Gujarat Elections: The elections in Gujarat telecast by electronic channels were viewed with keen interest as if a Test match was being played between India and Pakistan. An average person’s reaction to the Gujarat election result is that Narendra Modi has triumphed and has done a hat-trick despite solemn predictions about anti-incumbency wave. To the average citizen, Modi’s triumph will not necessarily result in his success in the 2014 elections nor result in his occupying the prime ministerial chair. The mood in the Congress circles in Gujarat is naturally one of deep disappointment because despite hectic campaigning by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi during which the Modi government was severely castigated, the Congress clearly suffered defeat. However, our Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s assessment is different. According to him, since the BJP did not cross the 117 mark while the Congress has increased its tally, the Congress was the winner in the Gujarat polls. This assessment is beyond the average person’s comprehension. But then he or she does not have the clear analytical vision and the capacity for rationalisation which our redoubtable finance minister possesses. Incidentally, the bookies are in two minds as to how they should honour the bets. Should they believe Chidambaram or the BJP stalwarts? The average citizen with common sense has no doubt that BJP won in the Gujarat elections.
Gangrape in Delhi: The recent brutal gang-rape of a 23-year-old girl in Delhi has rightly evoked national outrage. Various suggestions have been made for amending existing rape laws. What is really required is strict and prompt implementation of the existing provisions of the Indian Penal Code under which the convict can be given the punishment of imprisonment for life. It is a notorious fact that women victims of rape are generally afraid to go to a police station to register an FIR owing to the insensitive and humiliating attitude of the police who generally consider the victim to be an unchaste person. A special section must be provided in every police station manned by female police officers for registration of rape complaints. Next, a fast-track court properly manned should be established to deal with rape cases with utmost expedition and which mandatorily should be concluded in six months. This is not impossible as is evident from the rape case in Guwahati which was concluded, and punishment was imposed on the rapists in less than three months. The question of imposition of punishment arises at the end of the trial. The crux of the matter is swift trial followed by stringent punishment. That will send the right message rather than hysterically baying for the blood of the convict by insistence upon death penalty and his castration.
Prosecution of Hafiz Saeed: The controversy about Pakistan government’s failure to prosecute Hafiz Saeed rages on. Pakistan maintains that material and evidence forwarded by India to Pakistan authorities is not strong enough to withstand judicial scrutiny under Pakistan’s legal system, where guilt has to be proved beyond reasonable doubt and hearsay evidence is not admissible as is the case under our legal system.
What is intriguing is why Saeed is not prosecuted under Pakistan Penal Code when he has been indubitably making virulent statements stirring up hatred and ill will against India. Section 153-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PCC), which corresponds to Section 153-A of the Indian Penal Code, prohibits and punishes statements which promote feelings of hatred or ill will between different groups. Saeed’s statements clearly attract Section 153-A of the PCC. Why is that not done? Is it because prosecuting Saeed may be regarded as an anti-Pakistan move and one favouring India and would be unpopular in Pakistan? But surely that is no reason for not prosecuting Saeed. A proper answer to this question will be the test of Pakistan’s sincerity in tackling terror and remove India’s doubts in the matter.
solisorabjee@gmail.com
Sorabjee is a former Attorney General of India