The reach of the law

Sir, - Your Editorial ``The reach of the law'' (October 2) is disappointing, if not one-sided. Mr. P. V. Narasimha Rao is the first South Indian Prime Minister since independence who tactfully managed the affairs of the state for the full term of 5 years by his maturity and political acumen, introducing economic liberalisation in the country. Soon after he demited office, it is clear to any discerning political observer, that a section of the people - aggrieved one time or another by his policies, or allergic to his nativity - were bent upon ploughing out cases against him and tortured him mentally by foisting three cases in special courts.

The bribe giver being convicted and bribe taker not being punished is itself an injustice and speaks, as you mildly put it ``an incompleteness of the whole judgment''. The alleged bribe was not certainly for his personal benefit, but to save the nation from another tortuous election, involving an expenditure of about Rs. 2,000 crores, not to talk of the uncertainty and recession that would have resulted. There is also no proof or guarantee that the Prime Minister personally engineered it. It may be that the party sympathisers and other office-bearers of the Congress did it without his specific consent or knowledge. To single out the leader for all the deeds in a party is to take a needlessly prejudiced view.

To have inflicted sufficient mental suffering all these years of trial in the courts and the ignominy inflicted by making him stand in the witness box while answering the judge in court, are enough punishment for an old politician and humanism should dictate that at least a deferred jail term be awarded or a Presidential pardon be granted.

If Phoolan Devis and Veerappan's aids can be pardoned, why not a politician?

K. Hanumanthu,

Tirupati

* * *

Sir, - The story is Mr. Suraj Mandal, Mr. Shibu Soren, Mr. Simon Marandi and Mr. Shailendra Mahato, Members of Parliament, had received Rs. 50 lakhs each as bribe to vote against the no- confidence motion moved against the Narasimha Rao Government and this amount was deposited in their bank accounts. All these have been let off without any trial. One of them is likely to be the Chief Minister of the new State Jharkhand!

On the contrary the CBI has failed to prove before the court from where the bribe money originated and who delivered it to those JMM MPs. According to the judge ``the prosecution has not been able to establish on record the identity of the actual source from where the money came and the person or persons who delivered the said money to Suraj Mandal.'' Since the prosecution has not been able to establish that Mr. Narasimha Rao and Mr. Buta Singh have arranged the money or delivered it, the special court did not convict Mr. Rao and Mr. Buta Singh as bribe givers as presumed by most of our people. At that time not only Mr. Rao, but also his Ministers, all the MPs and Chief Ministers belonging to the Congress, and all the other public spirited citizens who were really worried that an election in a communally tense atmosphere after the demolition of the Babri Masjid would be dangerous to the nation, were all wishing and praying that the Rao Government should not fall. Anyone among them would have given that money willingly.

Mr. Rao and Mr. Buta Singh have been convicted on charges of conspiracy of inducing the JMM MPs to demand and accept bribes and not on charges of actually bribing them. This conviction is based on the testimony of one of the bribe takers (a criminal under ordinary law), on the basis of evidence that the four JMM MPs met Mr. Rao along with Mr. Buta Singh two days earlier and on the basis of Mr. Rao's natural interest in continuing as PM.

No doubt, means are more important than ends. In wars and in governance the national interest and public interest are also important. Can anybody justify the means that are now being adopted by the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Governments to secure the release of Mr. Rajkumar from Veerappan? Is there any other means available at present to get the end result?

K. A. Sundararajan,

Chennai

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