“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” – thus begins the classic A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. In one case, the nation watched, in shock as 2G Special Court acquitted all of charges while just a couple of days later, it got sated with the news that another CBI court has convicted Lalu Prasad Yadav. What do these judgments, taken together tell us? Also, what about the dubious judgments handed down by the Bombay High Court this month?
That there is a price for judgment? Should India go back to the days of Jury based justice (it might actually be a good thing – the villager is much wiser than the urban, suave individual as witnessed in the choices he has exhibited while voting)? And when asked by a judge if he/ she was compromised, they may even tell the truth, enabling the Court to replace the offending jury member with a fresh face from the jury pool.
I am reminded of a case that Professor R Vaidyanathan (RV) mentioned, while releasing my book NDTV Frauds in Bengaluru[1]. He said that both petitioners had bribed the judge – one gave Rs.50 lakhs while the other coughed up Rs.60 lakhs. The judge upbraided both, returned Rs.10 lakhs to the second litigant and declared that now, the law will take its own course!
In another interesting conversation with me, Prof. RV explained how he coined the acronym WAR (Wisdom After Retirement)[2]. He said it is frequently seen that a senior level bureaucrat, who having retired at the Secretary level, would, after retirement write about what ails the specific department that he had worked at and how it should be streamlined! Why not do it when he could? That is the strange dichotomy that exists in India’s babudom. They know the right from the wrong but won’t say anything till they retire.
One suggestion – why don’t they insist that all orders from politicians should be written and signed by them in the presence of witnesses? But this should be done not by a select few, but by the entire rank and file.
I am confident that the 2G Special Court verdict will be overturned by a higher court. But at what cost to the nation? Already there are indications that foreign companies may sue the Government[3] to try and recover some of the money lost in buying the 2G licenses.
As the Chinese say, we live in interesting times…
[1] Prof. R Vaidyanathan on Corruption in Public Life in Bengaluru – Apr 2, 2017, PGurus channel in YouTube
[2] Conversation with Prof R Vaidyanathan on lifting the Corporate veil – Dec 22, 2017, PGurus channel in YouTube
[3] Verdict on 2G spectrum case opens door for foreign companies to sue govt – Dec 22, 2017, Business Today
His first book NDTV Frauds has been published and is an Amazon Bestseller.It ranked second among all eBooks that were self-published in 2017.
His second book, The Gist of GSTN which too is available on Amazon as an e-Book and as a paperback.
His third book, The Rise and Fall of AAP is also available in print version or as an e-Book on Amazon.
His fourth book, C-Company just released to rave reviews and can be bought as a print version or as an e-Book on Amazon.
- Indian Parliament’s Special Session is convened to mark the shifting to new Parliament building - September 3, 2023
- Why did Rajat Sharma of India TV not declare that Adani owns more than 16% shares in his channel? - January 29, 2023
- Prannoy Roy to get Rs.605 crore from Adani as per Stock Exchange filing. Why is Income Tax not acting on Roys’ dues of over Rs.800 crore? - January 4, 2023
It would be a small amount in comparison, but how much has this 2G cost in terms of legal expenses? Who has paid for it?
Now Lalu will go High Court & then Supreme Court & International Court seeking justice. It will take another 21 years, by then he will be in grave yard. Long live Indian justice system – fastest fascist faceit !!
In the meanwhile he will be granted bail and will continue to promote and rule through his progeny!
What ever may be the evidence, the judge knows the truth, because every human has an inbuilt system that differentiates between right and wrong. In the 2G case the judge was presented both the sides of coin and he was aware at the truth, but simply followed the man made law which can be interpreted either way. Take the case of Cricket match, initially we had two umpires, later three and finally fourth ie video system. Similarly, a single judge decission CAN cause confusion, hence better to have a bench of three judges at lower courts itself . Pl note that a corruption crime is committed after studying the loopholes in the legal system. Coming to the suggestion of Shri Iyer, i endorsre the view of having a jury system, which has been my passion, after following the American cases. In the US system, the judge conducts the match and the winner is judged by multiple umpires ( jury )
But the problem is ,any modification by Modi in the system will be struck down, as in the case of NJAC. What next ? Unless Modi gets 2/3 majority, we have to live with the present system.
It has taken 21 years to punish lalu Prasad for a crime that took place between 1994-96. This too a judgement delivered by a special CBI court. Needless to say that lalu will come out in bail in a few weeks and fight the case in High court and Supreme court. Meantime he will fight casteist and communal elements. It took 21 years to punish a corrupt Jayalalitha and her coterie. What sort of justice delivery system do we have? Who is accountable for this delay.? How do we build peoples confidence with CBI court judgement in 2G case and terrible delay in this?
I am curious about one thing. The arguments in 2G case was over in April 2017. Why did honble justice saini take 9 months to deliver such a poor quality judgement?