Umar Khalid, Exposed

The news says that the bail application filed by Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Abdul Khalid Saifi, Gulfisha Fatima and Shadab Ahmed has been rejected by the Delhi High Court.

Journalists, lawyers point out that they have been in prison for five years. Trial has not not even started in five years and yet bail is being denied. They write detailed critiques of the bail order. Terrible isn’t it. Tragic even.

You are likely to find the words “Fundamental Rights”, “Orwell”, “Constitution of India”, “Kafkaesque”, etc peppered everywhere. Liberty is under threat.

Everyone making such arguments is participating in the charade, reading their lines in the script of a play. Allow me to explain.

The BJP wants us to believe that these people are in prison without trial because a crime has been committed. They are guilty of that crime and if they aren’t guilty, law will take its course, courts are on the job. It’s all normal. Newspapers are reporting it, opinion columnists are writing columns, arguing over procedure. Just another day in a noisy democracy.

This is a lie.

Their Crime

What has happened is, that these people, mostly young muslims, participated in, and led the anti-CAA-NRC-NPR protests. Millions of Indians did, across identity markers. The Muslims currently in prison were some of the fiercest, most eloquent, educated ones. Their participation gave the impression that Muslims have civil and political rights. That they can lead socio-political movements, participate in the noise and the democracy. This is dangerous, and their actual crime.

Name five national Muslim politicians besides Asaduddin Owaisi. You will have to think hard. This is one of the achievements of Hindutva society and culture, preserved painstakingly across 78 years. Muslims are not equal. They have a place. They should keep their head down, stay out of sight, be grateful for not being murdered. Those are the real terms of the social contract with them.

These individuals pretended otherwise. They invoked constitution, Gandhi, non violent protest, they spoke of chakka jaams, the same chakka jaams which are routine in every city in India. They got carried away. This could have led all Muslims to believe that they too are equal. They deserve to not be kept away from government employment, not face housing discrimination and so on. All that hard work, gone in a second.

Crime and Punishment

This arrest, the “bail” hearings, the trial not starting is not an error in system. It’s not even ordinary prejudice. It’s humiliation by design. It’s a message: This is what happens when you insist you have rights. The screams of parents stop mattering. Notions such as due process, constitution stop mattering. Nothing will save you. Not the courts, not the constitution.

Strangers on the internet will scream that a riot happened in which 53 people died, out of which 38 were Muslims and Umar Khalid & Co are to blame for it. There will be no statistics about the number of people whose homes were burnt down. Indian Muslims will be told that rioting is bad, riots are bad. A crime. The worst crime. No punishment is enough. Their ears will hear this, their eyes will see mass murderers win elections. They will live under terror, because more politicians will continue to make a living out of provoking riots against them. Rioters and rapists will be garlanded.

They will witness the shock, horror and humiliation of their loved ones being imprisoned without trial for five years and everyone, even their proclaimed saviours, will help us in keeping up the charade that everything is normal. These saviours will use the language we insist on- call it bail denial not abduction. Prisoners, not hostages. Name it anything except madness, disorder. These defenders of liberty will dance with us. People will not come out on the streets, asking how can this happen in India? How can we allow this to happen in India? What does India mean if this can happen to someone? Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind Par Wo Kahan Hain?

Nothing. They will see thousands come out on the streets for much less.

This charade is as much a part of the punishment, as the imprisonment itself is. They will be forced to ask ye duniya hai ya aalam-e-bad-hawaasi?

The crime is the delusion of equality. Their punishment is the loss of language to describe their truth. Till the end of their days, they will be condemned to a reality no one else will agree is real.

Their penance? Relinquish claims having any rights except the right to be humiliated. Express gratitude while at it.

An edited version of this piece was first published in TheQuint.com