It’s Time We Put a Price on Our Freedoms

Why isn’t Mamata Banerjee in jail yet?

No, I’m not talking about her recent remarks against the judiciary since I happen to believe that people can say anything they want. What Mamata Banerjee deserves to get her ass hauled to jail for instead, is her arrest of a person at her rally for having the temerity to ask her uncomfortable questions. Last I checked, that was not a crime. Moreover, you can’t just brand someone a “Maoist” and have them arrested. Police need a probable cause for such an act and no – the whims and fancies of a borderline paranoid personality do not qualify. Her list of affronts to freedom of expression goes on. She had a professor arrested for spreading cartoonsof her.

What irritates me even more is the language used by politicians and dailies even while condemning this dictatorial behavior. You hear statements like “She must be more tolerant”, “She should not be a dictator”, “She is totally undeserving to be a political leader”, and “Taking action on people is inappropriate”.

All of these statements imply that is it legal and possible to behave this way and that it’s only by the good manners and grace of these individuals that we’re allowed to have democratic rights and freedom of expression. “She must be more tolerant” implies that it’s her choice to be intolerant and that ideally she should show more respect for free speech.

I find these implications offensive. It should be impossible and illegal for anyone to flout the constitution the way she is doing now. We don’t have freedom in India by the grace of the politicians. Freedom is not a privilege. It’s a right. It cannot be taken away by anyone’s actions. We don’t enjoy freedom on the sufferance of those in charge. Politicians must be forced to respect our rights. Not grant them on whims and fancies.

Here’s what should have been said instead:

• The court has taken suo moto cognizance of the incident and is examining if the fundamental rights of the persons were violated
• Mamata Banerjee has illegally abused the state machinery by violating a citizen’s right to free speech
• Mamata doesn’t understand that the judicial system requires proof – not mere feelings or random suspicians
• Bail is the right of every citizen – by denying bail, the lower court has acted illegally.

We can’t pin down Mamata Banerjee’s transgressions as “eccentricity”, “paranoia” or whatever. Those are reasons and not justifications. The law has been written in such a way that even an eccentric and paranoid person cannot trample of the fundamental rights of citizens. It’s a different matter that the law is not followed. The police who arrested the farmer on the words of Mamata Banerjee must be arrested themselves and made to pay for their crime.

Because that’s what it is. When the police randomly arrests someone, it’s a crime. The police are then guilty of the equivalent of kidnapping. I hope that the courts take note of these blatant transgressions and make Mamata Banerjee and the involved police officers pay – and pay hard.

A huge solid fine to be paid from their personal pockets to be given to the farmer to set him up for life would be best. After all, the state must realize that when a person’s rights are violated, they must be compensated by the state who failed to protect those rights. And the fundamental freedoms are a very high worth. So high, that the government will think ten times before taking actions that may curb those freedoms.