Sanjay Dutt And A Joker

I am not here to deliberate if Sanjay Dutt is guilty of what he is shamefaced of. Our apex court has already let their decision known on this debate and that stands good enough for me. As per the norms, once our courts deliver its verdict, the only thing that remains with the guilty and his/her adherents is to find legal avenues to either challenge the decision or ask for a review. At no stage one is expected to question the veracity of the pronouncement, which in a way could be termed as contempt of the court.

But do our so called vacuum brains, sadly posted in serious posts comprehend this simple philosophy of our criminal justice system? Perhaps not; at least once you come across a man going by the name Markandey Katju. It becomes more deplorable since the man in discussion was a sitting judge in our apex court not long back and presently installed as the chairman of the ‘Press Council Of India’.

Before Sanjay Dutt could wipe the sweat on his forehead after hearing the verdict, this man was all over the place questioning the attitude of our supreme court with respect to the 5 years jail term that was awarded to Mr. Dutt. Having a personal opinion on the happenings around you is one thing and quite legitimate at that but to question the verdict itself and the wisdom of the court is more than just jumping the statutory line of our justice system. Now, you may twist Katju’s lines and term it as no contempt of court order but the underline dissatisfaction that is laced within speaks on the line of derision. Can one overlook the prejudice on the part of Katju when he writes an open letter to the governor of Maharashtra to pardon Sanjay Dutt? The least, I am sure from his letter is that, he might not have read the full judgment before writing his crap. Now, you can again term the open letter as a personal opinion but not when you associate such gibberish with a person holding a government post of some stature. All government employees have strictures to the extent they can let their opinion be public, both during on job and post retirement. Though Katju has already retired as a judge, he still is holding an important post of the PCI chairman and he ought to be rational with his opinion. And writing an open letter to the governor to pardon someone certainly doesn’t reflect any rationalism to say the least.

We are discussing Katju, not because he is a genius or a man of high IQ. We are discussing because the entire media seems to be discussing him and his letter of pardon since the time he posted it on his blog. Now, the media is not discussing because he has written a letter full with fact finding and undisputable logic but because he happens to be the chief of PCI. This is the same reason even why this Katju is getting air time on every media debate on Sanjay Dutt’s verdict. Had he not been at the helm of PCI, none in our media would have given a penny’s worth to this highly gullible man or his absurd letters written with content and quality, that may even fail to feature in a high school essay writing contest. Just because he is the chairman of PCI, people in our media are tolerating his blabbers and rants on absolutely any issue that we see. Not only blabbers but at times even his tantrums as well. Ask Nidhi Razdan on this when a legitimate question of a panelist irked this Katju so much that he questioned the caliber of Nidhi as a journalist and left the show in the middle to the dismay of many. And what was the question and why it hurt Katju so much? Yes, the panelist wanted to know if actually the letter was written in the capacity of the chairman of PCI, not as a private citizen.

Now here is the thing. Katju is only exploiting the position that he is in. Even if he may deny this fact, but does it still serves well if a recently retired judge of the Supreme Court throws his opinions in public at an alarming rate? And that too on every issue? He certainly isn’t allowed to vent his opinion on public platforms even if he may want to call them of a private citizen. Because, for all practical purpose he is not a private person; at least till he is there as the chairman of PCI. His opinions are as official and should be treated that way, as one would treat a letter from his office. This is precisely the reason why Arun Jaitly took this man head on when he criticized Narendra Modi in one of his earlier nonsense. While other waffles of brainless critics of NaMo were ignored as private opinions for personal gain, Katju’s comments were taken seriously with official rebuttals coming from BJP. If you ask me, I find the so called personal opinions argument of Katju laughable. Had it been personal, none would have cared what a certain Markandey Katju has to say about a particular issue.

Coming back to his childish letter; one thing is clear, being a judge himself, he seems to know the law as much as I know about quantum physics. That is nothing. This is good enough a reason to put all the cases this man has ever judged and given his verdict for retrial since most of them could be flawed. Anyway, while he conveniently urges the governor to pardon Sanjay Dutt, he fails to read the article 161 that articulates the act of pardoning. I am not a law geek but as far as my knowledge goes, Mr. Dutt was charged with arms act which is one of the seven items that doesn’t fit as a suitable case for pardon appeal. In fact the governor doesn’t seem to have the rights to pardon him to begin with. But there you go; a nonsense maker can seldom go by the theory of logic. Though Katju never explained this very point in any of the media debates, he went ahead explaining the core philosophy; starting from the Hindus to the Greek but any relevant laws, based upon which Mr. Dutt can ask for pardon. Such brilliant knowledge of our law this so called retired judge possesses inside his skull.

Another laughable instance in the letter is when Katju tried to add a bit of emotion to it. Turning emotional with all sorts of emotional blackmailing might let you challenge Ekta Kapoor but certainly not going to impress our judiciary or our law framework. When he says, Sanjay has already suffered for twenty years; I wish someone could rush in and land some tight slaps on his cheeks. Was Sanjay suffering for last twenty years for doing charity? Was he suffering because he tried to do good for the society? He was suffering because he is a bloody criminal and all criminals should suffer as an act of deterrent. For once, I don’t find a logic why Katju is getting so hysterical seeing a criminal suffering for his crime. Does a suffering of twenty years exonerate Sanjay Dutt of his crime? Punishment are been laid out for such crimes and a criminal must complete his sentencing, irrespective of the time he/she has to suffer during the trail. If one is so concerned of the suffering prior to the verdict, he/she shouldn’t have committed the crime at the first place.

 

Well as for Sanju Baba (why all Babas are in deep mess now?), he should be thankful to his stars and his celebrity status for getting away with the minimum jail term for his crime. Had he been an ordinary man, I am sure he would have got the maximum of 10 years, looking at the nature of the crime. And as for Katju, he badly needs a surgery to get his brains removed from his arse and placed at the right place for better thought process to start.