaprakash Narayan’s movement to his advantage and became a central Minister with his party – the Janata Dal – grabbing power in Orissa?

The present government, led by his son, must answer this question, specifically as its claim puts the life of Swargadwara to allocation of 900 decimals of land for the purpose to the Municipality in 1985.

Land-grabbers were hand-in-glove with Biju Patnaik, then in power, to take to their possession the lucrative sea shore of Puri. And Biju was obliging them. It was so scandalous that eminent MLAs and MPs of his party had raised strong objections thereto, besides party forums , in the media and on the floor of the Assembly. Even a frontbencher colleague of Biju, Tathagat Satapathy having castigated the government on this score in his debates in the Assembly, had put his disapproval in a signed editorial of the well circulated Dharitri that he edits. This is on records.

Therefore it is now essential to officially or judicially locate the expanse of Swargadwara prior to grabbing of power by Biju in 1977, as its existence up to that particular year is admitted in the official gazette cited supra. It was, as put under Tirthaswamy’s marfatdari in 1889, at least of 30 acres.

The entire land is to be retrieved

The so-called allocation to the Puri Municipality in 1985 – when the Municipality was in the hands of Biju followers – was designed to keep beyond purview the illegal change of land records, if any, in favor of trespassers or palm-greasers that, through corruption, have taken away the Swargadwara land.

So, it would be proper for the Court – in consonance with its inherent powers pivoting judicial activism – to trace out the lost lands of Swargadwara by looking into pre-1985 history of this unique crematorium.

All the occupations on this land, prior to and after 1985, need be nullified as the marfatdar (caretaker) had no right to hand over to anyone even an iota of the land kept under his care and the political government in a secular system has no right and legitimacy to tamper with the most cherished crematorium, belonging by origin to Sri Jagannatha and to ancient culture of Orissa.

To make it possible, demolition of the Biju tomb that has shrunk even the existing Swargadwara is an unavoidable must. Unless, the national crematorium is freed from Biju’s posthumous encroachment, other encroachments cannot be legally removed. His son being the Chief Minister, may shift this tomb to Gora Kabar of Cuttack, where his father Laxminarayan Patnaik being a Christian, might have been cremated. I confess, I do not know where was he cremated.

MUFP Condemns Attack on Media Persons in Chhendipada and Demands Immediate Arrest of Attackers and Compensation to the Affected Scribes

Media Unity for Freedom of Press (MUFP) condemns the brutal attack on media persons who were deliberately targeted by a mob during the public hearing for the Mahaguj colliery at Chhendipada in Anugul district on Thursday. According to eye-witness accounts and newspaper reports, media persons who were covering the violence that erupted during the public hearing were beaten up mercilessly with iron rods and cameras of video journalists were either smashed or snatched away by a section of the angry villagers who were responsible for the violent incidents. Sangram Keshari Nath, reporter for MBC TV and web news portal Odishadiary.com, was specifically singled out and he has sustained serious injuries. The 3-CCD video camera he was using to record the event was also snatched away from him. The mob which set the public hearing camp on fire also did not spare the local MLA who was heckled and beaten up.

Media persons in Anugul have reacted sharply to the deliberate attack on fellow journalists and have demanded strong action against the accused people. They have also come down heavily on the district administration which had failed to deploy sufficient police force, although it was aware of the explosive situation on the ground.

The dangerous trend of attacks on journalists on duty by the police, administrative officers, politicians and anti-social elements is a matter of grave concern to all freedom-loving people. Such attacks have certainly posed a serious threat to the freedom of media persons to report the truth as well as their lives and properties .

MUFP expresses its solidarity with the fellow media persons who were attacked, demands the immediate identification and arrest of the accused people and adequate compensation for the loss and damage of their equipment.

The Dangerous Trend Continues: Online Journalist Attacked in Pro-Adani Public Hearing Camp

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Orissa’s politico-executive climate is favoring the unsocial packs to attack reporters and cameramen anywhere anytime to intimidate the Press that increasingly is exposing the anti-people activities of administration.

Starting from clamping of sedition charges on upright journalists by the police to physical assault by trade operators through hired goons has become norm of the day in Orissa.

Attack on MBC Tv reporter Sangram Ranjan Nath, who also reports to orissadiary.com, at Chendipada of Angul district on 8 December is an instance.

He was attacked while Covering how the public meeting organized by Mahagujar Coal and Power Plant of Adani group to cultivate support in its favor in the guise of hearing public grievance was provoking mass protest that was getting acutely acrimonious from moment to moment.

In fact, the Adani group’s attempt to brainwash people was becoming so unbearable that the local general public threatened by the jeopardy their living environment was being pushed into by the industry and executive nexus, had set the meeting tent ablaze in collective wrath and Nath was truthfully recording whatever was happening on the spot, including how the Adani group was using the Orissa Government officials against the aggrieved indigenous community.

All on a sudden, a group of goons jumped on him with iron rods and did not stop by bitting him to bleed, but destroyed his camera with which he was recording the visuals.

 Journalists of the district have reacted sharply to this incident. They have demanded strong action against the attackers. Different associations of journalists have reprimanded the administration for having failed to foresee to what extent public wrath may go when the people’s living environment was severely threatened with aggressive advancement of the land-grabbing and polluting industry and administration’s recalcitrant attitude towards public protests against proposed official accommodation to the same.

People were massively maddened by mounting sense of insecurity as the officials were lobbying for the industry and therefore the so-called public grievance hearing camp in the office compound of the local Tahsil was perceived by them as the cruelest of farce being played on their being and belonging by the unholy combine of private industry, executive officials and political leadership.

The administration should have kept note of this, the journalists feel.

Nobody knows whether aggrieved people, irritated over Nath’s camera capturing the eruption of their wrath, became violent against him or the goons engaged by administration / industry made the attack to wipe out visual evidence of their foul play.

But the fact remains, Nath was brutally attacked and his camera was destroyed by unidentified fellows when he was taking into records the details of what was happening in the name of public hearing.

“Such dangerous trend of attack on journalists by the police, administrative officers, politicians and anti-socials has certainly posed a serious threat for the profession as well as to the lives and properties of journalists who are trying to expose the anti-people activities of officials, politicians and vested interests” Nath has said in a communication.

(Pictures from focussangul@gmail.com)

Mili Panda Matter: Essential Need is Elimination of Judicial Blunder

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Orissa High Court has done the best by quashing the cognizance in Mili Panda matter. But yet, essential need is elimination of judicial blunder.

Mili Panda by name is known to every conscious citizen of Orissa, because she stands synonymous with withstanding the tortures that a vindictive Government inflicts.

She is the wife of revolutionary Sabyasachi Panda whom police is eager to hound, but has not succeeded in catching; which is, many fear, the reason of its vindictiveness, the impact whereof she is being forced to bear with.

She is a mirror in which the Government can see the reflection of how ugly it looks with the cosmetics of law and order when police is pressed to victimize earmarked individuals for their support to revolution against exploitation.

In her, we find, how a citizen suffers when the Government becomes a conspirator, specifically as she continues to suffer incarceration notwithstanding the State’s High Court having quashed the wrongful proceedings against her in criminal misc case No.3080 of 2010.

CRLMC No. 3080 of 2010

In preferring this case before the High Court of Orissa against wrong prosecution, Ms. Mili Panda (Subhashree Das) and two others (Kishore Kumar Jena and Sangram Bhol @ Sangram Bhola) prayed that the cognizance taken in G.R. Case No.16 of 2010 by the Judicial Magistrate (First Class) (JMFC) of Banpur and Sessions Trial commenced on commitment vide S.T. No.12/116 of 2010 in the Court of the Ad hoc Addl. Sessions Judge (F.T.C.), Khurda, arising out of Balugaon P.S. Case No.8 of 2010 corresponding to CID (CB) P.S. Case No.1 of 2010 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (hereinafter called the Act), be quashed on the grounds shown in their petition.

Orissa High Court earmarked the question of cognizance as the crux of the issue; heard the parties and quashed the cognizance taken by the JMFC and the resultant proceedings in the sessions case by allowing the CRLMC on 19 October 2011; because to it, the cognizance taken was an act against the Act.

Prosecution acts against the Act

From the High Court judgement it transpires that Ms. Panda and the two others were arbitrarily subjected to prosecution under the Act, which is an extremely stringent law, by the police that sloughed over the core condition laid down under the Act as “a very salutary safegurad” against arbitrariness and despite that the JMFC had taken cognizance.

Let us focus on this.

The police was certainly under pressure – probably to demoralize Sabyasachi Panda – to arrest and incarcerate Mili Panda, without bothering, if thereby the Act was to be contravened.

Sans pressure, the police could not have acted against the Act the way it has in Mili Panda case.

In this case, we see, the core provision of the Act, which, in fact, is the prerequisite for Courts to take cognizance under the Act, was completely ignored, so rash was the police in its steps to torture Ms.Panda and her two compatriots (hereinafter Ms. Panda for the sake of convenience in expression).

And, perhaps the court was under pressure. The pressure was, perhaps, very overwhelming. So overwhelming that, the JMFC was not able to refuse to take cognizance, even though the core provision of the Act does not allow such cognizance to be taken by any court without fulfillment of the conditionality laid down therein.

Core Condition

The core condition of administration of the Act is laid down under Section 45 that prohibits Courts to take cognizance unless prerequisites are fulfilled.

It stipulates:

(1) No Court shall take cognizance of any offense –

(i) Under Chapter III without the previous sanction of the Central Government or any officer authorized by the Central Government in this behalf;

(ii) Under Chapters IV and VI without the previous sanction of the Central Government or, as the case may be, the State Government, and where such offense is committed against the Government of a foreign country without the previous sanction of the Central Government.

(2) Sanction for prosecution under sub-section (1) shall be given within such time as may be prescribed only after considering the report of such authority appointed by the Central Government or, as the case may be, the State Government which shall make an independent review of the evidence gathered in the course of investigation and make a recommendation within such time as may be prescribed to the Central Government or, as the case may be, the State Government.”

This core condition is conspicuous by its absence than implementation in the instant case.

Legislation against arbitrariness

The Act being a very stringent Act, shrewdly designed to suppress the voices raised on behalf of the oppressed but silent majority, though in appearance made to control the rogues, from the beginning of its implementation, its misuse against innocent people by unprincipled, unscrupulous and exploitive apparatus of the State was alarmingly rampant.

Therefore, whenever any opportunity was available to speak on administration of this Act, as many members of Parliament as were allowed to speak, were castigating the Government for misuse of this Act.

This had necessitated an amendment in the Act to insert a safeguard against its misuse.

In fact, when the Amendment Bill was taken up by the Rajya Sabha, the Home Minister, while answering the debates, had to admit that it was not possible on his part to reject the allegations of misuse of the Act.

He said that the executive government registering cases under the Act “through a police officer”, misuse of the Act is possible as and when the executive government becomes “vindictive”. Hence, the amendment was conceived as “a very salutary safeguard” against arbitrariness in prosecution under the Act, he had said.

“Finally, Sir”, he had told the Rajya Sabha, “we have incorporated a very salutary provision. To the best of our knowledge – I don’t know, I may be corrected by the Law Minister or the Law Secretary later – it is the first time we are introducing this.

“In a prosecution under the UAPA, now, it is the executive Government which registers the case through a police officer. It is the executive Government which investigates the case through an investigating agency, namely, the police department. It is the executive Government which sanctions U/s.45. Therefore, there is a fear that a vindictive or a wrong executive Government could register a case, investigate and sanction prosecution. There is a fear.

“May be, it is not a fear that is entirely justified but you cannot say that it is entirely unjustified.

“So what are we doing?

“The executive Government can register the case because no one else can register a case. The executive Government, through its agency, can investigate the case. But , before sanction is granted under 45(1) we are interposing an independent authority which will review the entire evidence, gathered in the investigation, and then make a recommendation whether this is a fit case of prosecution. So, here, we are bringing a filter , a buffer , an independent authority who has to review the entire evidence that is gathered and, then , make a recommendation to the State Government or the Central Government as the case may be, a fit case for sanction.

I think, this is a very salutary safeguard . All sections of the House should welcome it. This is a biggest buffer against arbitrariness which many Members spoke about. Sir, these are the features in the Bill.”

By adopting the Bill, the Parliament approved the legislative intention thus spelt out by the Home Minister.

Hence, for the police to register any case under the Act and for any Court to take cognizance thereof, the prerequisite is fulfillment of the core condition i.e “sanction” of the concerned Government given within a “prescribed time” for institution of the case on the basis of “recommendation” made “within such time as may be prescribed” in favor of the case by “an independent executive” created as “authority” for the purpose, after “making an independent review” of “the evidence gathered in the course of investigation”.

In the case of Ms. Panda, this prerequisite was totally ignored. Yet, the Banpur JMFC could take cognizance!

Attempts to hoodwink the High Court

The Government was so intrinsically involved with the arbitrary prosecution of Ms. Panda, that, when the order of cognizance was challenged, the prosecution tried to mislead the High Court by projecting one A.M.Prasad, claimed to be “Special/Additional Secretary of Home Department” as the authority who had reviewed the evidence as required under Sub-Section (2) of Section 45 of the Act and had “recommended approval of the prosecution”.

Records of the High Court show that the State had produced a letter dated 24.2.2011, containing an extract taken from File No.PIC/1 (Pro) 93/2011 which contains the “review notes” of Prasad, the Special Secretary/Additional Secretary of Home Department.

The number of the file indicates that it was created in 2011. How then the so called review notes of Prasad could pave the way for government sanction in 2010? And how is it that the Government could not specify as to whether Prasad was the Special or the Additional Secretary, because the two posts are distinctly different in the level of rank; the Special Secretary being higher in rank than the Additional Secretary and one officer cannot be of two ranks at the same time under the same department.

So, obviously, the authenticity of the so called review notes communicated to the High Court was stage-managed to hoodwink the Court.

But, it seems, the court refused to be hoodwinked.

From its judgement delivered on 19 October 2011, it transpires that on query, the Court found that Prasad was not the “authority” to “review” the evidence. He was not appointed to review the evidence and to make the recommendation for prosecution against Ms. Panda under the Act.

The Court “asked” the Additional Government Advocate (AGA), representing the State of Orissa “to produce any document/order of appointment” of Sri Prasad “issued by the appropriate authority, appointing him as the ‘review authority’ under Section 45(2) of the Act”. And, the Court notes, “To this query, learned AGA fairly responded that, no such formal appointment order appointing the Special Secretary for the purpose of reviewing cases under Section 45 of the Act is available on records. To a further query of the Court as to whether the State have prescribed any time limit for the purpose of producing such report by the reviewing authority, learned AGA for the State also responded in the negative”.

Cognizance quashed

It was clear to the Court, from the answers to its queries by the AGA, that, the State had not “appointed” any appropriate person “as the authority for the purpose of carrying out an independent review as required under Section 45(2) of the Act” requiring him to furnish his review report and recommendation within a “prescribed” “time limit”. The “very salutary safeguard” the Parliament had created for saving the citizens from concocted cases contrived by “vindictive” executive Government and, in the words of the Home Minister in spelling out the legislative intention behind this provision, “the biggest buffer against arbitrariness” in prosecution under the stringent Act, was thus absent when the Banpur JMFC had taken cognizance of the case filed against Ms. Panda.

This makes it absolutely clear that the prerequisite for taking cognizance of the case was absent and the cognizance taken in the Banpur Court was ultra vires.

On this ground and on decisions in various cases relied upon, Justice Indrajit Mohanty quashed the cognizance taken by the lower court, “forbidden” as it was by the Act from taking cognizance in absence of valid “sanction order” based on valid “review of evidences gathered in course of investigations” by a validly “appointed” “authority”.

He quashed the cognizance on the ground of non-adherence to the mandatory prerequisite. To quote the judgement,

“In view of the conclusions/finding reached hereinabove, this Court is of the considered view that, no cognizance could have been taken against the petitioners in the absence of any valid sanction of the prosecution and in this regard, although sanction for prosecution had been obtained, yet the same was not based upon a review by a validly appointed authority to carry out “independent review of evidence” obtained in course of investigation. Therefore, the very foundation for obtaining such sanction being not in consonance with law, the order of cognizance dated 16.7.2010 passed by the learned J.M.F.C., Banpur in G.R. Case No.16 of 2010 ought to be quashed and this Court directs accordingly.

Insofar as the other contentions as noted hereinabove are concerned, this Court is of the view that the same need not be dealt with in the present case, since the order of cognizance has been quashed”.

Cognizance quashed, the case stands quashed in the Court of the the Ad hoc Additional Sessions Judge (FTC) Kurda also, as it is a case commenced on commitment on the basis only of cognizance taken.

Hence the case against Ms. Panda does not exist since 19 October 2011. But anarchy does not end.

Quashing of cognizance not enough

When the case does not exist after quashing of the cognizance, it is surprising that the crime branch of police has filed a supplementary charge-sheet against Ms. Panda under claims of fresh evidence stumbled upon.
“At the time of submission of the charge-sheet earlier, we had informed the court that the case was open for filing of supplementary charge-sheet under section 173 (8) of Cr.PC,” claims the prosecution. But, how does a Court entertains this claim when the case has no life after quashing of the cognizance?

Shenanigans

Had the JMFC of Banpur not taken cognizance, the case created against Ms. Panda in the Police Station could never have had a judicial life. So, on extermination of the said cognizance by the High Court, the life of the case has already been extinguished.

It is now nothing but a dead case.

It is a case that no more exists for judicial purpose.

How then does a Court entertains the so-called supplementary charge sheet and how does a government dares to play on the corpse of the case by pumping into its file post extermination sanction orders?

Shenanigans point out how anarchic is the government’s game with the law.

Marking their own defects in course of hearing in the High Court, they had tried to build up a sound cognizance of the same case at Banpur by presenting a supplementary charge sheet with a second sanction order. Yet it not being fault free, they superseded the 2nd sanction order and produced a 3rd sanction order with which a second supplementary charge sheet was filed before District Judge, Kurda at BBSR.

Why is it being entertained is a conundrum.

Clamant questions

The Judiciary ought to have tried to find out as to why the government is so motivated against Ms. Panda? Why the government is not behaving as a impartial government in ensuring rule of Law? Why it tried to hoodwink the High Court with a stage-managed sanction order and why it, thereafter, tried to vitiate administration of the Act with a second sanction order on projection of a supplementary charge sheet and when that failed to click, why have they been allowed to “supersede” the second sanction order and to file a third sanction order supporting a second supplementary charge sheet? Does the Act equip the police or the Government with any carte blanche to manufacture such sanction orders and supersede one by another to suit its nefarious design? Is it not killing of the spirit of 45(2) inserted into the Act as “the biggest buffer against arbitrariness”?

Contempt against rule of Law

The government conduct is so vitiated with contempt against rule of Law that quashing of the cognizance notwithstanding, prison bars continue to debar freedom to Ms. Panda. And, to keep the bars further tightened, unfounded allegations are being shut in a Court at Gunupur aimed at transforming Ms. Mili Panda to a mysterious Sima, claimed to have played a role in Naxal-Police encounter in 2003, despite the fact that the said encounter case was so very concocted that all the six accused that had been subjected to humiliations of under-trial life, have been acquitted on hearing.

In attempt to victimize Ms. Mili Panda in the Gunupur case, formalities falling within the frame of 173 (8) of Cr.PC were not observed. To hound her, steps also are taken to entangle her in a case of 2008 armory loot in Nayagarh.

Sinister motive

We see in her prosecution the reflection of sinister motive of the British trade based Government in prosecution of freedom fighters of India.

And, there is no doubt, that more and more numbers of Indian patriots will be prosecuted like this as the country is now under the grip of traders with democracy shrewdly transformed into plutocracy.

Both the political and executive governments being in nexus with traders and exploiters in a plutocracy, patriots who would act against the nexus, will certainly be subjected to false cases in increasing numbers.

Judiciary need be more responsible

So, Judiciary shall be looked at as the only refuge for seekers of peaceful life for self and society. In such circumstances, Judiciary need be more responsible than how it acted in taking cognizance against Ms. Panda.

The false and concocted cases may ultimately end in rejection due to the wisdom of Judiciary in higher to highest level. But by then, unless the “buffers against arbitrariness” as created under the Act are strictly adhered to in lower judicial level, people like Ms. Panda will be suffering the ignominy of imprisonment on wrongful cognizance of the cases. So, essential need is, not the quashing of wrongful cognizances alone, but also elimination of judicial blunder in taking cognizance, by way of punishment if necessary.

Judiciary in every level will have to be more responsible if rule of Law is to prevail.