About the system of justice it is said ” laws are like spiders’ webs. Small insects fall into them and get trapped, but large insects like the bumble bees break through them and escape”. Thus a clerk in a government office who is caught red handed by the Anti Corrupt Bureau for demanding a bribe of Rs 200/- to move a file from one table to the other languishes in the prison while people who are accused of getting kickbacks worth crores of rupees remain untouched by the law in most of the cases.
For instance Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian businessman accused of serving as a conduit between the Swedish company who received kickbacks worth crores for the deal, left India in 1993 to avoid being arrested. It is anybody’s guess if the investigating agencies in India are going to pursue the case to its logical end.
The reasons why the big and mighty manage to get out of the clutches of the law is because they manage to grease the palms of the investigating officials, have the resources to engage the best possible lawyers and wherever possible they manage to buy the witnesses and induce them turn hostile in the court.
But in the recent times things seems to be changing for the better. Investigating agencies are becoming more proactive in booking the culprits irrespective of their social and political status. There is also a spurt in judicial activism. Moreover the media in India has become very proactive. As a result those who often cock a snook at the law are finding themselves inside the jail. Hence jails in India which hitherto have been filled to the brim by dangerous criminals and goons are now getting crowded with white collared business honchos and politicians.
The list of political bigwigs and business leaders joining the inmates of Tihar is increasing day by day. The entrants to the jail include the former Commonwealth Games chief organizer Suresh Kalmadi and his deputy Lalit Bhanot , former telecom minister A Raja, the Swan Telecom Executive Vinod Goenka, the DMK MP and daughter of the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kanimozhi and several others.
For this one should also give some credit to the media which has been in the forefront of exposing the corrupt deeds of the politicians. In this backdrop the comments of the Chairman of the Press Council of India Justice Markandey Katju against the media is unfortunate. Mr. Katju has ruffled the feathers of the media by terming that the media professionals are of low intellectual caliber, with poor knowledge of economics, history, politics and literature and philosophy. Katju also said that the media is not working for the interest of the people. After expressing such sweeping negative sentiments, he has asked the government to give the Press Council draconian powers to impose fines on the media, to withdraw advertisements and to suspend the license to publish or broadcast.
There is no denying that there are several instances wherein the media especially the electronic media in the race for Television Rating Points (TRP) has gone overboard crossing the line of decency, morality and public good giving scope for film-makers to make a spoof on them like Peepli Live. But to brand the whole media as culprits is equally erroneous and lopsided thinking because it is due to the media expose that a number of political scams are tumbling out. It is to the credit of the Indian media that spoiled and intoxicated kids of Richie Rich who recklessly drive their cars over people sleeping in pavements are brought to justice. It is to the credit of the media that cold blooded killers like Manu Sharma are made to pay for their sins. Mr. Katju’s suggestions if accepted would only tantamount to attack on the freedom of the press and therefore the remedy suggested by him is worse than the disease.
