Thread by @KumarSeshadri

The #SupremeCourtOfIndia has made some strong remarks about the abuse and weaponization of the #EnforcementDirectorate for political purposes.

It has also strongly censured a lower court judge in a case where bail was not given.

(1/)

The Supreme Court reminded the lower court judge of a fundamental principle of #jurisprudence: bail is the norm, jail is the exception. The Court made the scathing observation that the said judge should go back to law school.

(2/)

These are only two examples of how #BJP governments have been abusing power and bending the law to suit their desired ends.

One could point to the extrajudicial measure of "#bulldozer justice," which has been practiced by the BJP governments in #UP, #MP, and in #Delhi.

(3/)

An accusation against someone whom the BJP doesn't approve of (typically a #Muslim) is immediately followed up by the local BJP administration sending a bulldozer to destroy the accused person's home.

(4/)

Not only has the alleged criminal's crime not been proven in a court of law at the time this extraordinary punishment is meted out to him and his family, there is no provision in Indian criminal law to demolish the home of a guilty person.

(5/)

The BJP government at the Centre has been using the #EnforcementDirectorate , the #CentralBureauofInvestigation and the #IncomeTaxOffice to harass its political opponents and either send them to jail on trumped-up charges or use that threat to get them to switch sides.

(6/)

The virtually unending witch hunt against the #AamAadmiParty by Central agencies for the past eight years is proof, if indeed such proof were needed, of the intimidation tactics practiced by the ruling BJP to hold on to power.

(7/)

Another example is the unprecedented two-year jail sentence given to #RahulGandhi of the #CongressParty on a defamation charge. This is the maximum possible sentence for this crime, and seems expressly given in order to disqualify him from being an MP.

(8/)

But one thing should be clear. These egregious abuses of the law were only possible because many people in positions of influence, people who were expected to uphold the law fairly - police officers, judges, and others - have gone out of their way to target the opposition.

(9/)

So what is happening in India is not undemocratic. The BJP has the support of the majority of #Hindus, and very likely they will win the next general election. What are happening, however, are abuses of the law, in which supporters of the BJP are actively aiding the BJP.

(10/)

Just as the people of #Germany in 1934-45 actively helped the #Nazis exclude #Jews from society, and turned a blind eye to the human rights abuses the Nazis committed, the people of India are actively supporting the abuses of the law committed by the BJP.

(11/)

But none of this is undemocratic.

#Hitler was a democratically elected Chancellor.

Modi is a democratically elected PM.

#Democracy has nothing to do with ethics, morals, or justice.

(12/)

The US is supposedly a democracy where #Blacks have been systematically discriminated against for decades.

#Israel is supposedly a democracy where #Arabs live second class lives.

And India is a democracy in which Muslims live second class lives.

That's why Modi wins.

(13/)

@threadreaderapp unroll