Pontiff and the law

In the days to come, public discussion must remain alert to an urgent imperative: to separate the emotion and drama that swirls around the arrest of the Kanchi Shankaracharya, Jayendra Saraswati, from the grave charges that have been framed against him. There may be questions about the manner in which it all happened on Thursday night. Was there really no alternative to the late night capture of the seer in Andhra Pradesh by a plane-load of armed commandos despatched from Tamil Nadu, for instance? Or, was it really necessary to carry out the dramatic operation during the Diwali period? Questions can be asked about the effort by the authorities in Tamil Nadu to employ restraint and to avoid trampling on sensitivities unduly.

In the same moment, however, it is also necessary to guard against rash exhortations by individuals and organisations to paint the Kanchi seer’s arrest as a diabolical conspiracy against Hinduism and Brahminism in general and the Kanchi math in particular. Whether or not the spectacular arrest shores up Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s interests in the post-May 13 political configuration in Tamil Nadu — is not the question, either. But, certainly, insinuations such as these do cast a special responsibility on the state government to ensure not just that the law takes its course, but that it is seen to take its course. Given the public interest that is likely to be attached to this case, given that millions of people in this country revere the head of an institution founded by the Adi Shankara, all efforts must be made to cleave to due process. In fact, a case can be made for special measures to expedite the process of justice in a case as sensitive as this one.

This is about a brutal murder and its subsequent cover-up. It is also about the constitutional principle that no individual is above the rule of law. In the end, the case against the Shankaracharya will hold or fall, as it must, on mundane material like bank transactions, mobile phone calls, letters and confessional statements — not the fervent political or religious arguments that are currently flying around.