A Nation reluctant to punish VIPs and Celebrities

Why are we so reluctant to punish the VIPs and celebrities even if they are guilty? Mr. Katju seems to be in a hurry to get pardon for Sanjay. As a former justice and chief of PCI he should be more concerned about the plight of the common man. Sanjay has been given four weeks' time and he can file a review petition. So why Mr. Katzu is in such a hurry? What baffles me completely is his attempt to compare Sanjay's case with that of Nanavati. Nanavati was a naval commander and his case was completely different. It was a family affair and involved the fidelity of his wife and betrayal of a close friend. He was initially acquitted by the jury. Incidentally that was the last jury trial in this country. He was very close to the Nehru family and Vijayalakshmi Pandit was the Governor of Maharashtra. Even then the pardon was granted only after 3 years. Mr. Katju wants the pardon even before the legal process is over! Mr. Katju has also highlighted the good work done by Sunil Dutt and Nargis. What has the charitable work done by Sanjay's parents got to do with his case? Should the children of good parents not be punished even if they are guilty of serious offense? What is most ridiculous and also preposterous is the argument that Sanjay has promoted Gandhigiri through his film. First of all the idea of the film belongs to the film maker and not the lead actor. Sanjay also played the role of Kahlnayak and what is Mr. Katju's opinion on that? Katju is projecting as if the Supreme Court had no choice but to sentence Sanjay and it did so reluctantly. The Supreme Court has taken into consideration his sufferings over the last 20 years and the charitable work that he has been doing. That is why it has reduced the sentence from 6 to 5 years. But at the same time it has pointed out clearly that his offence is very serious. The pardon should be granted only in rare cases like that of Nanavati. Katju is perhaps utilising this opportunity to prove his allegiance to the congress or worse still congress leadership is using Katju to build a case for Sanjay. It has become a practice to release netas and their followers through a pardon on 15th August. As it is, such people don't get convicted. When they get convicted they should serve the complete sentence. Pardon should be genuine and judiciously used. It should not become another means to bypass the law. Can we imagine someone like Rajat Gupta getting convicted for insider trading in India where insider trading is rampant? Is Sanjay's contribution to the society more than that of Rajat? There was no such hue and cry when he was sentenced in the USA. That is democracy; no one is above the law! Raju has also done a lot for the society and the IT industry. He was a visionary leader who had class and wanted to follow global standard in everything he did. His contribution to the success of 108 is immense. It was his brain child. But at the same time the fraud he committed was huge. The money involved was a pittance compared to the loot of our netas, but what is more significant is that his act seriously affected the career and health of thousands of employees and their family members who had trusted him. He should also be punished according to the law of the land. Let us all respect the law and the decision of the SC in letter and spirit. Just because there is a provision in our constitution, it should not be used indiscriminately. The founders of the constitution couldn't have imagined the office of the President or the Governors will one day be occupied by politicians who will misuse such privileges. By the way, I may not be exactly a fan of Sanjay, but I like some of his movies. Apart from Munnabhai series he was good in some of the comedy movies like Jodi No.1. One feels sorry for him but the law should prevail. Let him approach the Governor for pardon as per the process. The pre-emptive attempt by a handful of influential individuals is not a good sign for our democracy. If the govt. is interested to know the popular sentiment they should have a referendum. Looking at it a little differently justice Katju could be actually making things difficult for Sanjay as far as public sentiment is concerned by using such frivolous and ridiculous defence. The argument he has already suffered for 20 years is not a valid argument. That is applicable to all other accused as well. On the contrary one can say that justice delayed is justice denied. If Sanjay has suffered a lot in the last 20 years what can be said about millions of people who don't get 2 square meals a day in this country! He has been behind the bars for 18 months and that is it as far as suffering is concerned from a legal standpoint. Update on 24th March: I had no inclination to add anything more to it as there are so many highly dangerous criminals even in our parliament. Sanjay is definitely better than most of them. So whatever happens will happen for the good. However, Katju gives a new definition to height of ridiculousness everyday. Today I heard him saying in one news channel that Sanjay has suffered a lot in the last 20 years and one example he gave was Sanjay was not able to apply for a bank loan. Lack of a bank loan is a great suffering for Sanjay! Surely you are joking justice Katju, which you should refrain from doing on such a serious issue.

Largest jungle democracy

Two young girls get arrested for making innocuous remarks in the facebook. One of them actually for liking the post made by another. Bail was granted but only for a surety of Rs.15000. In Chandigarh a policeman is killed by a neta when he tries to protect the honour of his daughter. In Punjab an ex-service man is beaten up along with his daughter who tries to protect him by the 3 policemen. In UP a very honest and courageous police officer is tortured and mercilessly killed by a neta who also happens to be a don. The same neta had got another DSP killed who dared to investigate his case. This chilling incident brought back long lost memory of killing of an ACP by Idris Mian (if I remember correctly)in Calcutta (not Kolkata then). I was perhaps in school at that time and I remember having read the whole story in the India Today. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the police officer though I am quite confident of the name of the mafia don who got him killed in filmi style. Do we have a natural inclination towards the negative? Do we subconsciously give more importance or respect to the perpetrators of the crime than the persons who fight them? Unlike movies heroes like the ACP and DSP Haque get killed and nothing happens to the villains who continue to lead a 5 star lifestyle. Yesterday another police officer was mercilessly beaten up and hospitalized by a group of netas on the premises of the assembly. The law is draconian and action is swift when common man is at the receiving end, but when it involves netas the law does everything possible to give them ample time. An enquiry is ordered so that netas can buy time to find a way out to protect one of their own. One should really admire the collaboration amongst various political parties when it comes to their benefits, privileges and protecting their own. All these incidents are actually linked and brings to mind the following dialogue from the movie "Agneepath" very well delivered by Amitabh. “Kehne ko yeh sheher hai…Sirf kehne ko..Par idhar jungle ka kanoon chalta hai maloom..Cheenti ko Bisturiya kha jaata hai..Bisturiya ko mendak..Mendak ko saanp nigal jaata hai..Nevla saanp ko maarta hai..Bhediya nevle ka khoon chus leta hai..Sher bhediye ko chaba jata hai..Idhar har taqatwar apne se kam ko maarkar jeeta hai”. When rakshaka becomes bhakshaka, jungle raj prevails. The rule seems to be if the common man gets x number of years in jail for a crime then the policeman gets 0.5x and neta gets 0x. It should actually be reversed. The rule should be more stringent for people who are abusing their power. If a common man gets x number of years for a particular crime, a policeman or any other official or professional who basically take advantage of their position should get 1.5x years and the netas who are responsible to run this country should get 2x. A doctor misbehaving with his patients should also come under 1.5x category. So let us not hold the netas responsible for all the ills in our society. Literacy is a bigger threat to this country than illiteracy. The educated class is also not less than the political class. Only difference is they don't have so much power and privileges. Can we imagine someone like Rajat Gupta going to jail in India? A good example is the proposed law for Lokpal. If the corruption charges are proved the perpetrator of the crime will get 1 year in jail but if it is not proved then the complainant will get 2 years. What can be more ridiculous than this open and preposterous travesty of justice? When the senior police officers can be mercilessly killed openly in a premeditated manner what protection can they provide to the public? Our leaders started with tacitly supporting the criminals. Then they actively nurtured them and now politicians themselves are the worst and the most dangerous of criminals. We the Indians have great respect for foreigners. How could we prove Churchill wrong? Churchill was against granting independence to India as he thought India would be ruled by scoundrels and rogues. He said "Power will go to rascals, rogues, freebooters". Lincoln who defined democracy would have commended the innovativeness of our leaders who have given a new definition to the concept of democracy. One gets confused if democracy should be defined as government by the VIPs, for the VIPs and of the VIPs or by the criminals, for the criminals and of the criminals. May be there is not much difference between the two these days. Announcement of separate funds to tackle specific law and order problem may help to score political brownie points but will not improve the situation on the ground. In any case, 80% of these ad hoc kind of funds will be looted by the leaders. If we have the intent and focus on improving the existing systems, ensure that honest, upright and courageous officials are in charge of critical roles then the system as a whole will be efficient and effective. At times one feels that people of this country also deserve these leaders. What can they expect if they sell their votes to the highest bidder? That is the genesis of corruption which has spread like an octopus over the last several decades. Leaders like Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan are not successful. Loksatta party has only one MLA and that is JP himself. He should consider himself lucky. All these discussionsand debates in the electronic media has no practical impact. Veteran and shrewd leaders are aware of that. Still they will not say so openly. They still join such debates and defend their positions knowing well that it doesn't really matter. How many people watch such programs and do their independent analysis and more importantly how many of them vote? A dialogue from the movie "Gangajal" comes to mind. " Samaaj ko police waisi hi milti hai jaisa ki samaaj khud hota hai" and netas, of course. have to be a step ahead of the police. This wonderful and beautiful country is paying a heavy price every single day for this collective stupidity. How much one misses leaders like Subhash Bose, Sardar Patel and Lalbahadur Shastri!