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'Victims of the Home Ministry'?
The advertisement of the Union Home Ministry, captioned “Look at These Innocent People – Victims of Naxal Violence”, that was carried in The Indian Express, The Hindu, and The Times of India on 20 September is not only vicious and vindictive, it is also easily the most irresponsible in recent times. Has the executive arrogated to itself the functions of the judicature? The advertisement is calculated to prejudice not only the public mind but also the courts before which many prosecutions of so-called “Naxals” (sic) are pending.
The advertisement of the Union Home Ministry, captioned “Look at These Innocent People – Victims of Naxal Violence”, that was carried in The Indian Express, The Hindu, and The Times of India on 20 September is not only vicious and vindictive, it is also easily the most irresponsible in recent times. Has the executive arrogated to itself the functions of the judicature? The advertisement is calculated to prejudice not only the public mind but also the courts before which many prosecutions of so-called “Naxals” (sic) are pending. It is as if the ministry is treating its distasteful depiction of corpses as a substitute for evidence in those trials.
In this way the state has abandoned all pretence to observance of the principles of natural justice, according to which no one should be a judge in his own cause and no person or group should be condemned unheard.
Dear Reader,
