Prof. Bhansali undertook a fast unto death demanding an enquiry into allegations of molestation of women by British troops in Chimur in Central Provinces. The Government imposed a ban on newspapers from publishing news of the fast. The All-India Newspaper Editors’ Conference as a protest against the ban directed its members to black out official speeches, honours list, circulars and Government House functions from their papers.
THE HINDU: “Those who little mindful of the great question of principle involved, have criticised the Press for a decision which inevitably meant some little inconvenience to the public, should have known that it could be no pleasure to the newspapers to place such voluntary restrictions on their own usefulness and that only a paramount sense of duty to the public could have sustained them in their effort to vindicate the right of the public to be kept informed, even during the war and consistently with the need for respecting military secrets, of everything that might be of interest or concern to them.
JANUARY 14, 1943
Vindicated
THE NEWS THAT PROF. BHANSALI HAS BROKEN HIS FAST As the result of a satisfactory settlement with the C.P. Government over the Chimur issue will be received with profound relief and thankfulness throughout the country. A man of singular purity of life and indomitable courage, he was resolved to make the ultimate sacrifice to vindicate the honour of womanhood than which nothing has ever been more sacred in Indian eyes. Only a burning faith in the justice of the cause he had espoused and the essential goodness of human nature could have sustained him in the terrible ordeal of a sixty-three days’ fast. It is characteristic of the nobility of the man that suffering has bred no bitterness in him and that the predominant feeling in his mind at the moment of triumph is one of humble thankfulness that he should have been instrumental in awakening the public conscience to a great moral issue. So staunch an upholder of the eternal verities is a priceless possession of which any nation may be proud; and all India is indebted in no small measure to all those men of goodwill whose assiduous mediation brought about the happy result of saving his life and, in particular to Dr. Khare and Mr. Munshi, whose unwearied efforts in this behalf are beyond all praise.
The Government of the Central Provinces may also be congratulated on their recognition, belated and half-hearted though it be, that the interests of justice transcend mere considerations of prestige and that public opinion cannot be rendered powerless by being muzzled. Prof. Bhansali has agreed to give up the demand for a public enquiry presumably because the C. P. Government have wisely given up the untenable attitude they had previously taken up in regard to that demand questioning as they had done the bona fides of the complainants and of the independent investigations made by respectable members of the public and repudiating the allegations as grossly improbable – and have now contended themselves with pointing out that after this lapse of time a public enquiry might not be of much use for bringing the by attributing unworthy motives to them in their previous communiques. And it is to be hoped that their affirmation of their resolve to enforce discipline among the forces employed for restoring law and order and particularly to see that women suffer no insult at the hands of these forces will be followed up by practical steps designed to ensure that no room will be given for complaints of the kind which the unfortunate people of Chimur were obliged to make in those dark days of September. The restoration of public confidence in the affected areas will be no easy matter, but with the removal of restrictions on visitors from outside and the mission of goodwill which Mr. Aney has undertaken by promising to visit the area in Prof. Bhansali’s company we may hope that everything possible will be done to obliterate the bitter memories of the past and restore normal conditions.
The issue raised by Prof. Bhansali’s fast was one that far transcended provincial boundaries, and the manner in which it has been settled will, one would fain hope, have a salutary and lasting effect on the attitude of authority throughout the country generally towards the people’s right to have their grievances promptly enquired into and to demand that no impediment shall be placed in the way of their ventilating grievances till they are remedied. As part of the settlement the C. P. Government have lifted the ban on the press relating to Chimur and the Bhansali affair – a ban which should never have been imposed, not only because it offended the first principles of democracy and freedom but also because it constituted a flagrant violation of the agreement that the Government of India had made with the organised Press of the country and which the latter, in the face of many provocations and pinpricks, had consistently respected. Because the C. P. ban was an intolerable affront, the Standing Committee of the All India Newspaper Editors’ Conference was compelled to vindicate the selfrespect of the Press by recommending a striking protest. That it was thoroughly justified in doing so was demonstrated not only by the fact that the vast number of newspapers in the country – no less than 150 out of 170- adopted the recommendation but also by the fact that the few newspapers which for extraneous reasons were unable to fall in with the suggestion nevertheless condemned with one voice the action of the C. P. Government which had provoked retaliation. Now that the C. P. Government have withdrawn the obnoxious orders, the object of the protest has been served, and the President of the A. I. N. E. Conference has therefore announced that it will no longer be operative. Those who, little mindful of the great question of principle involved, have criticised the Press for a decision which inevitably meant some little inconvenience to the public, should have known that it could be no pleasure to the newspapers to place such voluntary restrictions on their own usefulness and that only a paramount sense of duty to the public could have sustained them in their effort to vindicate the right of the public to be kept informed, even during war and consistently with the need for respecting military secrets, of everything that might be of interest or concern to them. The rights of the public and the Press have now been admitted, though tardily, by the C. P. Government and it is to be hoped that in future neither will be lightly called in question by that Government or by any other.
Reference:
The First 100
A Selection of Editorials, 1878-1978, THE HINDU, VOLUME I