Modi writes to PM, seeks action against Shinde

Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, in a letter written to PM Manmohan Singh Wednesday, sought his intervention and action against Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s advisory on releasing minority youth detained wrongfully. Calling Shinde’s remarks as “brazen attempt to woo the minority community’’, Modi said it marked a “new low” for the country. He added that the principles at stake were far too valuable to be sacrificed at the altar of “political expediency”.

Condemning Shinde’s suggestion of setting up review or screening committees to assess the role of minority youths languishing in jails on terror charges without trial, Modi urged the PM to advise the Home Minister not to direct his attention to only minorities. He added that Shinde’s suggestion was against constitutional principles and the “right to equality before the law”. He said, “A crime is a crime irrespective of the birth marks of the criminal. His religious beliefs could not determine the guilt or innocence.”

Modi added that the proposed directive of setting up review committees was against the provision of criminal law, which does not provide for any review committee for withdrawal of pending cases where chargesheets have been filed. “One cannot rule out the possibility of trials getting delayed due to such illegal action on the part of the state if courts were to find faults with such interventions made on extraneous considerations. If this were to happen, undertrial prisoners will end up being under incarceration for longer periods, thus achieving exactly the opposite of the purported objective,” wrote Modi.