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Brigadier goes Murder in Patiala |
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Shahabuddin’s
antics How long will he hoodwink the law? Not a day passes without Mohammed Shahabuddin, the notorious MP from Siwan in Bihar, hitting the headlines. Surprisingly, though he is easily available for the media, the Bihar Police, despite a nationwide alert, is unable to catch him. The latest is his “interviews” to a number of TV channels in which he maintained that he need not surrender because he is not a “criminal like Malkhan Singh”.
Nobel for ElBaradei
Santiniketan
Armed Forces
Tribunal Maintaining
judicial decorum Chatterati
Sorry, Pratap
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Murder in Patiala The
murder of an Additional District and Sessions Judge at Patiala on Thursday night has come as a rude reminder to the deteriorating law and order situation in Punjab. The judicial officer was provided with official security, but he chose to go on a walk at night all by himself, little realising what lay in store for him. The site of the murder, the Polo Ground, is in a plush area of Patiala and close to the New Moti Bagh residence of the Chief Minister. Though professional or personal enmity is suspected to be the motive behind the murder, the district administration has constituted a special investigation team to nab the killer(s). With the death of this bright and dynamic officer, the loss to Chandigarh in general and the judiciary in particular is understandable. However, what is painful is that it is not an isolated incident of crime. Going by the official figures available till June this year, there has been a steady increase in the incidents of murder, assault on public servants, rape and burglary in Punjab. Former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal may be exaggerating when he recently pointed to the “most alarming drift towards gruesome violence, lawlessness and the rule of jungle in Punjab”, it is quite clear that citizens do feel unsafe and insecure amidst a growing number of crimes in the state. Regrettably, this is happening in a state which has a large, top-heavy police administration. That many policemen are posted as gunmen of VIPs is another dark reality. The focus of any professional force should be first on restoring law and order in the state and then take care of those genuinely in need of an extra security cover. The people are indeed feeling increasing concerned about the worsening of the law and order situation in the state. The Chief Minister will have to depoliticise, rejuvenate and reinvent the force to enable it to control the growing lawlessness in the state. |
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Shahabuddin’s antics Not
a day passes without Mohammed Shahabuddin, the notorious MP from Siwan in Bihar, hitting the headlines. Surprisingly, though he is easily available for the media, the Bihar Police, despite a nationwide alert, is unable to catch him. The latest is his “interviews” to a number of TV channels in which he maintained that he need not surrender because he is not a “criminal like Malkhan Singh”. He has also blamed Chief Secretary G.S. Kang for having “falsely” implicated him in many cases and getting his name deleted from the voters’ list. He has every right to petition the Election Commission and the courts for justice. But propriety demands that he should first surrender to the police and follow the rule of law. The Siwan District Magistrate was only following the Election Commission’s directive when he deleted the names of those from the voters’ list against whom non-bailable warrants of arrest could not be executed during the past six months. However, the removal of Shahabuddin’s name from the voters’ list will make no material difference to his continuance as an MP now. Such a step should have been taken long back to prevent the four-time MP from entering Parliament. With eight non-bailable warrants of arrest and 38 criminal cases pending against him, he is a symbol of the criminalisation of politics so vigorously practised in Bihar today. Yet, the government has failed to catch him and thousands of other criminals who are roaming about freely in the state. If Shahabuddin is still at large and is able to get away with whatever he wants, it is only because of the tremendous political clout and patronage he enjoys at the Centre and in the state. Governor Buta Singh’s dismal failure to enforce the rule of law and the proxy rule by Railway Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav have only bolstered his image. His reported appearance in the law examination at Muzaffarpur’s RDS College is shrouded in mystery and the government is yet to respond to the charge convincingly. It is not known when the long arm of the law will catch him. But surely he has done enough damage to the credibility of the Bihar administration. |
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The lie in the soul is a true lie.
— Benjamin Jowett |
Nobel for ElBaradei
by T.P. Sreenivasan A rare consensus in favour of the IAEA is reflected in the presence at the door of the IAEA Boardroom in Vienna of the busts of President Eisenhower, whose declaration on the Atoms for Peace led to the establishment of the IAEA and Dr. Homi Bhabha, the main architect of the agency. Two wooden panels, one of the Ramayana and the other of the Mahabharata, adorn the backdrop of the boardroom. Priorities of the members differ widely, but the common thread that joins them is the abhorrence of nuclear weapons. They aspire also to harness nuclear energy for health, energy generation and development in general. To the IAEA, the combating of the tsetse flies in Africa is as important as the desalination of water and the development of economical and proliferation-resistant nuclear reactors. Dr ElBaradei symbolises the quest for balance among the three pillars of the agency: technology, safety and safeguards. Since 9/11 there has been yet another pillar in the making, namely the pillar of security against nuclear terrorism. It is not the ferocity of the watchdog, but the reassuring visage of the crusader for development that he projects. Not that he has accomplished the objective of balance to the satisfaction of all. The demands for the services and the availability of funds are for safeguards and not for the safety or technical cooperation. He concedes that a dollar-to-dollar balance is not achievable, but he never loses sight of the essential role of the agency to develop technology and to share it with countries with little or no nuclear infrastructure. At no time in history has the IAEA been faced with as many country-specific cases of suspected activities as now. The IAEA can investigate cases only when safeguards agreements exist and with the cooperation of the countries concerned. If the countries concerned have signed the Additional Protocol, the IAEA has the right to seek access at short notice, but even there the co-operation of the countries is important. The celebrated cases like Iraq’s expulsion of inspectors, DPRK’s removal of cameras and Iran’s breaking of the seals highlight the vulnerability of the agency. It is only the satellite surveillance that the IAEA has if it wants to engage in any intelligence gathering on its own. But it does not have the resources to expand this capability beyond a point. If a country refuses to cooperate, the only option for the secretariat is to go to the board, where the matter would be subject to the vagaries of international politics. The personality of the Director-General and his credibility as an impartial and objective authority is particularly important in this context. The watchdog should not be a bloodhound in any situation. Right through the days of the Iraq investigation till today, Dr. ElBaradei has scrupulously followed his mandate without any over-enthusiasm or lethargy. He has directed scientific investigations to the path suggested by the board, worked as a friend of the investigated country and generated confidence. His analysis is clinical, his conclusions are forthright and his recommendations are clear. He guides the deliberations in the board, but steers clear of politics and intervenes only to clarify issues that may get muddled in the debate. He may be tearing his hair (even though he does not have much of it left) in private over the realities of international politics, but he is the very picture of calm and balance in public. He is always listened to with attention and, in turn, he listens carefully to every intervention. Unlike other heads of agencies in Vienna, who either read their mail or disappear after their own speeches, Dr. ElBaradei and his senior colleagues rarely leave the room when the board is engaged in a debate. As long as a country does not come clean on its nuclear record, there is nothing that the IAEA can do. It does not have the mandate or the resources to spy around the world for nuclear activity. The initiative for any investigation has to come from a member-country with the approval of the board. Iran did not report its activities till a dissident group prompted the United States to bring up the issue to the board. Libya, when it decided to come clean, went to London to reveal its activities and the IAEA came to know of the activities only after the US had secured the Libyan assets. Dr ElBaradei was virtually boarding a plane to India when he was asked to proceed to Tripoli instead to look into the Libyan case and to give legitimacy to the US decision to ship all nuclear material to the US. He was obviously upset that his agency was kept out of the picture for so long, but he was keener to complete the remaining task rather than make his displeasure known. He went about taking the steps necessary to put the Libyan genie back in the bottle. With Iran too, Dr ElBaradei has been gentle, but sure-footed. The US enthusiasm to deter Iran from bomb making did not blind him for a moment to the right of Iran to develop peaceful uses of nuclear energy. For that reason, Iran respects him, even as he pries open the Iranian nuclear vault and brings out one clarification after another to make sure that Iran has no undeclared activities that make it susceptible to suspicion. The IAEA has not been shy of reporting instances of breach of the safeguards agreement, but with the refrain that it has not discovered anything as yet to confirm that Iran is indeed engaged in putting together a weapon of mass destruction. Iran may have challenged the findings of the IAEA scientists, but never has it challenged the impartiality and integrity of the IAEA. India, Pakistan and Israel, the countries that have defied the non-proliferation regime, remain faithful members of the IAEA because of the sympathy and understanding with which the IAEA and its Director-General have dealt with these countries. Over the years, the IAEA has learnt to respect their perspectives. It has been the mission of Dr. ElBaradei to bring these countries, particularly India, into the mainstream nuclear debate. He takes special care to involve Indian scientists in matters that do not compromise the Indian position. He maintains a dialogue with Indian policy makers. He was particularly pleased with his last visit to India in November 2004, especially his meeting with Mani Dixit. He lost no time in welcoming the India-US nuclear deal as it was very much in keeping with his own scheme of things for India. Dr Elbaradei was forthright in dealing with the A.Q.Khan adventures, which he characterised as a “nuclear Walmart”. He insisted that Pakistan should reveal the full extent of his transactions. The sources of supply of material and technology to DPRK, Libya and Iran were as much the subject of his investigations as the activities of the countries themselves. He, however, respected the confidentiality of the information he received and revealed in his reports only those aspects which had a direct relevance to his findings. Pakistan was also among the countries that extended support to Dr. ElBaradei for a third term as Director-General. It is this universal admiration for his work that has earned him and the IAEA the Nobel Peace Prize. The instigators of investigations and the objects of investigations have welcomed the award with equal
gusto.
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Santiniketan
Buddhadeb
Bose’s inimitable book, Shob Peyechir Deshe, gave us an enchanting glimpse of Santiniketan. An irresistible urge grew in us to explore this unique, dreamy university town where Tagore’s creative instincts reached their apogee. It was in the early eighties when my wife and I went there to stay with Mrs Indira Dey, our adopted grandmother, whose spacious house, “Mitali”, was genuinely a feast for the eyes. She admitted us into a self-sufficient universe which could ward off the infringements of the outside world. Santiniketan proved to be a sublime experience where the birds and the bees took over and the butterflies became our companions. The incandescent shimul and palash flowers added a touch of drama to our lives. Chotodidi’s aesthetic sense and mental aristocracy gave her a kind of distinctiveness which others lacked. She was an avid gardener, proud of her rose bushes and a flourishing vegetable patch. She worked with her own hands and had green fingers. Her dining room was alive with the aromas of garlic, tomatoes and plums drying in the hot sun. One felt Chotodidi and Santiniketan were meant for each other. Once you are there you forget the monotony of the homogenised and pasteurised world you came from. Every morning my wife and I walked on Chotodidi’s open verandah, waiting for the sun to rise in a blaze of glory. The sun had hardly risen when a train came panting to the Prantik station, making the earth tremble. Tagore’s houses plunged us into history. We had heard our forebears talking about them and now we were facing Udayan, Konark, Shyamali and Udichi. A sense of reverence came over us and we soaked ourselves mentally in his poems and songs. Purba Palli was full of deep cottages covered in bougainvilleas with either well laid or carefully careless gardens. The shady lanes, the dappled sunshine, the shrill cicadas in the distance — this was almost a prelapsarian scene which made us hopeful about the future of the world. One evening Chotodidi sat in her verandah and sang the haunting Hridayer Katha Bolite Byakul with her eyes shut. A bewitching sunset had just taken place and the sky was suffused with crimson. Just then a flock of whistling teals flew east from the jheel in the deer park. The formation used to break up and assemble again. This was a magical moment for us with an insidious appeal. The same evening, a little while later, we heard the cowherd playing on his flute, taking the cows back home after a day’s grazing. A sense of timelessness invaded our senses and we became oblivious to our surroundings. |
Armed Forces Tribunal The
news of Cabinet approval for an Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) should have come as a whiff of fresh air for the armed forces. Hopefully, this will breathe in a new life into our moribund military justice system. Much, will, however, depend upon how the tribunal and the associated reforms are introduced. For the present, newspaper reports indicate that the tribunal will be set up on the lines of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). If that were so, it will be a retrograde step. The CAT, constituted under the Administrative Tribunals Act of 1985, is a quasi- judicial body. In case of ATF, it will, in addition to the service matters, hear appeals against the finding and sentence of the courts martial as recommended by 15th Law Commission of India. The absence of the remedy of appeal against the orders of the court martial was a serious deficiency as was observed by the Supreme Court in Lt. Col Prithi Pal Singh versus Union of India, 1982. Hearing the appeals from the court martial proceedings, which are judicial proceedings, the ATF will have to be a judicial body rather than a quasi-judicial body as reported in newspapers. In order to be a court of appeal it will have the status of high court and appeal from this tribunal will only lie to the Supreme Court. In the case of CAT, it is lower in status to a high court as all of its decisions are subject to review by high courts as per the Supreme Court judgment of 1993. Since then the CAT is fast becoming an additional layer of the judicial process. At a time when the UPA Government and many other states are toying with the idea of abolishing them, one wonders how prudent it would be to set up ATF on the lines of CAT. It would be a good idea to examine the similar military appellate bodies overseas and adopt their provisions mutatis- mutandis if found suitable. The United States, the UK, Canada and Australia have the courts of military appeal. In the US, it is known as the United States Court of Appeal for the Armed Forces. It is composed of five “civilian” judges appointed for a 15- year term by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. Each judge gets an opportunity to preside over for five years in rotation. The aim of the legislature in setting up this body was to create an independent “civilian” appellate court, which would be “completely removed from all military influence or persuasion”. The court-martial appeal courts in the UK, Canada and Australia are similarly constituted. The common thread running through all of them is their “civilian character” and “total independence” from the armed forces. There is a need to take this opportunity to make “comprehensive reforms” in the entire military justice system. It is learnt that the legal departments of our armed forces and experts of the defence ministry are doing thorough studies to draw up the blue print. Still it is felt that it would be a good idea to make the process of drawing reforms more participative by, first, constituting a broad-based Committee on the lines of the Justice Malimath Committee and, secondly, involving prominent ex-servicemen. It is more so when the serving members of the armed forces cannot speak effectively for themselves. Somewhere along the line when the commanders are under intense pressure to deliver the results, the concern for good order and military discipline starts overriding the concern for justice. The civil courts also feel shy of interfering with the findings of military courts. Military jurisprudence and the body of case laws have not sufficiently developed in India. Justice is a command function and its aim is to preserve good order and military discipline and operational readiness of the armed forces. It is, therefore, all the more important, in the words of Lord Chief Justice Hewart, “Justice should not only be done but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done” in the armed forces. It is in the interest of effective command function that reforms are introduced at the earliest possible. To ensure complete independence, the reforms must address the roots of the system. The Judge Advocate Branch in the respective services lies at the roots of the system. Judge Advocate General at all the three service headquarters, reporting to the respective service Chiefs, heads the Judge Advocate branch. It consists of legally qualified career officers aspiring to become JAG one day. The older lot is of hard-core Army officers initially commissioned into other arms and services who later acquired the legal qualifications from an evening law college and were transferred to the JAG branch. It is the younger lot who have attained the legal qualifications from a regular college and joined the JAG branch directly. The JAG officers do not have any experience at the bar. They are advisers to formation commanders on legal matters who, in turn, write their annual confidential reports. The promotion of the officers depends upon these reports. This violates the fundamental tenets of justice where the judicial officers should be independent of the executive officers. In order to ensure the high quality of legal experience and complete independence, the JAG branch should be placed under the Defence Minister or Chief of Defence Staff, when constituted. The eminent lawyers and judges should be encouraged to serve as JAG officers. Similarly, the JAG officers be sent to the civil judiciary on deputation. Women in the armed forces require special safeguards. The commanding officers hold such a sway over their lives, that wittingly or unwittingly, they are likely to fall prey. Deterrent provisions for violating such fiduciary relationships need to be enacted. At present the cases of “sexual harassment” and “stealing the affections of brother officer’s wife” are being dealt with under a relatively mild Army Act Section 63. |
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Maintaining judicial decorum Embarrassment
abounding (though I would have said disgrace abounding, as would many in the legal profession) is the reaction to the spectacle of two former Chief Justices of India being virtually bundled out of the BCCI’s AGM. I am wondering how could the duo, who have held the highest of positions in the judiciary and who in the course of their work saved many litigants from embarrassing situations, themselves felt so lightly in the lap of a clique infighting. One wonders why, knowing of the embarrassment caused to Justice Mohan, a former Judge of Supreme Court, in the last year election where he had to wait outside and was not allowed to function for quite some, Justice
M. M. Punchhi and Justice K.N. Singh took the unprecedented step of rushing to Kolkata from Delhi and Chandigarh. One faction was facetious enough to challenge the impartiality of the former Chief Justices. It appears that lack of sensititivity on the part of the retired judges is continuing. I say this because no explanation is forthcoming as to how two former Chief Justices agreed to be observers at the instance of one group even when they knew that Justice S.C. Sen, their erstwhile colleague had already been appointed as an observer. Moreover, if the appointments of three observers was required, there were at least three former Supreme Court justices available in Kolkata. It is, therefore, difficult to accept that the duo did not realise that they would inevitably be seen as appointees of one rival faction and yet agreed to be appointed. But even the embarrassment caused to them at Kolkata does not seem to have dimmed their desire to be appointed as observer because the party against whom the Bench of Calcutta decided by declining the appointment of these two judges has gone to the Supreme Court to challenge it. Evidently, the two former Chief Justices have not indicated to all concerned that they are not available for being observers in view of the groups’ intra-fighting. Personally, I feel that retired judges should refuse to be appointed as observers of such like meetings even at the prestigious Board of Control unless, and then too rarely, there is a unanimous demand and request by all groups asking them to preside over (though personally I would even then be of the view that this is not a work of such nature that the retired Judges of the Supreme Court should allow themselves to be inducted into.) This is not a case of judges being asked to act as an arbitrator in a matter in which both the parties show their faith in them. Rather here, both parties are quarrelling with each other and wanting to get their own observers appointed. It has been a painful experience to write this piece because of my good personal equation with these friends. And, therefore, if I sound a bit harsh, I can only invoke the caveat of Mr Justice Holmes of US Supreme Court, who said, “I trust that no one will understand me to be speaking with disrespect of the law, because I criticize it so freely…… But one may criticize even what one reveres……. And I should show less than devotion, if I did not do what in me lies to improve it.” The writer is a retired Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. |
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Chatterati The
Director, Intelligence Bureau, must be a very happy man after the DGPs’ conference which concluded recently. There was an air of openness about the conference, which was appreciated by the media and other sections of society. Along with a good coverage of the deliberations attended by the Home Minister and the Prime Minister, newspapers also showed photographs of some Director Generals yawning, and taking catnaps. The Prime Minister of course, true to his self, took the conference very seriously and moved one and all with his sincerity of purpose. He touched upon the issue of police reforms and the need to change the outmoded Police Act of 1861 and then came the bonanza for the police. On the lines of Technology Missions, a Police Mission was announced which will directly prepare the police for the times to come. As police officers noted, it had to be a technocrat, the PM himself, to understand the needs of specialists. Of course, for some Director Generals, it is a nice retreat to sleep, have a good food and go back merrily awaiting next year’s call. IA and IAS The Indian Airlines — without the services of an IAS MD for the last nine months — has been showing profits and this despite the stiff competition from the cost-cutting private airlines. While all the airlines of the world do a worldwide search to get the best managing expert from the aviation sector to head their carrier, there is frenetic activity within the country to select a babu, an IAS officer, to head our national carrier. Among those short-listed for the job, none has airline experience and of those who are selecting them from the Public Sector Enterprise Selection Board, comprising mostly ex-IAS officers, hardly any may be having airline experience. The bottom line is then to select a babu as the Chairman/MD. Ask an employee in the Indian Airlines and he will tell you why they need a Managing Director from their own ranks. Another disaster After the tsunami came the earthquake in North India on October 8, measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale. While the losses have been staggering in the PoK, which was the epicenter, extending right down to Islamabad, on our side J&K has been truly devastated. The Army’s role despite its own losses has been truly commendable and so is the case with the police and the paramilitary forces deployed in the region. TV footage of areas in Uri and Baramula were heart-rending. Unfortunately, the National Management Disaster Authority had not really taken off and, in any case, by the time the local agencies could react, a lot of damage had already been done. In Delhi, it was a nightmarish start to the weekend and all hell broke loose in the high-rises of Gurgaon. It is about time the government did something to ensure that all high-rise buildings in the seismic zone are earthquake proof. Delhi is already placed under the very high-risk category and urgent measurers in this regard are essential to assure the terrified citizens. |
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Sorry, Pratap
In the article, “Spying days that were: It’s wrong to rubbish allegations”, by Sunanda K. Datta-Ray (October 1), it was mentioned that “journals like Thought and Pratap in New Delhi and People in Bombay were closed down because of their CIA connections…” The article was written by a veteran journalist and was published in good faith. While publishing the article, we were not aware that it referred to the Daily Pratap of which the Editor, Printer, Publisher and Proprietor is Mr K. Narendra. Mr Narendra has written to us to say that the Daily Pratap was started in 1919 and till 1947 it was the most read Urdu publication in pre-Partition Punjab and after Partition it shifted to New Delhi, where it has been operating since then. Even today the Daily Pratap is considered one of the most honourable and trustworthy and readable newspapers by the Urdu readers. We regret the publication of the reference and apologise to the Daily Pratap and Mr Narendra, its Editor, Publisher and Printer, if it has created a wrong impression. — Editor |
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From the pages of Ignorance or perversity?
There is nothing strange in the circumstances that the “Times” special correspondent in India should show his aversion to the Congress ideal of “Self-Government within the Empire”. But that he should go to Mr Bipin Chandra Pal as an authority for showing the impracticability and the untenability of the Colonial ideal strikes us as something out of the common. And that is what the “Times” correspondent does in his latest article on India. But the correspondent is hardly consistent in his position. In the next breath he goes on to describe “Colonial self-government” as “a common denominator in a nebulous formula which each side can interpret as to time and manner according to its own desires and aims.” He also charges the moderates with being reluctant to “break with their advanced friends by proclaiming, once and for all, their own conviction that within no measurable time can India in her own interests afford to forgo the guarantees of internal peace and order and external safety which the British Raj alone can afford.” Such a statement must either be due to perversity of the mind or
willful ignorance. |
Whoever wants God intensely, find Him. Go and verify it in your own life. — Ramakrishna Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objection must be first overcome. — Book of quotations on success Dreams whet your appetite, but goals make you hungry. — Josie Bissett |
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