Save Sanjay or Save Law

The noise is increasing and without cause. When people in public life make a statement they endorse an idea, a principle and above all reflect a collective thought, a culture and point to the societal mind set. Viewed from this angularity the demand from the rich and famous seeking pardon for erring convict Sanjay Dutt requires to be condemned. Just the other day, WE THE PEOPLE celebrated the Rule of Law when Kasab and Afzal Guru were sent to the gallows. It was not so much the muscle of patriotism that gave the celebration vigour as the cause of law which had ensured that he who commits an offence wrongs society and there is a price tag.
The magnificence of law shines in its impartiality. We have voiced nay screamed this claim for over six decades. The guarantee to equality is the bed rock of our constitutionalism. It ill suits a system to therefore extend kid gloves to some and stern blows to others. It augurs poorly when men in the system voice an eagerness to chase the hound and save the hare. Double Speak is a poor label.
The march of events would reveal that Dutt Jr. was first charged for offences under TADA and the Arms Act. It is alleged and established that he was in illegal possession of an AK 56 rifle by different tiers of our judicial system. Not just that. It is believed that the recovered weapon is part of a larger consignment designed for a deadly terrorist attack. If a man is known by the company he keeps, Dutt had little to recommend in his favour. Fortunately for Dutt and this also to the critical opinion of legal pundits, the TADA court erred in absolving Dutt of the offences under the said law. That, if done would have invited far more serious consequences. Wonder if more glitter would have mad noise for saving his soul!!
A lady MP said she would meet the Governor and petition for his pardon on the ground that he has suffered for two decades due to the pendency of the case. Jayaji, please understand this is the plight of most convicts in the country where the system is burdened by docket explosion. Yeh Vaastav hai. Many actors were the delight of shutter bugs arriving at the star’s home to show solidarity. So far so good. The next level of however saying that the enfant terrible deserves clemency because he is a new Papa; because he has suffered a lot, underwent various tribulations and indignities, gone to court often, had to take permission of the Court for foreign shootings, could not get bank loans (!!), already undergone 18 months in jail, has not been held to be a terrorist, and had no hand in the bomb blasts, his parents worked for the good of society and the nation; they often went to border areas to give moral support to our brave jawans and did other social work for society. These reasons come not from the laity, not from our Rocky Babba’s fans but from a seasoned law person. Naiveté. Reprehensible considering the source and the aura it carries!!
Interestingly another reason pleaded is that he popularised the Mahatma. Are we joking? Is this how we deal with a serious issue of clemency in a case where a person is sentenced to five years of imprisonment in a case connected with terrorism?
Did last night’s paranoia on terrorism disappear with the morning sunrise? This plea for a systemic Jaddu ki Jhappi from the Raj Bhavan or Rashtrapathi Bhavan will have to be universal if correct and only correct if universal. The noise makers do not seem to raise the same noise for co convict Zebunissa Qazi who is exactly in the same boat: she too went to jail, she too could not get bank loans, she too has children – oh yes she does not have a Bollywood lobby and her parents were not the famous Dutts and did not play an important role in kick starting the career of the spouse of the MP now advocating for his clemency and travelling to the local Raj Bhavan.
To cast him in the mould of a victim of an elitist, tardy, procrastinating system, as some kind of a neo proletariat hero that he may well have portrayed (if not have well portrayed!!) would be injustice, would be a travesty of justice!! In case that matters!!

L. Ravichander.