India 360: Whistleblowers needed

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

This famous saying by the British statesman-philosopher Edmund Burke rang true on a day when justice was delivered in the two-year-old Manjunath murder case.

Twenty-seven-year-old Manjunath Shanmugam - a marketing engineer with Indian Oil Corporation – was killed two years ago for blowing the lid off Uttar Pradesh’s oil mafia operating in the Lakhimpur-Kheri district.

While Manjunath paid with his life for being honest, his death was avenged in a judgement that will go down the history of judicial activism as being delivered after a sustained campaign by people who refused to give up on the system.

The big questions, the lookaheads

And as the crusaders for justice solemnly hailed the verdict, CNN-IBN discussed three crucial questions pertaining to the case on the show India 360, conducted by Sagarika Ghose.

• Will the Manjunath case become a model for the criminal justice system?
• Justice for Manjunath was a campaign taken forward on the Internet and by the believers of RTI. Did Manjunath's friends from IIM become soldiers for justice?
• And most importantly, politicians say a whistleblower act is the need of the hour. But is it possible to physically protect every young idealist like Manjunath and Satyendra Dubey? (an engineer allegedly killed for exposing corruption in the multi-crore Golden Quadrilateral project)

Who was Manjunath? In November 2005, Manjunath Shanmugam - a marketing engineer of Indian Oil Corporation - tried to put a stop to petrol adulteration in in the Lakhimpur Kheri district of UP. He was killed by the petrol mafia for blowing the whistle. On Monday, the prime accused Monu Mittal was sentenced to death, and seven other accused were awarded life imprisonment.

On the panel of discussion were Manjunath’s father M Shanmugam; his friend from IIM-Lucknow and the Trustee of Manjunath Shanmugam Trust H Jaishankar; Supreme Court lawyer Kamini Jaiswal; and Satyendra Dubey's brother Dhananjay Dubey.

The show began with an emotional Shanmugam expressing his satisfaction with the verdict and thanking the crusaders of justice. He said India needed more people like his “honest” son. “I was very happy after hearing of the justice being done. Youngsters should take Manjunath as role model and be honest to their jobs by not taking bribes. That’s what my son used to do. He never accepted any money. They used to give bundles of money, but he threw it away.”

System works, after all

The Justice for Manjunath campaign was kickstarted by a group of IIM-Lucknow students after they heard of their colleague’s life being snuffed out in a gruesome manner.

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The campaign went to on to become a pan-IIM movement. “When it happened, the entire IIM community was angered. We wanted to do something concrete and them all of us in the IIM got together, set up this trust. It’s an international IIM network and we have a lot of objectives. The immediate one was to get quick justice in the case,” said Jaishankar, an ex-IIM.

Interestingly, this campaign also had shades of optimism. As Jaishankar pointed out, it was started by youngsters who never lost faith in the system and did not turn cynical. “We got extremely good support from the police, the judiciary and the media. The public prosecuter has done a wonderful job too. We have full faith in system.”

So, was Manjunath’s a model case - the public prosecutor did his job well, the witnesses did not turn hostile and held firm, the probe remained thorough and justice was delivered fast?

What's the Justice for Manjunath campaign? The Manjunath Shanmugam trust was a pan -IIM movement of students, friends and professors from the Indian Institutes of Management who joined together to press for justice.

Panelists chose to agree, though cautiously. Said SC lawyer Kamini Jaiswal, “It was not as much of a model case. The police could have done a better job of the investigation. But anyhow, this case sends across a very important message – that you continue your job honestly and system will take care of you.”

She also congratulated the judge for a job well done. “I give full credit to the judge who took it up and conducted the trial on day-to-day basis. He showed some sense of urgency in the matter. I hope others will follow it because this judgement has rekindled the hope in judicial system for the common man.”

However, she also pointed out the “biggest disappointment” in the case. “The employers of Manjunath. We expected Indian Oil Corporation to extend cooperation, but they did not do their bit.”

Another contentious point that came up for discussion was whether prime accused Monu Mittal given death because he was not powerful enough and did not have the clout.

Jaishankar couldn’t agree less. “That’s entirely untrue. They are local people and I am sure they had enough influence. But I am pretty grateful to the judge and the public prosecuter for having given justice in a speedy trial,” he said.

Whistleblower act? An answer blowing in the wind

The biggest question in the case – also perhaps a lesson of sorts – pertains to the much-talked-about whistleblower act. Would the lives of Manjunath and Satyendra Dubey have been saved had there been a watertight defence mechanism in the law?

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Satyendra Dubey’s brother Dhananjay was of the opinion that though law is just the means to a larger end, getting the whistleblower act to work in India may get difficult.

“The law just gives a positive edge to it (the case). But in our system it’s still difficult to effectively introduce a whistleblower bill. I don’t think the present scenario is going to help the case for the law. We need everyone’s conviction in the system. Though the law will give a weapon to the whistleblower, it will not be a complete deterrent to it,” he said.

Words that matter

The concluding remarks on the show said it all, perhaps best reflecting the prevalent mood on a day of a historic judgement.

Who is a whistleblower? A whistleblower is an insider who exposes corruption within his own organisation. Manjunath acted against petrol adulteration in UP and was killed for it. Experts say he need not have died if India had a strong enough law to protect the whistleblower.

“The hope of the country lies in the youth and one person can make a difference. So you shouldn’t stop fighting and Manjunath trust will help.” – Kamini Jaiswal.

“As Edmund Burke said: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Don’t be cynical about the system and keep the faith." - S Jaishankar.

"Law is not enough. Young blood of India needs to follow the path of honesty very strongly. We need a large-scale revolution, especially in the young blood." - Dhananjay Dubey.

The most moving remark came from Manjunath’s father.

"We were great friends and after going to IIM-Lucknow he would assist me and shoulder all my responsibilities. He would advise me, his mother, brother and sister. He spoke of honesty. And then suddenly, we lost him. Now, we don’t know what to do."- M Shanmugam.