Self-indicted

Seventeen years is a long time,and the world has changed around Justice Liberhan,when Justice Liberhan could have changed the world. The one-man commission of inquiry that bears his name was appointed barely two weeks after the Babri demolition that it was supposed to look into; he was supposed to have looked at the facts and submitted a report on March 16,1993,a length of time clearly thought adequate. Instead,he asked for and received nearly 50 extensions. After all,running an inquiry commission means that you are entitled to the resources available to a Supreme Court judge; and thus theres little incentive to end them quickly. The Liberhan Commission may have cost about Rs 9 crore,of which reportedly the major proportion is salaries and perquisites,not operating expenses. Delays in debriefing witnesses dont wash as an excuse: it hasnt seen a witness for half a decade,but it still didnt get out a report. In the interim,Indias politics suffered from the states inability to start getting at the poisonous facts of this case. That is something for which Justice Liberhan should stand indicted himself in the court of public opinion.

In the political uproar that will inevitably follow the release of an inquiry report into what is still regarded by some as independent Indias most traumatic and divisive event,it is worth our while to pause and consider the extraordinary disservice that this delay has done to Indias politics and to our progress. For one,setting a precedent for unending inquiries encourages the political leadership to postpone any tough decisions by sending them off to an interminable commission.

But theres yet another concern. Events like the Babri demolition and the Gujarat and Bombay riots,and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi need to be followed by fact-finding,by sifting the rumours from the truth,by a mechanism of accountability that prevents peoples characters being mauled by the Chinese whispers of gossip as well as ensuring that those who bear responsibility cant get away by saying If there was evidence,wouldnt I have been indicted? Since the Shah Commission probed the Emergency of 30 years ago and had its final report restricted such that,possibly,no complete version survives Indias commissions of inquiry have failed at this basic function. But on the strength of its unprecedented half-century of extensions,the one-man Liberhan Commission stands head and shoulders above the rest of this constellation of failures. Regardless of the report,the Liberhan Commission has already failed at its job,and failed miserably.