Short Takes

Cursed to live under corrupt rulers

Bombay High Court’s observations in the murder case involving presidential candidate Pratibha Patil’s brother are significant for the polity and governance of India. The court has done well to raise the point.

The court has censured the CBI for not taking its duties seriously. It has observed that the intelligence of CBI has gathered "rust". This is a mild way of castigating the premier investigative agency for dereliction of duty.

One must take note of a very sad fact here: the intelligence of CBI has not rusted at all when it comes to investigating cases against common citizens, but the moment the organisation is asked to look into the misdeeds of the powerful it is paralysed into inaction.

There are any number of criminal offences lying unprosecuted, one of the most highly visible being the hate crimes of Mr. LK Advani, Mr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Ms. Uma Bharti and other BJP stalwarts in Babri Masjid demolition and accompanying murder and mayhem. Nothing happened to these people, nor to Mr. Bal Thackeray (for Mumbai riots).

The culture of impunity bred by our political class is at the root of all this. However, an agency like CBI is not supposed to get inert at the first opportunity it gets to wriggle out of a case. The Patil murder case (the victim and the accused both being Patils) is a grim reminder of the low moral ebb our leaders have fallen to.

The plaintiff side has got video recording of Mrs. Pratibha Patil’s brother hobnobbing with the contract killers accused of murdering the other Patil. The victim’s family has been clearly and unequivocally pointing fingers at Mrs. Pratibha Patil’s brother and accusing the family of the accused of using influence to thwart justice.

The rate at which charges of misconduct against the NDA and UPA presidential candidates are being made everyday one wonders whether the country is cursed to have a head of the state with a dubious character.g