With Kalam back in Chennai, Haneef back home, Sanjay Dutt back in jail, Madhani back in Kerala, J and K back at each other’s throat after just a few hours respite, over Tata, Tata’s Titanium itself back in the shelves, the monsoon back a bit too soon and yes, Indian cricket coming back into limelight with a win , the week, looking back, is a columnist’s delight despite the dilemma it poses. But Haneef, Sanjay, pardon, Sanju and Madhani, in that order, merit special focus, not just because terror is the flavour of the season, but also for the hype over them in the public domain.
That Australia might have erred or overdone its bit in the Haneef case is still a matter of debate. For, it has not just ruled out fresh charges against Dr H, but remains unapolegetic with the Aussie PM himself saying that he would rather be safe than be sorry! Or it is also possible that with all kinds of bad publicity and internal debates, they just wanted to wash their hands off H and be done with it. Clearly, the question of H getting back his visa looks far-fetched. The basic facts are that the Aussies had enough ground to suspect that H at least ‘knew of the plot’. He did loan out his sim card to his bomber-cousin. The tell-tale e-mail chat with his friend does raise questions. In short, they have only dropped the terror charges, not their suspicions. This is not to suggest that H should remain under a cloud, but only to point out that official policy and public opinion in India should have waited a bit longer before pitiching their entire lot behind H’s innocence. If assumption of guilt on account of racism or branding is bad, so is a blanket exoneration when there were legitimate, if not legally sustainable, causes for suspicion. In fact, H was lucky because Aussie law was fairly fast in taking its course; imagine the Indian scenario where under-trials and illegal detenues, of all faiths, all not terror suspects but often accused of petty crimes, throng the jails in lakhs!
But the public spectacle that we witnessed last Sunday when H returned to Bangalore was crazy. While the print media largely remained level headed, TV channels went berserk. There was a virtual stampede outside the B’lore airport with journos and camera crew filling up every inch and putting thousands of passengers to untold hardship. Some channels, tracking the ‘story’ from Australia, were giving a minute by minute relay of H’s movements: H has checked in, he is in immigration, H waiting for baggage …and so on! One can understand the anxiety of H’s family and friends. But why was the media making a hero out of Haneef post-haste? The Karnataka CM even assured Dr H a State job as chief surgeon! But what’s the achievement of this ‘foreign-return’ that merits this kind of adulation? He not being a terrorist despite being a … No, we will leave it at that! But that is the impression the media overkill has created.
The ‘History of Haneef’ would have run on had not Sanjay Dutt intervened to hijack prime time. The Bombay blasts case was converted into some kind of Bollywood melodrama courtesy the TV media again. This time channels bettered the betting syndicates and made such a mockery of the judicial process that it looked as if the Courts had incurred the contempt of the media and hysterical masses instead of the other way round! The monumental work of Judge Kode, who handled the trial of the worst terrorist attack on the nation, for over a decade with impeccable sincerity and sagacity, despite threats and personal tragedies, was rubbished in a matter of hours. Of course, Sanjay’s sentence even obliterated the original sin that caused the death of hundreds of innocents.
While on the eve of judgement, the channels ran SMS polls on the judicial fate of Sanjay, the anchors broke loose once the verdict was out and started floating all kinds of theories and opinions on the tube. Every living Bollywood character, veteran or wannabe, was asked for views and the unanimous conclusion was that the six-year sentence was ‘harsh’! One doll, all decked up, declared that the court should be pulling up erring politicos instead of ‘targetting’ poor lamb Sanju! Another belle opined that the film industry should ‘try and sway’ the judiciary! Yet another yesteryear starlet lamented that had Sanju got more support from the media, the sentence would have been less stringent. A channel even interviewed school kids and the juvenile jury’s judgement was no different: Munnabhai has been wronged! And he must be set free forthwith so that there will be more sequels … on reel, that is! But what can one say when the nation’s I&B minister and another colleague of his go on record saying the sentence was quite harsh?
And then came the experts, the prime time pundits. The anchor asks: ‘Now what will happen to Sanju?’. ‘He will go to jail’, says the ‘expert’! Another anchor: ’What will his lawyers do now?’. Another expert:’ They will appeal to SC’. What profound opinions. These are now followed up by a spate of ‘human interest’ stories: Sanju din’t sleep; Sanju din’t touch his breakfast; no cigarettes for Sanju; Sanju in jail dress…The plight of Sanju is now a national tragedy. And the villain? Court!
In the Kovai blast case, the chargesheet against Madhani, who has now been acquitted, was filed by the then DMK government and the Left front was in power in Kerala. Post arrest, Madhani, suddenly became a secular political bigwig, and the Left which had till recently dubbed him a terror monger changed tack. The Cong government of Kerala even passed a resolution seeking his release, an unprecedented interference in the legal process. The question now is: Will the K government appeal to the higher court against the acquittal of Madhani particularly when the SC had rejected M’s bail only last year? It should, after having filed the original case, arresting M, opposing his bail and spending nearly a decade trying to establish his guilt. That’s legal logic. But in TN, it is not logic but rationalism that rules. So, M can rest assured that Cong and comrades will likely prevail over conscience. In fact, there is talk of compensating him!
Clearly all norms of propriety, priority and proportion have vanished with suspects passing off as saints, criminality getting celebrated and rabid religious rabble rousers revelling in political patronage. So before we get back to our daily chores, should we say: Hail Haneef! Sorry, Sanju! And we will miss you, Mr Madhani!
e-mail the writer at [email protected]