Bansal & Bed-ridden Media

In an article somewhat critical of Manmohan Singh Rajdeep Sardesai now finds his silence a curse. In June 2011 the MMS made an extraordinary promise that he would meet the press every week. He started off the first with a private, closed-door meeting with five hand-picked editors who were practically Congress spokies in the media. I had called it “friendly fire”. Nobody really knows what questions were asked and what answers MMS had offered. And that was that. Since then MMS hasn’t spoken to the media again except in his flights. A few months prior to June in February 2011 MMS had held a televised meeting, again with hand-picked editors. While Rajdeep writes “Silence as a curse” in his home paper of Hindustan Times I wonder if he ever reads the comments on his article. When I last checked a few days ago the following comments were on top of the list:

The third comment says Rajdeep is actually covering up the Himalayan deficiencies of MMS. The media had hailed an ordinary babu and a puppet as a great economic reformer and architect of the reforms. This is a lie that the entire Indian MSM, Rajdeep included, has peddled all these years. The Congress party had wiped out Narasimha Rao from their history because he was not a “Gandhi”. But people are indeed slowly starting to realise that Rao was the real architect of the reforms which were also triggered by other compulsions. MMS was just a senior clerk implementing these measures. It is now also widely known that far from being a free-market supporter, MMS was a socialist more suited to the large govt and doles philosophy of the Congress. And silence? That is precisely the reason Sonia Gandhi chose him as PM. To keep his mouth shut, to bury his conscience. Simon Denyer was more direct when he called MMS a “tragic failure”.

The first comment in the box drives home an important message. “Any journalist who is soft on ruling party is corrupt” it says. I cannot help agreeing. This describes the Indian MSM perfectly. They are slaves to the Congress and the ruling UPA. Rajdeep is nothing more than an English speaking Laloo who is a slave of the Congress party. Time and again, in every scam, in every crisis his channel and also other media outlets have spent their time finding faults with other parties instead of keeping a watch on the ruling party. And then Rajdeep gets upset because people question his “integrity and credibility”. Rajdeep forgets that all his staunch critics were also his one-time admirers. Frankly, if Rajdeep is such a moron that he still believes all the myths about MMS being honest, a great economist or reformer, then he’s not a journalist but a bed-fellow of the Congress. He is just another Mulayam Singh or Laloo Prasad. They support the Congress for the same reasons that Rajdeep defends the crimes of Congress and MMS and washes their sins with clever words.

Being an embedded reporter has its own problems. You soon become the team or the party. This is what CNN-IBN reporter Pallavi Ghosh frequently shows in her messages. When Pawan Bansal’s nephew was arrested in the bribery case for railways appointments she tells us how earnest the guy is. Surely, corrupt people don’t wear a badge do they? None in the media wants to ask how a nephew can effect senior appointments in the Railways Board without the connivance of a top minister. Secondly, the men who were paying such huge bribes are certainly not fools to pay these to a person unless they were certain he can deliver results. This was a deal running into crores and cannot be anything but a national racket. But CNN-IBN and their sisters will tell you “Pawan Bansal is innocent”. HeadlinesToday reported that his nephew, Vikas Singla, was a frequent guest at Rail Bhawan and was always closeted with Bansal. Ah well, I guess they must be discussing what to cook for dinner in the night or who to invite. There’s a reason I keep repeating that the MSM is the first line of defence for the corrupt.

What about CNN-IBN’s sister channel NDTV? Both are members of the unholy trinity that includes Hindustan Times, which is their mother-paper in print. When people from NDTV and CNN-IBN find time, you can usually find them in Hindustan Times. NDTV is now famous for giving clean chits to the corrupt, providing platforms for the tainted to shed tears and often quoting “sources” to plant stories in the public. By now almost everyone knows who their “source” in their cabinet is. A few days back NDTV put out news about Army’s proposals to the Cabinet on dealing with the Chinese incursion in Ladakh. You have to be a bed-mate of the Congress to be getting such leaks from the highest levels. I don’t think anyone needs to be an Einstein to guess who these “sources” are. And as with PallaviG of CNN-IBN they also claim Bansal is not connected to the bribery. The trick is to attribute the remark to some unverifiable “source” so that the channel can pass it off as “news” and not as their personal defence of Bansal.

The other trick NDTV employs is to always describe any crime or scam by the Congress or UPA as an “allegation”. They are all innocent, aren’t they? And some people are just making allegations. Take a look at this headline from the Bansal bribery case:

It is a report by Sunetra Chaudhary and another. It screams the bribery is an “allegation”. Wow! The CBI catches Singla red-handed with cash of 90 lakhs. Books him for bribery and arrests him and on May 4 he was presented in court. He is an “accused” with some serious evidence. But for NDTV, this is mere “allegation”. This “source” and “allegation” trickery of NDTV is now a joke on the social media. You sleep with someone in an illicit relationship you are naturally going to defend that person at any cost. Wouldn’t they? That’s what NDTV frequently does.

Our news channels, particularly CNN-IBN and NDTV, have gone far beyond being embedded reporters and channels. They are sick and termite-infested like the Congress and UPA. They have now extinguished any semblance of reporting or journalism from their menu. They are as bed-ridden as the conscience of Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and the Congress. 

Disturbing Bee-haviour

Unlike those who call themselves journalists, ordinary people can see misfits immediately. They are able to spot silliness instantly while the so-called journalists thrive in bootlicking the most absurd.

There is a movie called “Lamhe” from the 1990s with Anil Kapoor and Sridevi. There was someone else in that movie; Deepak Malhotra. Now Deepak was a top model of that time and very successful but in an emotional love scene in the movie he fondly calls Pallavi (Sridevi) as “Pallo” and that one utterance was the end of his career. His utterance of “Pallo” was so comic and laughable that Deepak totally disappeared from the media, never to be seen again. In recent times Priyanka Chopra’s boyfriend made his debut in “Love story 2050” and people could again spot a dud. It’s not only Harman Baweja’s movie career that ended but also, unfortunately, his relationship with Priyanka Chopra. Love’s unkind, you could say. But what does it say about our media morons who still crow about Rahul Gandhi’s greatness? What does it say about our political analysts, the ‘Numero Unos & Unees’ who still can’t accept that they couldn’t spot a dud?

In this one, let’s just stick to one group: the wiseguys from TV18. And the best place to start is Rajdeep Sardesai himself, the “Boss” of CNN-IBN group. Youngsters at their first jobs are entitled to a fair bit of latitude. They are allowed to make mistakes and are expected to learn from those. So Rahul Gandhi enters active politics at age 32 which must be at least after an 8-year stint in some other domain. Right? RG probably entered politics partly out of his “DNA” and partly because he must have bombed at his previous endeavours. Because the Congress won 22 seats in UP in the 2009 general elections CNN-IBN bestowed upon him the “Indian of the year” award. Here’s what they said:

So Rajdeep the “Boss” had concluded back then that RG was IOTY material merely because Congress won 22 seats and then had to realise the horror of UP in 2012 under the same campaigner. So who lacks “vision and insight” Rajdeep or Rahul? The citation in the pic erroneously says “CNN-IBN facilitates RG” (instead of felicitates). I know it’s an error but it seems quite appropriate because that is precisely what Rajdeep & Co. have been doing all this while: “Facilitating RG”.

Many ordinary men and women (and I dare say that may include Congressmen), including yours truly, have seen absolutely nothing in RahulG’s words or actions that merit anything less than the #PappuCII trend that he got on April 4. Remember, if there is real substance it is not easy to deny and those who lie will be exposed. And political astuteness? Where did CNN-IBN find that in RG? He has not shown being involved in any decision making, any policies, has not confronted any opposition or agitation and doesn’t speak of anything except in vague terms and Rajdeep sees “astuteness” in the guy? Every time RG has opened his mouth he has only demonstrated more comic genius than political astuteness. So once again Rajdeep sees some non-existent first principles in RG’s CII speech on April 4. Facilitating? Even a regular economics panellist like Surjit Bhalla had to ask Rajdeep which principles he’s talking about.

The so-called “journos” are being fooled very badly or maybe they genuinely are. Here’s another one from the IBN group. Ashutosh found RG’s speech brilliant, very modern and introspective. This guy is dumbness personified and it will remain an eternal mystery how he became a journalist. Or is that the norm? I guess nobody taught Ashutosh that it’s not possible to trend topics on Twitter unless a whole lot of people join in. Trends by ordinary people are not a conspiracy against RahulG or anyone at all. They just reflect the instant reaction to an event or incident. In this case even international journals have recognised that the speech was without substance and the “beehive” was a major gaffe. If Ashutosh, calling himself a journo, finds it brilliant it is only possible if he is a die-hard Congress supporter. He doesn’t stop there. When others point out that he’s being silly he claims they are “paid supporters” out to demolish RG. Ashutosh doesn’t realise that by making such comic allegations he almost confirms that he himself is a “paid media” supporter of Congress. It never occurs to the likes of Ashutosh and his gang at IBN that if RG had indeed turned out a good thinker, leader and politician then even his most trenchant critic would have to admit he has talent and skill. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Someone accurately pointed out on Twitter (I think Vijay @centerofright) that had it not been for the social media a few reporters closeted in the CII hall would have splashed headlines all over the place calling it the “speech of the century” and how RahulG was ready to lead India to being a global super-power. This is the same reason why Rajiv Gandhi was awarded the ‘Bharat Ratna’ despite the Sikh genocide under his watch. If social media were around back then the lies of MSM around many events and individuals would have been exposed quite badly. And the fun is never over until the ‘Social Genius’ certifies herself as “neutral”. I think she has already forgotten her gluttony tour of Gujarat before the elections. She is truly the jewel in the crown of the IBN group. And I doubt whether Congress or BJP really want her endorsement at all.

In the ten years that RahulG has been in active politics he really has had nothing to show but frequent silly utterances. It’s even possible he’s a good guy and his cronies are forcing him to play a role he definitely doesn’t want. In politics, all that RahulG has demonstrated so far is ‘Disturbing Bee-haviour’ but cronies like Ashutosh or Rajdeep seem unwilling to see it. The obvious reason for this blindness is not such a big secret. There is someone disturbing the sleep of the MSM as much he is making the Congress burn midnight oil. Don’t take my word for it. It comes from none other than Pallavi Ghosh, who is CNN-IBN’s embedded reporter with the Congress party. That’s what disturbs Ashutosh and the rest in the MSM too.

The Defence Never Rests

There are some in our media who are better off if they don’t open their mouths about legal issues. Not because they shouldn’t speak but because they try to influence and mislead public opinion through utterances that primarily stem from ignorance of the law and legal practice. This is especially so when they are peddling half-truths. To call them “Legal-Bimbos” wouldn’t be unfair. Take a look at these tweets:

In the first, the legal luminary from CNN-IBN, Pallavi Ghosh, equates Arun Jaitley’s defence of PJ Kurien to the case of Sushil Shinde. The context being, BJP announced they will boycott Shinde because of his “Hindu terror” comments and the SC reopening an old rape case from Kerala in which the current RS Deputy Chairman was an accused. Arun Jaitley had then defended Kurien in the case. The other legal expert, Sunetra Chaudhary from NDTV, even suggests Jaitley is still defending Kurien in the SC. Barkha Dutt points out to Sunetra that Jaitley had given up legal practice after becoming the LOP in the RS. Jaitley had mentioned this to her or someone else when he was interviewed by NDTV in an issue relating to Nitin Gadkari. And though Barkha rightly points out a fact, she is not pointing out the right fact. The right fact is that Arun Jaitley, if he hadn’t surrendered his license, would still be entitled to and justified in defending Kurien. Merely because Arun Jaitley defended Kurien or any person from some other political party is not reason enough to cast aspersions on his character.

The moronic answer that Sunetra provides is that she wondered if Tweeple knew. Well, if she hasn’t yet learnt that Tweeple are not bimbos like her, then she’s worse than I actually thought. Sure, there may be some stray legal-bimbos on Twitter too. Maybe those are the ones who follow Sunetra and she is trying to educate them. Such idiots maintain that Jaitley shouldn’t defend “alleged” rapists as a lawyer in courts. So much for expertise!

In the recent Delhi Gangrape incident there was a shocking announcement from the Lawyers Association at Saket in Delhi. The association’s head appealed to lawyers not to defend the accused. Individual choices are fine but asking all lawyers not to defend some accused is comically outrageous. This head lawyer is worthy of having his license stripped. This action reflects lack of respect for the law under which the govt and our judiciary system are obligated to provide defence for an accused. It mocks democracy itself. If the govt and lawyers fail in this obligation they are failing our justice system and causing serious damage to legal processes.

Not so long ago, the lawyers initially engaged for the Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab were assaulted and beaten up. These goons and those who cheered them deserve to be condemned and punished. How does all this stupidity start? Exactly the way Pallavi and Sunetra start it! The idiotic anchors and media reporters believe the media is so powerful that once they pronounce someone guilty then there is no need for a court to try a case. They believe associating lawyers with a criminally-accused makes them equally guilty of the crime. Such morons abound in resplendent glory on Twitter as well. The public then turns against the lawyers as if they were evil and sometimes thrashes them. Let’s go back a few years and you can watch moronery of the most extreme kind from none other than a legal-bimbo who shouldn’t be talking law at all. Yeah, who else but Sagarika Ghose? This is how she questioned Ram Jethmalani in 2006 in the Manu Sharma case (Appeal in SC for killing Jessica Lal). You can watch it on Youtube but here are her opening questions which are shocking:

Sagarika Ghose: In defending Manu Sharma, are you in some sense defending or attempting to defend the indefensible?... But sir, aren’t you worried that you are going against the tide of public opinion?... But the Press is only reflecting public opinion... Here is someone who in the eyes of the public is seen as someone who has committed a heinous crime.

So you see, according to the media, cases should be decided based on “public opinion” that they generate and the media and public in general have the right to declare someone “indefensible”. These are seriously dangerous messages that our media is putting out. RamJ rightly spanked Sagarika for her stupidity in that interview. RamJ has a record of defending the most notorious criminals from Billa-Ranga to Indira Gandhi’s killers and he is now hired to defend Rajiv Gandhi’s killers in TN to commute the death sentence. He is doing his job. It’s the media morons who are failing in theirs. By the stupid logic of media, should the doctors who treated Kasab’s injuries have refused to do so? Should doctors let the accused die because of media or public opinion? This is the reason the legal fraternity has great respect for RamJ while the media sees him as evil. All such questions come from media-comedians who even describe High Court judgements as ‘Panchayati judgements’. And her channel entrusts her with moderating discussions about rape laws or marital-rape laws. That’s the absurdity at CNN-IBN. Would you leave legal counselling to comedians?

‘The defense never rests’ is the title of a famous book by eminent American Criminal-Trial lawyer F. Lee Bailey (do read comments on the page I’ve linked). He has been involved in some of the most notorious cases and even in the OJ Simpson trial which has been called “Trial of the century”. In his book he describes how public thinks lawyers defending notorious accused are mavericks and face the wrath of public and media. That brings us to an important question. Do defence lawyers naturally believe their clients are “innocent”? Absolutely not! It’s the LAW that believes they are innocent till proven guilty. WE made that law! So what exactly do defence lawyers do in such cases? They do a lot more than just defend someone; they complement and validate our judiciary system. The courts are people’s courts. Remember, if an accused is not defended properly the court can very well declare it a mistrial and miscarriage of justice and even free the accused. Is that what our media’s legal-bimbos want? Ask them! Do they want rapists and murderers to go scot-free because no lawyer was willing or allowed to defend them? That is what a court may choose to do if no defence is afforded to the accused. 

In the US, Miranda Rights are Rights which are read to a person immediately on arrest or before interrogation. It’s commonly called Miranda rights since the guy (Ernesto Miranda) who was arrested was released by the court because the law officers did not read him his legal rights. The standard Rights, with variants, to be read to a person about to be arrested in the US is: “You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. If you cannot afford a lawyer, the state will provide you one”. If that legal right is not read to an arrestee then the court is likely to dismiss the case and seek a retrial. The US also has the Fifth Amendment which provides the Right for an accused to remain silent. The accused is not liable to prove he is guilty nor is his defence lawyer. It’s the job of the prosecution to prove him guilty. Not the defence lawyer, not the media and not public opinion. Public opinion matters in the ballot box not in a court of law. Public opinion issues and concerns can be raised through a PIL but they cannot be used by media to pronounce legal verdicts on anyone. The 2-minute-orgasm polls in the media cannot declare anyone guilty or indefensible.

Defence lawyers are not always fighting to prove clients “innocent”. Certainly not! In the case of David Headley the evidence was so damning that his defence plea-bargained. That’s what defence lawyers do. The defence also ensures that proper charges are framed and a proper trial is conducted. It is important that an accused is tried under proper clauses, charges, crimes and procedures. The defence lawyer ensures that. The defence lawyer also ensures that prosecution does not tar an accused with unrelated crimes or crimes the person has never committed. The defence lawyer’s job is to ensure no pressure or public opinion is brought to bear on the court proceedings. The defence lawyer ensures the Judge has no personal stake in the proceedings and asks for a different judge should he prove that. Defence lawyers ensure punishment is not disproportionate to the crime. Therefore, the media is doing a great disservice to the justice system, to you and to society at large when they question defence lawyers and paint them as “criminals” by association. The media’s Powder-Puff girls and morons who agree with their logic might want to learn some law before they make stupid pronouncements to mislead people.

If lawyers, as an association or group, decide to boycott an accused claiming he or she is a villain or guilty in the eyes of media or public opinion then these lawyers are guilty of failing to uphold the law and the Constitution they swore to protect. And those who verbally trash or physically thrash such defence lawyers are equally guilty of uncivilised behaviour and are misundersanders of democracy and justice. The prosecution acts for the people. That’s why they call such prosecution “State V xyz or People V xyz or Union V xyz’. Under criminal law, the crime is not just against an individual or group, it's a crime against the State. It’s also WE, as people, who have ordered, authorised and legislated that an accused must be allowed full defence. We pay the salary of the courts to make sure such defence is mandatory. Anyone in the media trashing legal defence of an accused is indirectly trashing the people.

The so called warriors of justice in the media overlook the fact that while they condemn many accused as guilty and ridicule defence lawyers as being equivalent to criminals they are the ones who celebrate the convicted criminals. They seem to have divine powers to pronounce anyone guilty but will promote and celebrate “convicted criminals” like Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt. Why? Because these guys mean money and Mota-maal for them! Our media doesn’t give a damn about justice or respect for law. Make no mistake about that. It’s the job of the prosecution to prove and establish beyond any reasonable doubt that a person is guilty and rest the case. The defence goes right up to the highest authority to seek justice or pardon (like Supreme Courts and Presidents). The defence never rests! It’s not supposed to.