It’s malicious

But I do want to recite one incident that took place during my trial in the sessions court. One day my co-accused, a poor, innocent woman was sobbing and crying in court. The reaction of the presiding judge was to mock her by saying: ‘‘You should have cried before you entered into the conspiracy’’. The impact of this on my attitude towards the judiciary can be imagined.

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I did not believe that I will get justice in the high court but I am glad I was wrong and I shall remain eternally grateful to the two high court judges who got over the public prejudices and did not allow their minds to be influenced by pernicious propaganda.

I thank all those who helped to establish my innocence. I will return this favour by dedicating myself to establishing communal harmony, peace and justice in the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir. I will try to forget and forgive what I have suffered.
— S.A.R. Geelani, New Delhi

Transparency, please

This refers to your report ‘Corps commander gets marching orders over ‘misconduct’’ (IE, November 4). It is strange that the army thinks it does not owe the people an explanation. If India is so proud of its democracy let’s make it a functioning one. Whenever a public servant as senior as a corps commander is removed from office or in the civilian sector the government must come out openly and state the reasons so that the people can make up their own mind as to what is going on in the country’s defence services. The press must come out with details of the case, as is its duty, rather than bland pieces of clerical information.
— Arvind K. Mathur, On e-mail

A new Russia?

Is a new autocratic Russia emerging? The arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, boss of Russia’s largest oil company, Yukos, has raised questions about the future of free enterprise and democracy in Russia. It has highlighted the tensions between big businessmen, the so-called oligarchs, and the Kremlin. Critics see the arrest of Khodorkovsky as an attempt by the Kremlin to strike back at the tycoon for funding Opposition parties ahead of next month’s parliamentary elections.

Is a new autocratic Russia emerging? If so, does this have consequences for the rest of the world?
— Deepak K. Vidhyarthi, On e-mail