Abstract

A defining feature of governmental abuse of power is that it is rendered invisible; official records conceal the suffering of the victim. To claim justice, activists have to first establish and document those acts of abuse. This article looks at the practice of voluntary and independent fact-finding investigations undertaken by first-generation civil rights activists in India. Such fact-finding exercises multiplied in the aftermath of the Naxalite movement (1967–1972) and the imposition of the Internal Emergency (1975–1977). The article examines the practice of fact-finding in the 1970s as a mode of activism, and what it reveals about the variegated nature of left political praxis in India. It examines the narratives I collected by conducting interviews with activists and analysing some of the earliest fact-finding reports from the period. The most distinguishing characteristic, I argue, of the practice of fact-finding in this period was that it was a hybrid of liberal legalism and left politics. This practice was a unique strategy that was liberal legalist in its form while retaining an affinity with movements on the far left that denounced ‘bourgeois’ state and law.

抽象的

政府滥用权力的一个明确特征是它变得无形。官方记录掩盖了受害者的痛苦。为了主张正义，维权人士必须首先确定并记录这些虐待行为。本文探讨了印度第一代民权活动家进行的自愿和独立事实调查的做法。纳沙尔运动（1967–1972）和实行内部紧急状态（1975–1977）的后果使这种事实调查活动成倍增加。本文考察了1970年代作为行动主义模式的事实调查实践，并揭示了印度左翼政治实践的多面性。它通过与激进主义者进行访谈并分析该时期最早的事实调查报告来研究我收集的叙述。我认为，这一时期实况调查的最显着特征是，它是自由法制和左翼政治的混合体。这种做法是一种独特的策略，其形式是自由主义者，同时与最左派谴责“资产阶级”国家和法律的运动保持着亲密关系。