What is Saddam's guard thinking?

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 01:21:36 +0530

I don't know what Sabah would be thinking this morning. The man he once protected has been hanged to death. He was one of Saddam Hussein's bodyguards when the Iraqi

Order, Order, Order!

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 09:50:41 +0530

If I was Vijay Shekhar I would prefer to go to jail than apologise to the Supreme Court for a purely journalistic work that was carried out with utmost honesty. Shekhar, a senior journalist and currently Bureau Chief of Zee Business in Mumbai did the "Warrants For Sale" story which has very obviously rubbed the respectable judges of the Supreme Court the wrong way. One of CNN-IBN's journalist, Jency Jacob, whose reportage on the immediate aftermath of Mumbai 7/11 brought the terrorist inflicted carnage of that day into millions of living room across the world, was associated with the "Warrants For Sale" Investigation. Jency sent an email to me describing how the "Warrants For Sale" investigation was conceived and executed. Here's the email in verbatim. "It all started in 2004 when a man named Manohar Geelani staying in Ulhasnagar approached me and Vijay Shekhar with his sad story. He works with Central bank of India and was fighting some goons in Ulhasnagar who were harassing him for the last ten years. This guy and his mother had some dispute with a local politician there. The dispute became so dangerous that fake warrants were issued against Manohar's name by magistrates from Gujarat and other states under fictitious charges like dacoity, rape, attempt to murder just to name a few. Manohar was a strong willed man and fought all the cases but it took a toll on his life and career. He was in hiding for six years and also lost his job with central bank(which he got back later on through court cases and after his case was highlighted on Zee news)." "To cut the story short, Vijay went to Meghani Nagar in Gujarat, near Ahmedabad. The modus operandi is very simple. There are agents and lawyers who sit outside these lower courts. You have to approach them and tell them that you need warrants against so and so persons under these charges. Money is charged on the basis of seriousness of charges. These lawyers then make all the papers and also bring witnesses (either fake or real) to testify. Vijay gave four names: Former President of India Abdul Kalam Former Chief justice of India V N Khare Supreme Court Judge R K Jain Supreme Court Judge BP Singh He paid 40,000 rupees for all these four warrants. Though we could not reach till the magistrate or his subordinates due to the ineffectiveness of the hidden cam, the lawyers went inside and got the warrants in no time. That means the above mentioned four persons could be hounded by the police since a warrant was issued on their names." Clearly, the Supreme Court is setting a bad precedent by muzzling the press and grievously damaging the independence of journalists in exposing the failures of India's judicial system. Is the Supreme Court trying to convey the idea that the judiciary in India is free of corruption? The Supreme Court has graciously given brownie points to the concerned magistrate and given him a clean chit. But could warrants be issued without his assent? What is really important and something that the Supreme Court justices have conveniently forgotten to take note of is the fact that the news story did not name the magistrate. The moot point of the investigation was to highlight how the system was corrupt and that warrants could and were being issued against any person residing in India on fake charges for a price. It is quite ridiculous that just on the basis of Gujarat state CID's clean chit to the magistrate, the Supreme Court has decided to forcefully drag an honourable and honest journalist to the Court to tender an apology. The Supreme Court of India is attacking one of the fundamentals of a progressive and liberal democracy, a free and independent press. And there is neither any justification nor any reason to do so. By forcing a journalist to apologise the highest court in the country is sending out a signal to journalists to stay away exposing the judiciary. But this is really about barking up the wrong the tree. If the honourable judges think that journalists are going to stay away from exposing miscarriage of justice such as in the case of Jessica Lal and Priyadarshani Mattoo, then they are hugely mistaken. If the honourable judges are trying hard to convince fellow Indians that there is absolutely no corruption in the Indian judicial system, then its best joke to start the week with. The honourable Supreme Court justices must be aware that the public confidence in the Judiciary is already shaken. A Transparency International report released in May 207 said that 77 per cent of respondents in a survey in India believe the judiciary is corrupt. It used to be said that the Indian Military and the Indian Judiciary were the only institutions that could proudly show off the corruption free tag. Not anymore. Both institutions have fallen from grace. The armed forces have quickly moved in to rein in corruption in the services and arms acquisitions, but the Indian judiciary instead of looking within is busy hounding journalists. Over the last two decades the Judiciary has been in the news starting with Justice V. Ramaswamy's impeachment brouhaha in the early 1990s. The controversies and allegations of corruptions are many. Here are some: The Bombay Pay-Off Scandal Allegation of the Bombay High Court Chief Justice Bhattarcharjee being the recipient of foreign royalties in 1995 Corruption allegations over Justices Punchi and Anand, both former Chief Justices of India In Rajasthan and Karnataka there have allegations of Judges compromising their integrity over sexual favours. In fact, CNN IBN Special Investigation Team had come close to breaking a story on a judge who was willing to settle a case in return for sexual favours. One of the team members posing as a litigant had got hours of lascivious conversation of judge on tape as he offered to settle her case favourably if she agreed to providing her sexual favours. Of course, we closed the investigation because there was just no way that this investigation could have been completed. But we watched very closely one instance of judicial corruption. We watched how touts, criminals and the staff of the court complex were so closely involved with the judge. In fact, the person who would call up my team member was a person who was a tout in that court complex. When he called the team member and said he was fixing up a getaway for the judge, that's when we realized this investigation just cannot be sustained and we decided to call it off. Corruption in Judiciary is commonly talked about in every chai shop in every court complex in the country in routine conversations. So what is offensive about a sting operation that exposed some black holes in India's judicial system? Have the Supreme Court judges forgotten Justice Bharucha's famous declaration that 20 per cent of judges are corrupt? Here's what Transparency International's Global Corruption Report says about India's justice system: "The degree of delays and corruption has led to cynicism about the justice system. People seek short cuts through bribery and favours, leading to more unlawful behaviour. A prime example is the unauthorized buildings in Indian cities. Construction laws are flouted in connivance with persons in authority." When the report was released two months ago this is what senior advocate KTS Tulsi was quoted as having said in media reports: "There is obviously some corruption in the judiciary and we need to put it down with a heavy hand. The ostrich like approach will not serve the purpose anymore." Tulsi went on to question how many judges had been prosecuted despite the overwhelming common understanding that corruption in the judiciary had grown in gargantuan proportions. "Corrupt judges must be given extreme punishment," he was quoted as having said in newspaper reports. And read what Congress leader and senior advocate Salman Khursheed was quoted as having said in his reaction to the Transparency International Report: "I am glad it is only 77 per cent of the people who believe so. Otherwise, it looks like the last bastion of people's hope is crumbling." A quick research on Google will reveal a dime a dozen quotes on the corrupt judicial system in India. E.S. Venktaramaih, the former Chief Justice of India in an interview to the revered and influential journalist, Kuldeep Nayar, said the following on record: "The judiciary in India has deteriorated in its standards because such Judges are appointed, as are willing to be "influenced" by lavish parties and whisky bottles." (The interview was held on December 17, 1989). Eighteen years ago the man who occupied Justice KG Balakrishnan's position as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court lambasted the judiciary and judges in a no-holds barred interview just on the eve of his retirement and let his fellow countrymen know that it was time to restore the credibility of the Indian judicial system. Otherwise as Justice P.B. Sawant had warned "face law will continue to prevail over case law." Sadly, that has already happened. That's why one can't understand why Justice Balakrishnan is so angry that he wants to punish a sincere journalist, instead of ordering a clean up act within. That's what this country needs. A full-scale, comprehensive weeding out of corruption from the Indian judicial system and by doing so restore the Indian citizen's faith in the Judiciary. Honourable Judges, Please don't muzzle the press. We will go after corruption wherever it occurs. PERIOD. And if the Indian Judiciary is so scared that it threatens journalists with punitive action, then I am sure many journalists in this country would prefer to go to jail than succumb to such unreasonable judicial dictates. You can be sure that I will be one of them. You can also be sure that I will do my best to expose corruption in the judiciary. Vijay Shekhar....you did your job as a professional journalist. Be strong. Keep the faith in India's resilient democracy. Do not apologise.

Sonia's Hired Halo

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 07:51:16 +0530

Quatrain LXII -- Halo and Halloween Passing through Meena bazaar's core I was distracted by a rare, virtuous glow And saw Ahmad Patel* scurry from a pawn store Tucked in

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