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Murderer in
govt, killer in Parliament
If any of these leaders
think that all they need to do was to look for another legal
loophole to find a way out, they are missing the larger lessons of
their current fate
In
the world’s largest democracy, a Union Cabinet Minister is found a
murderer. A top TV anchor, popular youth icon and Member of
Parliament from the holy city of Amritsar is found to have killed an
innocent man in road rage. A close kin of Railway Minister Lalu
Prasad Yadav and Member of Parliament from Bihar Sadhu Yadav
requires all the force of the law for months, including the Supreme
Court, for him to be brought behind bars. A top TV news channel in
India made a test case out of Jessica Lal murder. Public outcry
reached a crescendo. Now the same TV news channel had on its rolls
Navjot Singh Sidhu as a program presenter and face of a laughter
show. Never once had Navjot Singh Sidhu categorically denied that he
had indulged in plain hooliganism in Patiala in 1988 and bashed up
someone badly over a parking spot argument.
But neither the channel seemed worried about having
such aman, nor is the public outcry very loud about Sidhu’s current
status. “It is an eighteen year old case,” Sidhu told TV channels.
Thank you very much. What the man, not known for mincing words, is
now trying not to say is that the innocent parents and kin of the
man who died
after his brazen show of road-side hooliganism have taken 18 years
to get a semblance of justice. That Sidhu will file an appeal in the
highest court is a foregone decision; that the victim’s family will
have to wait another round is something that escapes the collective
conscience easily amid the din of all that laughter over politically
incorrect jokes.
Less
than a week after Shibu Soren quit the heavy weight Coal Ministry,
the CBI was pleading before the court to hang Soren. Men like Shibu
Soren and Navjot Singh Sidhu pose a great laughter challenge to the
nation. India and the collective conscience must decide as to on
whose expense is the joke being cracked. he optimist can see hope
in the facts of these convictions, and think that these only show
the resilience of the Indian legal system and the criminal justice
dispensers. Anywhere in a functioning democracy, people would have
been loathe to find fault with the judgments. An aware people even
buy a can of juice after ascertaining that it was packed in
recyclable tin. But read the editorial comments in a leading English
daily of north India: “This might prevent (Sidhu) from playing an
active role in Punjab politics where Assembly elections are due in
March. Television channels too will miss him for his expert comments
on cricket.”Touché.
The
Supreme Court’s latest decision is also an attempt to redress the
dangerous situation where politics is increasingly becoming a means
of wielding undue power and collecting unearned moolah. It has
thrown out an appeal by Badal which was meant to block the
prosecution launched by the state in a disproportionate assets case.
At the time of this issue of Amritsar Times going to the press,
Navjot Singh Sidhu was sitting in the premises of Punjab and Haryana
High Court waiting for the court to pronouncejudgement in the
culpable homicide case, Badal was busy preparing for his birthday
rally in Moga and Amarinder Singh was planning to cut the cake the
same day to mark Badal’s birthday in Lambi. Shibu Soren was busy
preparing for a long sojourn out of politics. If any of these
leaders think that all the need to do was to look for another legal
loophole to find a way out, they are missing the larger lessons of
their current fate. Indian democracy is functioning, flaws and warts
intact, but functioning nevertheless. Badals, Sorens, Sidhus not
with standing.
6 December 2006
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