Opinion No street justice

The crucial point is that truth or otherwise of rival claims cannot be determined on streets or during press conferences or by raucous debates on television channels when the constitutionally ordained fora are courts of law where these matters can be determined dispassionately. If IAC has hard irrefutable facts it should file an FIR or adopt appropriate legal proceedings. It has no lack of legal talent or material resources. The argument that courts do not grant relief where ministers are involved is belied by judicial orders which resulted in Raja,Kanimozhi and other important public functionaries landing in jail. Salman Khurshid has filed a suit in the Delhi High Court and boldly taken the risk of his cross examination as a plaintiff in the witness box. It is argued that court proceedings are time consuming. But remember that hurried street justice is justice buried. Besides as observed by our Supreme Court,“As everybody who has anything to do with the law well knows,the path of the law is strewn with examples of open and shut cases which,somehow,were not; of unanswerable charges which,in the event,were completely answered; of inexplicable conduct which was fully explained .”.

The intent of IAC—elimination of corruption—is commendable. But laudable ends cannot be achieved by illegitimate means. That was the constant message of the Father of the Nation. And that is also a cardinal principle underlying democratic systems wedded to the Rule of Law.

Brave Malala

the murderous attack on Malala Yousufzai,a fourteen-year-old Pakistani girl by the Taliban was utterly despicable. More shocking is the threat by the outfit that it will shoot the 14-year- old again if she survives. Malala’s only ‘sin’ was her desire for education. The response to the attack on Malala was heartening. Pakistan government has conferred on her a gallantry award,Christians in Pakistan prayed for her recovery and there was global support for her irrespective of race,religion or nationality. It is imperative that the Pakistan authorities ensure Malala’s safety after she,insha allah,recovers,and furthermore take effective steps to eliminate these Taliban savages who strike with impunity in the name of religion and give a bad name both to Islam and Pakistan.

Soothing strains of jazz

Jazz aficionados in Delhi will relish jazz sounds from a variety of bands which will be performing at the FICCI in the last week of October as part of Capital Jazz’s annual Utsav in Delhi. The performing bands are from Poland,Germany,Italy,Norway,Czech Republic and of course from India which will be represented by the Konark Reddy group. A star performer will be Froy Aagre,Norwegian lady saxophonist. The music will range from modern and fusion to mainstream. Musicians from different countries may have problems communicating with one another in English. But there will be no difficulty in communicating in the universal language of jazz. Jazz has a soothing effect on frayed tempers and highly charged nerves. Arvind Kejriwal and his indignant team as also the victims of the ferocious offensive by India Against Corruption may well benefit from the cool sounds of jazz. And hopefully that may also be conducive to civilised political discourse.