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Defend the defenders of the law

For three decades we have seen a dirty rotten scoundrel like Veerappan twist the law-enforcers around his little finger and use his ill-gotten money and the political clout such money breeds to get away with murder, and worse.

Now we see this ugly spectacle of Veerappan trying to buy himself immunity from the law by kidnapping Rajakumar and putting up this huge shopping list of demands to the governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in exchange for letting the actor go.

In the midst of this sordid drama, we have this clown of an editor who keeps going into the forest with blank audio and videotapes and coming back with a new set of demands every few days.

While the local press is still debating whether Veerappan is a Tamil ultra-nationalist or just another brigand, the governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have shown themselves up as a bunch of weak-kneed, lily-livered fools ready to crawl when they were only asked to bend.

They have crawled on all fours to fulfil Veerappan's every foul demand on the pretext that if they did not listen to him they would be risking Rajakumar's life. Also, they have argued that if anything were to happen to the actor, there could be bloody riots breaking out.

It did not, of course, bother either of them that the victims of Veerappan's atrocities over the past 30 years may not exactly like to see him get away scot-free yet again. Only to win an election to Parliament next time as a Tamil hero.

If you ignore the 2,500 elephants he has killed savagely to smuggle out illegal ivory and the forests he has plundered to sell 15,000 tonnes of sandalwood, you still have those 150 forest guards and policemen he has killed in cold blood to account for. He has ruled the forests through terror, torture, murder and vandalism.

The fact that the huge sums of money he makes from his crimes go towards supporting political parties who try to airbrush his image and make him out to be some sort of Robin Hood is by now well known. What is sad is that the fourth estate has become a victim of this unfortunate and disgusting disinformation. Journalists are falling over one another to interview him and his dimwit wife and protect the whereabouts of his criminal gang as if that is their bounden duty.

The governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are also falling over each other to accept every demand of this rascal without caring the slightest for the feelings of his victims. His cronies have been allowed to ask for bail. Cases that have been meticulously and painstakingly built up over the years by a few brave and honest policemen have been now withdrawn and, in general, a mockery has been made of every law-enforcing institution in the country so that a movie star can be released from the brigand's clutches. A movie star who was careless about his personal safety even after being warned several times. By now, it is also clear that there is all-round pressure on getting Veerappan and his cronies off the hook so that they can make a stunning political debut.

In the midst of all this plotting, scheming, bending and crawling, it is a relief to read about the stay given by a three-member bench of the Supreme Court presided over by Justice S P Bharucha. They have not only refused to allow the release of 115 TADA detainees who Veerappan wants freed, they have also castigated the indecent hurry in which the government has tried to release them.

The bench wants to first look at the special leave petition that has been filed by retired Karnataka police officer Abdul Kareem, whose son Shakeel Ahmed, also a police officer, was killed along with 28 other policemen in August 1992 in an ambush by Veerappan.

For most of India watching aghast at how the government is negotiating with a thug and a murderer under the pretext of saving the life of Rajakumar, this is welcome relief. It will, if nothing else, stop other scoundrels like Veerappan from attempting similar kidnappings in future to seek amnesty from the law. It will also stop the demoralization of those brave and honest policemen who risk their lives fighting criminal gangs, often in the full knowledge that the gangs have the support and backing of powerful local politicians who use them for their own convenience at opportune times.

The question is simple. In trying to save the life of one man, however good, however popular he may be, are we ready to allow such criminals to overrun the nation and get away with their absurd demands? Will that not inspire, say, a Dawood Ibrahim or an Arun Gawli to kidnap someone like Amitabh Bachchan and then demand that in return for him all their henchmen in jail be set free?

If the law is to be seriously enforced, if crimes are to be punished and criminals put away in jail for the safety of civil society, we must learn to live with harsh and often difficult decisions. We cannot dither at the slightest pretext and render so completely irrelevant the sacrifice of those who have laid down their lives defending the law. A bully State is admittedly a sick State. But a supine State is worse.

We must thank Justice Bharucha and the Supreme Court for reminding us of this. For teaching our state governments that the easy way out is not always the right one.

Pritish Nandy

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