UPA has no patent on 'innocence'!
By Amba Charan Vashishth
A very important news failed to get the media attention it deserved: When UPA government celebrated its three years in office over an official dinner in the third week of May 2007 in which the elite high dignitaries exclusively invited, among others, included UPA’s former ‘honourable’ minister and JMM chief Shiboo Soren presently in jail for over seven months undergoing a life sentence for the crime of murder.
The invitation may be correct politically, but cannot be right morally, legally and constitutionally.
How could a convict find his name in the honours list of invitees to an elite official dinner? It is beside the point that he could not have joined this noble gathering without the jail authorities being permitted by a competent court of law. And an invitation to dinner by the head of government in the country, in the eyes of law, could be no justification for grant of a parole, in public interest, to a convict. It is also a fact that no permission was sought even. The dinner passed off without the glitter of Soren's presence.
Affront to Constitution
The invitation to an official dinner to a convict by a government constituted as per provisions of the Constitution is an affront to the word and spirit of law as also against the oath the Prime Minister and his colleagues had taken at the time of being sworn to office: “to do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will”.
The former minister and MP Shibboo Soren and the convict Shibboo Soren are not two different identities; both are one and the same individuals in body and soul. Even if motivated by considerations of political expediency, the solicitation extends an honour to a person convicted of a heinous crime.
On assuming office the UPA invented a new alibi to save itself of the embarrassment and also its government -- the alibi that every person is 'innocent' till convicted by a court of law. This it did because without propagating this high principle, it could initially neither garner majority to form a government nor could the government subsist for a moment
Shibboo Soren stands condemned for the crime of a murder. If UPA wishes to stretch the argument that he continues to be 'innocent' as the highest court of the country, the Supreme Court (his case is as yet pending in Delhi High Court), has not as yet given the final word, it could be accused of being illogical just to stick to power. Despite the glare of reality, UPA continues tosee this reality as accepting Soren as a convict as per court verdict has disastrous political ramifications for its life in power.
Harshad Mehta 'innocent'?
Surprisingly, UPA invokes this 'innocent' doctrine only when it serves its political purpose. Not otherwise. In numerous cases has it demanded resignation – or dismissal -- of chief ministers and ministers of non-UPA governments and politicians even where no criminal case had been registered against them, not to speak of their having been charge-sheeted or convicted, like Shibboo Soren and many others in UPA, for any crime by any court of law.
Congress hasn't have got, as yet, this alibi of 'innocence' patented in its name that no one else can use it. Tomorrow late Harshad Mehta's family can, with the equal vehemence of moral force, also claim that he was 'innocent' because although convicted by a lower court, the Supreme Court had not said the final word in his case because his appeals against conviction were pending consideration in courts at the time of his death.
By Amba Charan Vashishth
A very important news failed to get the media attention it deserved: When UPA government celebrated its three years in office over an official dinner in the third week of May 2007 in which the elite high dignitaries exclusively invited, among others, included UPA’s former ‘honourable’ minister and JMM chief Shiboo Soren presently in jail for over seven months undergoing a life sentence for the crime of murder.
The invitation may be correct politically, but cannot be right morally, legally and constitutionally.
How could a convict find his name in the honours list of invitees to an elite official dinner? It is beside the point that he could not have joined this noble gathering without the jail authorities being permitted by a competent court of law. And an invitation to dinner by the head of government in the country, in the eyes of law, could be no justification for grant of a parole, in public interest, to a convict. It is also a fact that no permission was sought even. The dinner passed off without the glitter of Soren's presence.
Affront to Constitution
The invitation to an official dinner to a convict by a government constituted as per provisions of the Constitution is an affront to the word and spirit of law as also against the oath the Prime Minister and his colleagues had taken at the time of being sworn to office: “to do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will”.
The former minister and MP Shibboo Soren and the convict Shibboo Soren are not two different identities; both are one and the same individuals in body and soul. Even if motivated by considerations of political expediency, the solicitation extends an honour to a person convicted of a heinous crime.
On assuming office the UPA invented a new alibi to save itself of the embarrassment and also its government -- the alibi that every person is 'innocent' till convicted by a court of law. This it did because without propagating this high principle, it could initially neither garner majority to form a government nor could the government subsist for a moment
Shibboo Soren stands condemned for the crime of a murder. If UPA wishes to stretch the argument that he continues to be 'innocent' as the highest court of the country, the Supreme Court (his case is as yet pending in Delhi High Court), has not as yet given the final word, it could be accused of being illogical just to stick to power. Despite the glare of reality, UPA continues tosee this reality as accepting Soren as a convict as per court verdict has disastrous political ramifications for its life in power.
Harshad Mehta 'innocent'?
Surprisingly, UPA invokes this 'innocent' doctrine only when it serves its political purpose. Not otherwise. In numerous cases has it demanded resignation – or dismissal -- of chief ministers and ministers of non-UPA governments and politicians even where no criminal case had been registered against them, not to speak of their having been charge-sheeted or convicted, like Shibboo Soren and many others in UPA, for any crime by any court of law.
Congress hasn't have got, as yet, this alibi of 'innocence' patented in its name that no one else can use it. Tomorrow late Harshad Mehta's family can, with the equal vehemence of moral force, also claim that he was 'innocent' because although convicted by a lower court, the Supreme Court had not said the final word in his case because his appeals against conviction were pending consideration in courts at the time of his death.
No comments:
Post a Comment