The Three Musketeers

WHILE the media has prominent mention in the Srikrishna report, the Fourth Estate did not expend much energy in covering the five-year proceedings of the Commission. "In the beginning the press benches were crammed because of celebrity witnesses like Alyque Padamsee and Ratan Tata. Till '93-end, there was fair attendance from the press but by '94, only a handful were left," recalls freelance journalist Meher Pestonji. She along with Jyoti Punwani and Teesta Setalvad were virtually the only three journalists who seemed to be consistent in following the proceedings before the Commission.

The situation compelled Communalism Combat editor Teesta Setalvad to tackle the issue a year later, in an article titled Sounds of Silence. The silence was eventually broken when the Shiv Sena government scrapped the Commission on the grounds that it would merely reopen old wounds. "Since it ceased to be in the public eye, the government felt that it could get away with it," notes Pestonji. It was only after reading about a witness whose brother had been shot, that freelance writer Jyoti Punwani was moved to cover the proceedings of the reinstated Commission. "I was never motivated before that," she admits candidly.

Thereon before the Commission came up horrific images, enough witnesses, to ensure the three women scribes, (reporters from an Urdu daily and Sena mouthpiece Saamna being the others) attended the proceedings to the end. There were many eye-opening moments. Former police commissioner S.K. Bapat was "hardboiled during the riots and during the testimony"—he refuted allegations that the Sena had a hand in the riots. The testimony of a Tulsiwadi riot survivor with a broken spine. Of a senior police officer from Deonar police station wiping his forehead nervously within an hour of interrogation. Of Justice Srikrishna's wit and more importantly, indisputable fair play. CPI counsel Niloufer Bhagwat and commission counsel Vijay Pradhan's resignations being cases in point—the former doing so for having been pulled up in court for "raising her voice at Madhukar Sarpotdar," remembers Punwani. And the latter following suit for being disallowed from cross-examining chief minister Manohar Joshi. "In the interests of journalism and human rights, we had to see it through," affirms Setalvad.

Having compiled the available evidence of the Commission earlier, Punwani is busy getting 500 copies of the Srikrishna Report printed. "After reading the final report, I feel that my press reports were not as biased as it was made out to be," says Punwani.

Meanwhile, Teesta is immersed in releasing report extracts in booklet form. She adds, "It will not be biased in its selection, of course." Notwithstanding other eager takers, the Sena just might not buy that one.