Baby Black May Not Come Back

(This is a MaxiPost)

“The richest one percent of this country owns half our country's wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It's bullshit. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own. We make the rules, pal. The news, war, peace, famine, upheaval, the price per paper clip. We pick that rabbit out of the hat while everybody sits out there wondering how the hell we did it. Now you're not naive enough to think we're living in a democracy, are you buddy? It's the free market. And you're a part of it. You've got that killer instinct. Stick around pal, I've still got a lot to teach you” – Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street”

In every government, in every country there are always some who protect white-collar criminals. It is these white-collar criminals that invariably fund political parties. It’s democracy!

Chairman and wife have two companies. One is a manufacturing company, the other a marketing company. Manufacturing company sells products to Marketing Company. Marketing company then sells it to traders at a 40% mark up.  There is a trick. In the state with the manufacturing units the factories directly sell to traders at factory price and collect the mark up in cash. Every month a branch employee takes the cash in a suitcase to the head office. Nobody counts that cash. It is handed over to the Chairman with no questions asked. Chairman’s wife wants to be a paperback writer. She has no particular talent or skills in writing. She writes books about big names and celebrities. She gives interviews to the press. All the cash in a suitcase is black money, unaccounted money. Wife uses that money to promote herself and buy expensive lingerie and jewellery. She hosts parties with the most expensive cut-glass kitchen items. Chairman buys more properties with cash. There, friends, meet big black-money and how black money is put to use.

The story above wasn’t a figment of my imagination. It’s a true story. Then the simplest of stories is how you buy a house. Builder demands some percentage of payment in unaccounted cash. You’re a poor sucker seeking a house. You draw on your savings, beg, steal or borrow and pay him the cash. Your housing loan bank or complany won’t lend you for black money. Builder too needs cash because he needs to pay political pigs and Babus to get a lot of clearances. As the DLF Chairman says “it is to facilitate speedy disposal” so not a bribe. That’s easy to understand, isn’t it? And mostly, the cash is paid upfront before you can even get a house allotted on paper. Cheque can wait, cash cannot. It’s a rule made by none other than our sick politicians. The scumbags who created this practice of black economy are none other than the people you vote for; regardless of which party or candidate you voted for. A good number of them are white-collar criminals. We usually set a thief to catch a thief but in politics the thief won’t help you catch other thieves. You can buy large consignments of any product from Delhi (and some other states) in cash without bills and these transactions happen every single day. Bogus documents are made for transport and then destroyed. It’s not rocket science.

Some good guys made a lot of noise about black money stashed abroad for quite a while. They were well-meaning and wanted to stop the loot of the nation and bring the loot back and punish the culprits. They forced the govt to act and ever since then our govt (earlier under Cong) signed a lot of deals to protect the criminals. Then the BJP made a lot of noise about it and promised to bring back the loot and punish the criminals. And now that they are in power the chickens make the same excuses that the previous govt made. At the heart of this whole nonsense now is one man: Mahatma Arun Jaitley:

People have a way of mocking idiotic ministers who blabber too much and that is what happened to AJ after Ram Jethmalani wrote him a 10-point letter on black money. RamJ’s letter ridicules the GOI appeal to SC to hide names of foreign accounts because of some treaty. Prior to this, Arun Jaitley out of the blue went on a TV Yatra to blabber about and indulge in some stupid political chest-thumping about black money. To his eternal mutual-fan Barkha Dutt he said “I won’t be embarrassed if the names are released” meaning the BJP won’t be affected. To Navika Kumar on TimesNow he said “I am not saying anything, I am just smiling” when asked if there were any Congress names. AJ is used to political games in the Lutyens club. He is described as a man who has friends across the political spectrum. He is one man the media never criticises. After his stupid blabbering on TV channels the SC demanded all the names in a sealed envelope and they too buried it for the future. This is exactly what all the political parties want: to bury the black money episode.

For over 2 years the previous Congress govt dodged the SC by avoiding an SIT as ordered and now the current BJP govt dodges the black money issue with clever skulduggery by a lawyer. Oh wait, here’s something that AJ said long back about lawyers advising the PM that he should be reminded of:

That apart, why would a Finance Minister frequently appear on a channel like NDTV which is accused of money laundering and tax evasion? Why shouldn’t I believe AJ might just as well be having tea or dinners with one of those black money hoarders? An IT letter to owners of NDTV indicates default to the tune of 539 crores. There are many allegations against NDTV which need a thorough investigation but AJ seems to somehow love this channel and their anchors despite their well-known anti-BJP propaganda and campaign. Strange magic! There are other issues like where an NDTV employee was given luxury trips abroad because his wife was the one assessing their accounts at the IT office. The stories of NDTV’s financial bungling are too many to narrate here. It doesn’t stop there. AJ’s adventures get even better by the day.

A day ago AJ was in the company of Rajdeep Sardesai and P. Chidambaram. First, AJ and PC launched Rajdeep’s book on Elections 2014. Like Barkha, this scumbag Rajdeep has carried out an anti-BJP campaign for long. But if that was political we could have dismissed it. It wasn’t merely political. Rajdeep ran a smear campaign against the current PM Narendra Modi calling him “Mass murderer, hero of hatred” in public forums as also in his articles. That Rajdeep has abused Modi for all these years, even physically assaulted Modi supporters in New York (and still holds him complicit for the 2002 riots) seems to matter little to AJ. There has to be some motivation for this. There was more after the book launch:

After the launch AJ then had a debate (rather friendly-fire) with his old friend PC on economics and stuff. Going by the crap the two discussed it would seem AJ was backing all the policies of UPA and PC. Don’t trust me trust this article by TheJaggi which perfectly records the transactions as “Tweedledee, Tweedledum in a pillow fight”. PC has been rightly called by RamJ as the “Friend, father and philosopher of black money”. Many rules and policies birthed by PC have indeed appeared to protect white-collar criminals rather than punish them. AJ and PC make a lovely couple. I call AJ “PC in Pyjamas” because most of his acts pretty much resemble those of PC. Both are darlings of NDTV and the rest of the media. Now let’s get to the black money nonsense.

An Indian entity to hold an account abroad needs RBI permission. If an Indian entity does hold an account it has to be reflected in their financial and IT returns. Therefore, it is easy to sort out such names from the list of 700-800 that is with the SIT. If such companies have committed any evasion it is not very hard to deal with and shouldn’t really be worthy of the great drama that surrounds the story. Next, some smart companies have floated companies abroad for transactions and they route their incomes through places like Lichtenstein or Mauritius or Cayman Islands with lower taxation and thus claim protection under DTAA. Are these accounts of any real interest? There may be thousands more of these. Considering a large number of businesses here in India, big and small, generate black money every single day that should be of greater interest to us and the govt. But the foreign-held black money story is more dramatic and more romantic it seems because it can be used as a political tool. And the politicians who may be involved in such foreign accounts aren’t in any regular type business as we know it. Dr Subramaniam Swamy thus describes correctly on what should be of interest to us:

"I am not surprised because I had warned the government that these names have to be made public. Don't quote the Direct Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between India and Germany and India and France, because that is applicable to Indians who reside in those countries who either pay taxes in India or do not pay adequate taxes," Swamy told ANI… We are not talking about this type of black money and we are not talking about tax avoidance as a primary problem. We are talking about getting bribes in defence deals, the 2G spectrum scam, via drug trafficking and so on. Perhaps we should call this black money as 'red money”

Red money! That is right. That is what the real loot is that the GOI should be looking for. Illegal commissions and bribes paid to politicians directly into foreign accounts in defence deals, spectrum deals, commercial aircraft deals (for AI) and agreements prejudicial to India’s interest. There could be many “hawala” accounts that fund investments into various companies including our crooked media houses. There could be many “hawala” accounts that could be funding terrorist operations and supply of illegal weapons to various anti-India forces within and without India. We have known Ottavio Quattrocchi of the Bofors scandal to have gotten access to his ill-gotten loot when the Congress govt de-froze his bank account abroad. For long this particular article from a Swiss magazine has been quoted by Swamy and others about Rajiv Gandhi’s millions stashed abroad:

The “Will bring back black money” chant story is as much a political slogan as “Garibi Hatao” was. If it had to happen it would have happened swiftly. Three years have already passed. And who knows, it has the potential to end up like the Bofors story which remains unresolved for almost three decades now.

Arun Jaitley is an intelligent, articulate man and a brilliant orator. He rarely says anything inaccurate in parliament or outside. Therefore, his motivation or compulsion to hobnob with his potential targets is all the more intriguing. Remember, our media crooks were thrilled to bits when a lower court and later SC ruled PC could not be made an accused in the 2G scam in the case filed by Swamy. After BJP won the LS elections the same media crooks were clamouring for AJ as Finance Minister. For me, that is one reason to suspect a man, if the criminal media clamours for him.

Prior to the LS elections almost every party (even many in the BJP of the Lutyens Club) were against Modi becoming PM. Some of these media crooks who are in deep love with PC and AJ were hoping for a coalition govt if BJP won and somehow AJ would become Prime Minister. AJ is an old friend of Modi from the Gujarat campaign days when AJ was in charge of the state campaigns. Having to play second fiddle has many adverse effects. PC too was touted as a potential PM (to replace MMS) by his media darlings. Would you now dare to imagine AJ as your PM? It would be like Alfred Hitchcock planning the perfect nightmare to wake you up. As for black money, I will just leave you with a very old song:

“Black is black, I want my baby back/ It's gray, it's gray/ Since she went away, Ooh-Ooh/ What can I do/ 'Cause I'm feelin' blue

If I had my way, She'd be back today/ But she don't intend/ To see me again, Ooh-Ooh

What can I do 'Cause I'm feelin' blue”

The Saints At NDTV

In February 2012 when a CBI trial court dismissed a petition of Subramaniam Swamy, seeking naming P. Chidambaram in the 2G case, the greatest tears of joy weren’t from the Congress party but from quite a few in the media. Some of those reporting from the court were jumping in joy over the relief for PC. There is a perception that PC is a darling of NDTV and it is in that context that some recent developments concerning the channel’s financial dealings are in public discussion again. Manushi, a trust run by social activist Madhu Kishwar, and she have been issued a legal notice for defamation by NDTV.

The notice for defamation started over an article published by Manushi titled “NDTV & Chidambaram Accused of Money Laundering Scam of Rs. 5500 cr”. The article also linked a Youtube video (which appears in the name of ManushiIndia) which has an IT Commissioner SK Srivastava narrating his thwarted battle in this alleged scam. This has been making the rounds for quite some time. The main contention of NDTV’s legal notice is that the article is based on bogus sources and in their own words: “Mr. Srivastava's charges are nothing new. These are completely bogus and laughably false claims that Mr. Srivastava and his associates have been making for years, which have repeatedly been dismissed by every authority who has examined them. That is the reason that no rational journalist has ever published these accusations in the past few years”. Alright, that part by NDTV is true that Srivastava’s claims have been dismissed and no journalist has ever published these accusations. The funny part is media houses and journalists don’t publish scams about their own “Hammam” even when there is reason to do so. What NDTV claims is also from old proceedings but don’t take into account latest developments in the case.

The latest discussions on these allegations started with Ram Jethmalani writing a letter to PC on December 6, 2013 (which is much after the dismissals of cases being mentioned by NDTV). What RamJ states makes stunning reading. Here’s a pic of part of the contents:

It is evident RamJ minces no words and directly accuses PC and his son being owners of the money allegedly laundered by NDTV. This is not the first time RamJ has accused PC in black-money related issues. Sometime back he wrote in the Sunday Guardian a stinging article titled “Friend, father & philosopher of black money is Chidambaram”. So S. Gurumurthy, a BJP finance specialist and freelance journalist, picks up RamJ’s notes and has a chat with Prannoy Roy who then sends a detailed reply to Gurumurthy on the queries. Obviously, SG isn’t happy with some parts of the reply so he writes back with more stinging observations. Let’s read some edited excerpts from SG’s mail:

There are two aspects to this issue. First, I never said that when Sumana Sen became the AO you hired her husband Abhisar Sharma. I had said she was the AO when Abhisar Sharma was your employee – which disqualified her from assessing the NDTV. Next she did make an assessment and give NDTV a refund of Rs 1.47 cr – which assessment was done illegally under Sec 143(1) which ought not to have been done when a notice for that assessment u/s 143(2) was pending. So you have not been properly briefed by whosoever gave you the facts. In fact from the manner of your response, your knowledge of the facts regarding Sharma-Sen seems to be very limited. Here are the correct facts.

In the links provided you will find that the IT Commissioner SK Srivastava whose investigations are under discussion by Manushi was also accused of sexually harassing this particular lady, Sumana Sen and one of her colleagues.

Even NDTV with all its posturing of moral high ground never informed the Govt./Income Tax Deptt. about that and kept silent about the fact that the wife of its employee (Sri Abhisar Sharma) had become the Assessing Officer of NDTV, all its group companies and all its Directors including you under all the Direct Tax Acts. Even more importantly, in March 2005, five months after she became its assessing officer and all its group companies and all its Directors including you, NDTV offered through Abhisar Sharma European tour at its cost to Sumana Sen – a luxury which, the Income tax deparment has found, was not offered to any other employee of his grade.

After accepting the NDTV offer to foot her holiday travel to Europe by concealing the fact that she was the assessing officer, on March 28, 2005, Sumana Sen passed assessment order u/s 143 (1) of the Income Tax Act accepting the return of NDTV and granting a refund of Rs 1.47 crore. This was completely an illegal order as when this was order was made, there was already a notice issued u/s 143(2) of the Act and pending against NDTV for scrutiny assessment. The law declared by the Supreme Court is that when such a notice is pending no assessment u/s 143(1) can be made.

Ten days after Sumana Sen had made the assessment on NDTV u/s 143(1) and granted the illegal refund of Rs 1.47, on April 8, 2005, the government granted permission to her to avail of the benefit of travel to Europe, but prohibiting her from accepting it, if at any point of time she had any official dealings, either in the present or in the past with NDTV.

Despite being the assessing officer of NDTV and its associates and having passed order illegally refunding Rs 1.47 cr to NDTV on March 28, 2005, just 13 days before, on 10.04.2005 Sumana Sen gave a false and fraudulent undertaking that she was not the Assessing Officer of NDTV Ltd., has never dealt with the case of NDTV and has never had any official dealings with it.

The other parts concern funds raised by NDTV here, there and everywhere with their 21 subsidiary companies. You know, like “Chota mota” funds. There is another site (Mumbaiwalla) that details this recognition of Abhisar Sharma’s excellent work as a TV anchor for which he was rewarded by NDTV with a luxury trip to Europe. You have to believe NDTV that this grand trip for Abhisar Sharma had nothing to do with his wife, Sumana Sen, being the IT officer assessing NDTV’s returns and accounts. Sharma could have well been the “performer of the year” at the channel. Maybe NDTV should just a release a list of all its employees that were given such luxury trips as rewards. That brings us to the important question why NDTV chose only Manushi/Madhu Kishwar for legal action for defamation.

For a start, this isn’t the first time NDTV has been in the news for bad financial dealings or IT related bungling. Besides the articles linked here there was also a report by Sunday Guardian on “NDTV loan chicanery”. From Radiagate to financial scandals, NDTV makes more news on these than any other achievements. The reason for legal action against Madhu Kishwar seems to be basically to make her a “bakra” so that others get the message loud and clear: “don’t mess with us”. Even otherwise NDTV has always been trigger-happy in such actions, be it TAM ratings or a stray blogger on “shoddy journalism”. The reason to act against Manushi is that it will cause the latter some stress in legal expenses if the case goes any further. This won’t work with RamJ given he’s a tough lawyer himself and won’t have to buy legal expertise. The other reason is RamJ has written a letter to the finance minister on NDTV’s scams and not made any public disclosure. Although his letter has been leaked or released to the public it doesn’t make a case for defamation. Kishwar’s case is different in that she not only put out the information directly into public domain (including a video) and is not a private letter to someone seeking an investigation.

It is, however, an undeniable fact that Madhu Kishwar has only put out information that was already in the public domain with additional claims of documents received by her. People were tweeting about the allegations against NDTV under the hashtag #PCWedsNDTV. So NDTV may hope that with their legal threat the talk on social media may dissipate and these allegations can fade. So, for NDTV to claim that only Kishwar’s article defamed them is nothing but spite. Naturally, the English “Hammam” gave a pass to the charges made by RamJ against both NDTV and PC. But it seems to have appeared in some Hindi papers as this tweet indicates (I have erased the Twitter handles):

I’m sure the Hindi paper didn’t bother to check with NDTV either as they have demanded of Madhu Kishwar. It has merely reported an exchange. If one goes through RamJ’s letter it will be clear that SK Srivastava has gone through and is still facing a lot of cases for doing his job. Given that NDTV is friendly with the current govt in charge at the centre the frequent allegations against them is not being investigated thoroughly. Each time these come up, the folks at NDTV claim they are “Saints” and are divinely free of any guilt. Either that or it’s a mere ‘error of judgement’. It will take a new govt, if it is courageous enough, to investigate and prosecute the many misdeeds of the MSM. 

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.