My latest offering to Editor The Hitawada .
Sir ,
There was a time , in not so distant past , when in our great country no one would have thought it possible that people with money power or with political connections at very high level could be prosecuted . To begin with , police would never register a complaint . If at all it was registered it was never investigated . If at all it was investigated and investigation was undertaken , it was never completed.If at all it was completed it was deliberately carried out in such slipshod manner that in the first hearing the Judge had no choice but to dismiss the case . In those days for a political heavy weight or a Minister to be prosecuted was simply unthinkable .
CGA's reports on CWG , 2G , coal gate scams and strong and direct indictment of politicians created such a strong public feelings and outrage that after initial attempts to shield the guilty politicians , the government had no option but to follow laid down legal procedures. So we had very welcome developments of the likes of Kalmadi , Laloo Yaday , Chauthala , Raju of Satyam , Subrata Roy of Sahara being sent to prison . The latest in these welcome developments is the sentencing of Ms Jayalalitha to 4 years in prison .
In all these , contribution of and part played by the Judiciary must be mentioned with pride . Hats off to them .
However what remains to be seen and it ₹ 100 crore question , is when Ms Jayalalitha starts her prison sentence and for how long at a stretch she remains behind the bars . I say this because in most of these cases they are either out on bail or in hospitals . Despite of being sentenced to prison they are leading comfortable life and carrying on life as usual of addressing political rallies etc . After addressing one such rally the Courts had to order Chauthala to report to prison or face a panel of medical specialists. In present case also Ms Jayalalitha's lawyers have already applied for bail . Then there will be appeals in the high courts and the SC . Then there is always the chest pain which invariably surfaces in all these VIPs who are promptly shifted to private hospitals where they enjoy five star treatment .
We know that all this is possible due cleverness and expertise of very highly paid lawyers engaged by these people who make use of every loophole and escape route available in the law . A Sanjay Datt is released on bail whenever he wants to look after is supposedly sick wife who was seen attending late night parties . Likes of Chautahala and Laloos are addressing political rallies . Common man who can not afford high priced lawyers or had no political or money clout never get bail even for genuine reasons and keep rotting in jail .
Modi Government is undertaking review of outdated laws . It is our earnest wish that they must review the laws and plug all the loopholes which allow these so called public servants to roam freely even when found guilty and sentenced to prison . Even when appeals are made to the higher courts , person must be confined behind the prison walls till such time all the appeals are finally disposed off . After all they can not be presumed innocent till the appeals are finally disposed off because they have already been found guilty by the court after due process of law which has taken years and years In Ms Jayalalitha's case it was 18 years .
I wish a law is enacted where politicians and babus are presumed guilty till proven innocent :-)
PM Velankar .
Sir ,
There was a time , in not so distant past , when in our great country no one would have thought it possible that people with money power or with political connections at very high level could be prosecuted . To begin with , police would never register a complaint . If at all it was registered it was never investigated . If at all it was investigated and investigation was undertaken , it was never completed.If at all it was completed it was deliberately carried out in such slipshod manner that in the first hearing the Judge had no choice but to dismiss the case . In those days for a political heavy weight or a Minister to be prosecuted was simply unthinkable .
CGA's reports on CWG , 2G , coal gate scams and strong and direct indictment of politicians created such a strong public feelings and outrage that after initial attempts to shield the guilty politicians , the government had no option but to follow laid down legal procedures. So we had very welcome developments of the likes of Kalmadi , Laloo Yaday , Chauthala , Raju of Satyam , Subrata Roy of Sahara being sent to prison . The latest in these welcome developments is the sentencing of Ms Jayalalitha to 4 years in prison .
In all these , contribution of and part played by the Judiciary must be mentioned with pride . Hats off to them .
However what remains to be seen and it ₹ 100 crore question , is when Ms Jayalalitha starts her prison sentence and for how long at a stretch she remains behind the bars . I say this because in most of these cases they are either out on bail or in hospitals . Despite of being sentenced to prison they are leading comfortable life and carrying on life as usual of addressing political rallies etc . After addressing one such rally the Courts had to order Chauthala to report to prison or face a panel of medical specialists. In present case also Ms Jayalalitha's lawyers have already applied for bail . Then there will be appeals in the high courts and the SC . Then there is always the chest pain which invariably surfaces in all these VIPs who are promptly shifted to private hospitals where they enjoy five star treatment .
We know that all this is possible due cleverness and expertise of very highly paid lawyers engaged by these people who make use of every loophole and escape route available in the law . A Sanjay Datt is released on bail whenever he wants to look after is supposedly sick wife who was seen attending late night parties . Likes of Chautahala and Laloos are addressing political rallies . Common man who can not afford high priced lawyers or had no political or money clout never get bail even for genuine reasons and keep rotting in jail .
Modi Government is undertaking review of outdated laws . It is our earnest wish that they must review the laws and plug all the loopholes which allow these so called public servants to roam freely even when found guilty and sentenced to prison . Even when appeals are made to the higher courts , person must be confined behind the prison walls till such time all the appeals are finally disposed off . After all they can not be presumed innocent till the appeals are finally disposed off because they have already been found guilty by the court after due process of law which has taken years and years In Ms Jayalalitha's case it was 18 years .
I wish a law is enacted where politicians and babus are presumed guilty till proven innocent :-)
PM Velankar .
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