Friday, April 27, 2007

Personal: A Midsummer's Tale

The Pursuits of Law
At twenty-nine, I am well past the age to be appearing in exams; yet, that is precisely what I was doing for most of this past month. Come to think of it, I am not surprised. After all, there are only two things that can happen when you’re being tried on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder (in legalese, Section 120-B read with Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code): one, you end up spending your life locked up in a central jail (in which case, the best one can hope for is to pen a bestseller à la the ex-convict, Gregory David Robert’s Shantaram); or two, you become a lawyer. In my case, I am hoping it will be the latter. I’m told I won’t be the first: the late Mr. Dabir, noted criminal lawyer and longtime president of the Madhya Pradesh Bar Council, catapulted to the top of his profession after he was acquitted of the charge of murdering his wife. Post-acquittal, he took out an advertisement in the local papers, audaciously declaring, “if you’ve killed someone, come to me for acquittal.”


Now that my exams are ended, I can focus on the Final Arguments of my trial, due to commence on the 1st of May. The Supreme Court has directed the Sessions Court to pronounce judgment before the end of next month. The evidence, comprising about two hundred witnesses and running into thousands of pages, is copious: it has to be scrutinized with a toothcomb. This is precisely what we- my counsel, Mr. Surendra Singh and I (ably assisted by Mr. Rahul Tyagi, Mr. Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, and Mr. Pratul Shandilya)- did from the 22nd-24th of this month at Delhi. [SNT took a photograph of our deliberation, which is posted here.] Thankfully, the sole testimony implicating me- that on the night of 21st May 2003, I presided over a meeting of more than twenty persons (including the state bureau chief of the Times of India newspaper) in which I discussed plans to kill the deceased- has been contradicted by documentary evidence in the form of passports of not one but four of those persons allegedly present at that meeting, confirming that they were aboard a flight to London on that fateful night. This fact has also been corroborated by the passenger manifest of the relevant airline. Despite insinuating that the entries in the passport and passenger manifest have been ‘managed’, the Central Bureau of Investigation has not been able to produce any proof to substantiate its allegation despite being in possession of the documents for over ten months now. While demanding possession of the said documents, the CBI stated, “we are getting the matter investigated by the Interpol and the High Commission”. Infact, there is every reason to believe that the Bureau has deliberately suppressed the report of the Interpol investigation into the veracity of those entries. The other equally telling revelation is the belated appearance of two handwritten pages: the witness was not only asked to write beforehand what he was expected to tell the Magistrate but to make sure that he didn’t get anything wrong, the I.O. (Investigating Officer) cut-out sentences and rewrote them in his own handwriting. Here is positive proof of precisely how the Bureau manufactured ‘evidence’ against me. What really bothers me is- why?

Ideas for Communal Feasts

Finally, I want to mention something about weddings. There’s been a flood of them: every night, I end up going to atleast four; and there are many more that I can’t. At the risk of generalizing, I find that receptions have gotten more ostentatious and outlandish. Perhaps the recent Abhishek Bachchan- Aishwarya Rai wedding has something to do with this? Which is why I was pleasantly surprised to attend a simple communal-wedding of twenty-four couples at Dhaneli, a village in Balod. Raja Sahu, the local Zila Panchayat member organized it. He has been doing this for six years running. Needless to say, functions like this one save society from needless and wasteful expenditure, and should be emulated by the young. That is what I told the children (seen here perched on a tree- once again, SNT's photograph).
Papa’s 61st birthday is less than two days away. With the exception of last year, when I was in jail, I can’t remember a time I wasn’t with him on this day. So this year too, I will be going to Delhi to spend the afternoon with Papa. As always, he isn’t keen on celebrating. He’s told all his well-wishers (myself included) that he would be happiest if we spend the day doing something good for those less fortunate. Frankly, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate one’s birthday. Or for that matter, weddings.

AJ

7 comments (टिप्पणी):

Atul said...

Bhaiya hum sabh aapke saath hain..
There is no doubt that u r 100% right and d case has been politically fabricated agnst u..

We all will keep praying for u till d final verdict comes the comin month..and i am sure jeet apni hi hogi..
We all luv u and need u amongst us..

Anonymous said...

Bhaiya:
You just concentrate on developmental issues of Chattisgarh and we'll be praying for you in whichever manner we can.
Needless to mention here that you'll be out of all charges very soon and We'll be more than happy to see u back in action.

On April 29th:
We'll definitely be doing some good things for less fortunates.
Wish u, uncle & aunty best of luck n all the best for your future endeavors!

Anonymous said...

Just happened to see you blog after Dr Farishta junior passed on the id. Nice. You should sometime decide to be a journo. Or write a book like what Gregory David Robert did....going through your write up i am sure you will come up something like SHANTARAM....i real master piece...specially the chapter where he discusses on why Indians thrash the bullocks....

hope to read more....

warm affections

dinesh akula

Anonymous said...

dude, TIme to pack your bags and get ready to go to Jail. It is people like you and your "Papa" who brings disrepute to the profession of Politics. Don't play the Salwa Judum or Naxalite Card or a conspiracy theory. People of Chhattisgarh knows that you have done it, yeah I forgot about this, sorry, another feather on ur Hat "The Cash on Camera Scandal" and how the retaliation from the BJP ruined your "Papa" or whatever is remained of his political career. I think it would be a sad day for entire Chhattisgarh the day when Congress and your "Papa" will come in to Power.

Anonymous said...

See the irony. Your heart is in US and body in the Jail.

There are so many things in your personal information which prove that you are not true Bhartiya.

Enjoy the jail, dude

One thing can save you in future, when you come out of jail, swallow all your ego and join BJP and work for them sincerely. RSS can wash your past deeds and new bright life can be started again.

Remmish Gupta said...

Dear Bhaiya:
I don't think this kind of negative postings can harm you any more. You're above all this criticism and You've already reached a stage wherein this kind of stuffs can bing you more challenges. We know that you'll be coming back victorious and will come out of all the charges against you. We need you back and we wouild like to ensure you here that we all are with you in this crises hours and we're praying for you.

Long live Bhaiya and don't worry about anything. It's going to be a favorable verdict for us this time. We'll definitely win the race.

Wish you best of LUCK!!!

Regards.

Anonymous said...

Get load of this dude "Remmish", I bet some numerologist suggested this name. Anyways, the point here is not that he is above or under criticism, the point is whether he committed the crime directly or indirectly. Since, he says that he has full faith in Indian Judiciary, I bet the verdict has already been bought, thats why he has full trust. If it is not pre-arranged and if he is found guilty, then I'm sure he will cry foul over prosecution. Dude, face it.
You are already a history, Like your sissy father who cried foul over Balco. Bunch of Idiots thats what CG Congress has to show.

--zyzzyxx--

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