On the Wharton-WIEF
episode this is what I wrote a few days ago: “One of the things about USA that
I admire is that they consider even one American being attacked as an act
against the country. Reprisal is assured. Any American attacked anywhere in the
world is taken very seriously by the US govt. In contrast, the Indian GOI
values Indian lives very casually”. The anti-national elements thrill and cheer
when an Indian is “snubbed” by other countries or institutes abroad because of
their political ideologies. To the Congress and the Communists India or Indians
never came first. So it’s hardly surprising that Italy has now refused to
return the two Marines charged with two fishermen off the coast of Kerala. I don’t
blame the Italians one bit. On the contrary I applaud their govt for standing
by their citizens' right through the whole incident and events after.
It’s funny to think Ram Singh, the accused in the Delhi Gangrape case, decided to commit
suicide in Tihar jail. And though there isn’t a final confirmation if it was
suicide or murder Ram Singh could have used some innovative excuses. He could
have asked to visit his wife or family for Holi or Shivratri and then
disappeared. After all, another rape-accused, Bitty Mohanty, did jump parole and disappear for seven years. Till
a few months back Durai Dayanidhi,
son of a top politician and accused in the granite scam in Tamil Nadu, was
absconding for many months till a court allowed him bail. In the Gopal Kanda case (Geetika Sharma
suicide) another accused, Chanshivroop Singh has jumped bail and fled to the
US. The sob story can go on and on.
In the famous murder case of Gulshan Kumar of T-Series tapes the Mumbai police had named musician
Nadeem (of Nadeem-Shravan fame) as a
suspect while he was abroad. Nadeem, who was in the UK then, decided never to
come back to India and face trial and still lives in the UK. You would think it
is quite silly of the police who want to nab a suspect but would announce his
name so he can happily stay away from interrogation or trial. Any sensible
Police unit would have stayed quiet till the suspect returned and then
announced and arrested him. Nadeem, on learning he was named a suspect, stayed
on in the UK and his asylum case went right up to the House of Lords who
refused to extradite him. Back then the House of Lords was like a Supreme Court
and the UK now has a separate Supreme Court. The rule for Indian police is to
first be foolish and then play out a long-drawn extradition exercise. It’s a
very repetitive story, isn’t it?
Other countries make it extremely difficult for us
to get a criminal back to India for a trial. And I’m talking about an “Indian”
criminal not a Honduran or a foreigner from Burkina Faso. But what happens if
there is a rare case of someone being actually extradited? Remember Abu Salem? His wife was hired for
Reality shows. Salem himself wanted to contest elections from Azamgarh (he
would have won too). The Portuguese even demanded that Salem be returned for
improper treatment of the accused. The late Jagjit
Singh Chauhan, master-mind of the Khalistan terror movement was given asylum
abroad. And our media never forgets to do favours to those absconding. MF Hussain who was wanted by Indian
courts absconded and finally went into exile and died. The Indian media hailed
him as a hero who was hounded out. No matter what the cause, a person running
from Indian courts is a fugitive and must be treated as such. Media glorifies
criminals and fugitives.
Lalit K Modi,
the former IPL boss, is wanted in India for questioning. He is happily in the
UK and frequently appears on TV shows as a panellist. Really nice! How did we
get here? Firstly, it wouldn’t be wrong to say our govt has turned this into a Banana republic that many have chosen
to call it. The Italian Marines were first sent home for Christmas and
returned. They were allowed to go home again to vote. To vote? How absurd can this get? Most Armed-forces personnel are
allowed to vote through post from where ever they are located. This could have
been considered for the Italians too but no our govt wanted to be generous.
It now raises the suspicion why the Italians backed
out. Of course, I maintain that I applaud the Italian govt for standing up for
their Marines. They had disputed the legality of the shooting incident right
from the start. It’s the Indian govt that has shamed itself and the nation. There
will be whispers and then a general connection made that there may have been
some backdoor deals with the Italians. This comes at a time when the Italians
are investigating the Agusta Westland
Chopper scam and many inconvenient names from India may have popped out. So
is this a deal with the Italians to protect such names? Time will tell (or
maybe time will bury this scam too).
What we do know is that far from being a
super-power or any close to it, we have truly become the laughing stock of the
world. When it’s terror we play “dossier-dossier”
with Pakistan. I’m convinced we will do the same with Italy as we have been
doing with Pakistan, with the Bofors players, with Nadeem and many such cases. The
Indian govt has a permanent label on its head “come fly with us”.
PS: On a different note, I had a chat with Prasanna
Vishwanathan of CRI last week. Those who didn’t get the link through Twitter/FB
can hear it on Youtube.
