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The Contact Us Ad Dilip D'Souza
Waited till near the end of this 50th anniversary Republic Day to write
this column, wondering if the day would leave me with any deep insights,
any profound thoughts, to offer. Insights and thoughts worthy of the
momentous event, I mean. Predictably, I had none. In fact, I have sat here
for half an hour wondering what to write on the subject. Seems safe to
assume that profundity is not on the way. Not tonight, anyway.
Part of the reason is that I have just found a small ad hiding in the
middle pages of today's newspaper. I'll tell you what's in it in a minute,
after I run down a list for you. Here it is.
Bofors gun scandal. Urea scam. Fodder scam. St Kitt's forgery case. Delhi
Sikh massacre, 1984. Jain diary "havala" case. Stock scam. JJ Hospital
glycerine adulteration deaths, 1986. Bombay riots. Bombay bomb blasts. Sukh
Ram's money-in-the-sheets and telecom scam. Housing scam. Ramesh Kini's
murder. LPG allotment scam. Some 24 cases instituted by the Maharashtra
Government against the Shiv Sena's Bal Thackeray, all withdrawn when
Thackeray himself became the Maharashtra Government for five years. Pickle
baron bribe case. Priyadarshini Mattoo's murder trial, in which the judge
actually pronounced: "Though I know [Santosh Singh] is the man who
committed the crime, I acquit him, giving him the benefit of the doubt."
Jayalalitha's trial. Babri Masjid demolition case.
What's common to all these? Nothing. As in: nothing has come of any of
them. Whether they were prosecuted by the police or the CBI or the CID or
some other alphabetized squad, not one of these cases has resulted in
anyone being punished. Some of them drag on desultorily; others have been
dismissed; still others have run into a dead end.
In at least one, the 1984 Sikh massacre, a fresh inquiry has been ordered.
Fifteen years have gone by since those bloody events -- think of it, fully
fifteen per cent of the 20th Century -- and all we can dream up in the
direction of justice is still another inquiry where eight have gone before.
Eight inquiries, now nine.
Writing in Frontline about Mattoo's murder trial, TK Rajalakshmi has this
to say: "The acquittal on December 3 [1999] ... has dealt a blow to public
faith in the criminal justice system." True enough, Rajalakshmi, except for
one thing. Public faith in the criminal justice system is dead. It was dead
long before December 3, 1999. It died because the public has spent years
watching crime after nauseating crime by powerful Indians, followed by
trials after lackadaisical trials that never, not once, have managed to
punish such Indians.
It's a parade of infamy that far outdoes the ones that make their way down
Delhi's Rajpath every January 26th. Even the 50th anniversary edition. Five
decades after we gave ourselves a Constitution, we debate what's in it, the
fundamental rights it gives us, the form of Government we have or should
have, electoral reforms, all of that. But the Constitution is a flimsy bit
of paper indeed when we are unable to put criminals -- the real criminals,
not two-bit roadside pickpockets -- where they belong. Constitutional
issues are all entirely meaningless when "public faith in the criminal
justice system" has been so completely smashed.
So when I ran across this ad, I nearly laughed out loud. Not that it was
funny. Here's what it said:
''Central Bureau of Investigation: "Contact Us"
If you have specific information on corrupt public servants of the
Central Government or Public Sector Undertakings, just log on to our
website (http://cbi.nic.in) and click the "contact us" button. Give
your genuine e-mail address for us to contact you if the need arises.
Your identity will be kept confidential.
You can also earn rewards by providing information leading to the
arrest of wanted criminals being publicized on our website and in
Newspapers.''
On Republic Day 2000, to boot.
I am constrained to wonder here at the temerity of the CBI, and if that
gets some people in the CBI agitated, I'll have to live with that. The CBI
has itself gathered "specific information" on the corruption and
criminality of many "public servants" in several of those cases I listed
above. It has itself prosecuted several of those cases, or at least given
us to believe that it did so or is doing so. Nothing has come of several;
others have been dismissed because of the CBI's own apparent incompetence,
whether wilful or not.
Yet the CBI now wants us to click at a website to offer specific
information on corruption. What is going to happen with this specific
information? What is going to happen to those public servants the specific
information will refer to? You, I and the CBI know the answer all too well:
Not one teeny-weeny thing. I am even willing to bet a thumping majority of
you is not willing to believe that "your identity will be kept
confidential" bit. For the lamentable feature of several of those cases I
listed -- besides resulting in zero, I mean -- is that people who came
forward as witnesses, to help the investigation, were themselves then
victimized.
And anyway, suppose I stifle my cynicism, visit that website and click on
that "Contact Us" button. On whatever comes up, suppose I cut-and-paste my
list above. After all, in two examples at random, I do indeed have access
to "specific information": one, Justice BN Srikrishna's inquiry report on
the Bombay riots and two, Justice Bakhtawar Lentin's inquiry report on the
JJ Hospital glycerine adulteration deaths. (Not that I am particularly
favoured with this "specific information"; both reports are in the public
domain and are undoubtedly available to the CBI as well. Perhaps even
already).
Suppose I do all that. Will the CBI suddenly leap into action in all the
cases listed? Solely because I clicked on "Contact Us"? Solely because the
CBI has set up a website, like so many do, and sat back thinking all that
needs accomplishing is therefore accomplished, again like so many do?
Do you need me to answer that still again?
So when faith in justice is so pervasively gone, what can you do? When the
consequences of widespread criminality -- from a hijack to a brand new
flyover with a huge hole in its roadway -- bombard us every day, what can
you do? When criminals are now the ones making and supposedly enforcing our
laws, what can you do?
Those are questions I find I am turning over in my mind nearly every day.
The answers are, unfortunately, are far more difficult. But may I suggest,
as we enter a second half-century of Republic-dom, as resolutions for
Indians like me who long for answers, these few things.
One: Understand that criminality knows no political boundaries.
Two: Understanding that, give up your own political leanings for the
limited purpose of tackling widespread corruption. If you are unable to do
that, you should read no further. For such leanings will only perpetuate
corruption. After all, goons who threaten those who would investigate a
Laloo are the same as goons who threaten those who would investigate a
Sajjan Kumar are the same as goons who threaten conflagration if a
Thackeray is to be arrested are the same as goons who beat up a lawyer for
filing cases against Jayalalitha. If you get my drift.
Three: Agree on a two-point agenda, to be pursued relentlessly. Those two
points: police reform, judicial reform. The aims: make the police
independent of politicians. Make the judiciary quick, responsive and
willing to punish.
Four: Initiate campaigns towards these aims. The only weapon in our hands
is citizens' action. Use it. Meaning: Write letters to the press and to
your elected representatives. Monitor the response. There will be none, so
write again and again. Come out on the streets to demand results. Get the
press to follow investigations. Stand for election. You will lose, so stand
again. And again and again.
This is not a simple battle that will be won soon. It will need time. It
will need perseverance to get over the countless failures that lie ahead,
and I do mean countless. But it's the only way. If you've read this far,
perhaps you agree. If so, send me a note. Let's see where it goes.
And if you want to, do by all means visit that CBI site.
Tell us what you think of this column
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