Witness a prosecutor

If Bollywood actor Salman Khan actually got to partake of state hospitality in Jodhpur8217;s Central Jail, it is also because of an unsung public prosecutor in a small town who did his job. That we need to commend this individual testifies to one of the more unsavoury aspects of our criminal justice system: public prosecutors in India have failed the system, and failed utterly. They have a well-deserved reputation for being mendacious, corrupt, incompetent and susceptible to political influence peddling. If the rich and powerful have been able to get away with their crimes over the decades in case after case, it is often because public prosecutors have failed to discharge their appointed role.

The courts have repeatedly highlighted this failure, whether it was in the Jessica Lall case, or when the NHRC pleaded before the Supreme Court for a retrial in the Best Bakery case. The acquittal of the accused by the Gujarat courts 8212; the apex court had famously observed 8212; was no acquittal if it was unmerited and based on tainted evidence, tailored investigation, unprincipled prosecutors, a perfunctory trial and the evidence of threatened or terrorised witnesses. In many ways, the public prosecutor is like a conductor bringing together, for purposes of prosecution, the various elements that constitute a case.

In countries that take its justice delivery seriously, the public prosecutor is accorded both status and handsome remuneration. Not surprisingly, then, the post attracts the best legal talent. In India, it is an entirely different story 8212; with prosecutors becoming the discredited arm of a discredited police force. We now need to change that story by acknowledging the valuable contribution of the public prosecutor, and rewarding it adequately. Protecting the witness has emerged as a public concern in the wake of the Jessica Lall case. Raising the status and quality of the public prosecutor should now be the focus of debate. A debate that should start now. And perhaps we could kick it off by acknowledging the valuable efforts of a faceless public prosecutor in Jodhpur.