We are like this only

Several years ago, before Saurav Ganguly took over the captaincy of the Indian cricket team, a popular joke used to circulate on email:

 

A couple undergoing divorce is battling out over the custody of their son. The judge probes the kid to know his preference. The kid answers that he prefers to go with the Indian Cricket team, for they do not beat anybody. The Indian cricket team has come a long way from those days and conquered many a frontier. But the joke has forever been valid about the Indian judicial system. The Indian judicial system from prosecution to implementation of justice does not beat anybody. No crime is serious enough to warrant a swift and sure justice. Criminals of all hues are roaming freely since the system moves at snail's pace. Ramalinga Raju, A Raja, Kalmadi, Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt and Kanimozhi are just a few of the folks that are leading a free life, taking advantage of the crawling judicial system.

 

A lot of ink has been shed writing about the millions of cases where justice is delayed and denied. The denial of justice is even more pronounced when the accused is of foreign origin. Whenever the case involves a suspect of foreign origin, the entire system – police, executive, prosecution and judiciary, conspire to act in such a manner as to let the suspect escape. After the horses have bolted, there is a huge emotional outburst, TV channel debates and editorials for a couple of weeks. The emotionally oriented Indian public, including me, loves melodrama more than assertive action. After outbursts of national pride, soveriegnity, patriotism etc., the matter is forgotten conveniently.

 

The latest disappearing act of the Italian marines is made to appear like a matter of surprise and everyone from the PM to the judges are acting hurt and cheated. But, if one tracks the case from its origin, the real intentions of the establishment are very clear. Electoral politics compelled the Kerala government to put up a show of stern action against the marines. But several stakeholders like the central government, the Church and even the Supreme Court seemed to bend backwards in ensuring a safe passage to the culprits. The basic norms of bail such as not allowing the suspects to leave the country were flouted by the highest authorities. In an unprecedented move, the murder accused got bail to celebrate Xmas and to vote. After the event, some noise is made to summon the ambassador to cater to the melodrama loving Indian public. A more convincing and decisive action would have been for the court to order a suo moto case of contempt against the ambassador. There is a deafening silence on the part of the government and the court on any such decisive action. In a Malayalam TV channel debate, one analyst predicted that the worst thing that could happen to the Italian ambassador is that he will be served tea without sugar when he is summoned by the MEA. This is neither the first nor will it be the last such instance. Our history is replete with many such instances.

 

The biggest denial of justice in Inda's history happened in the Bhopal gas tragedy case. In the world's largest industrial disaster that claimed the lives of more that 25,000 people, crippled multiple generations of people and permanently damaged the environment, the erring company was let go with a paltry penalty of $400 million. The compensation that trickled down to each victim was a few thousands of rupees. The needle of suspicion points to eminent figures in the judiciary for this sell-off. Nani Palkhivala, the genius lawyer brokered the deal on behalf of Union Carbide. Amidst all the mayhem, the Indian government worked overtime to ensure a safe passage to the head of

Union Carbide from the clutches of law. Just compare this with the Gulf oil spill case where BP has shelled out upwards of $5 Billion, without a single human life being lost.

 

Another case in point is the infamous Purulia arms drop case. This case proceeded to the conviction stage, but the Russian and British governments arm twisted India into releasing the convicts prematurely. The first to capitulate were the folks that wear nationalism on their sleeves – BJP.

 

In the Satyam scam case, which has not proceeded beyond the initial phases of trial, the then Executive Director, Ram Mynampati was given a safe passage, probably because of his US citizenship. In the same case, while the US government has fined PWC for the fake audits, Indian authorities have not bothered to act against the mutinational giant.

 

Safe passage to foreigners has been a historic Indian trait. The great Indian king Prithviraj Chauhan had let go of the invader Ghori, who quietely returned with more strength to defeat Prithviraj. The same strategy was at play when India let go nearly one lakh prisoners of war in the 1971 war, without extracting a good bargain from Pakistan on Kashmir. It is not my case that the prisoners should have been killed, but definitely the position of strength could have been put to better use. Even after succeeding in the Kargil war, the safe passage rule was applied for the defeated infiltators, who have lived on to wreak more havoc on India.

 

Yes, we do not beat anybody and we are like this only.