Impeachment Exercise Gone Waste

Parmanand Pandey

I am posting it on my blog after fairly a long gap of time. During the interregnum the momentous agitation of Anna Hazare took place for nearly a fortnight. Proceedings to impeach Justice Soumitra Sen of Calcutta High Court were conducted in the Rajya Sabha and it was passed with over whelming majority. Anna's movement got tremendous support, particularly from youth of the country. The government that was initially bluffing and blustering started shivering and shuddering a few days later. Anna came out victorious with thunderous applause all over the country.

However, I am not going to write this time on Anna Hazare but on Mr. Soumitra Sen. It is undoubtedly a very sad saga in the annals of judiciary. Mr. Sen was given nearly two hours time by the Chairman to defend himself and prove his innocence after the motion for his impeachment was moved by Sitaram Yechury in the Rajya Sabha. Mr Sen waxed eloquent in his absorbing style and language. There were many members of the Rajya Sabha, who actually came under the spell of his oratory. At one time it appeared that he had demolished all allegations levelled on him and would carry the day. But thanks to the leader of opposition Arun Jaitley, his insincerity and hypocrisy stood exposed. Jaitley tore asunder all his arguments and turned the table. Later other leaders in their speeches buttressed the viewpoints of Jaitley and said that Mr. Sen had no courage to face any of the three enquiry committees, which were set up to enquire into his misconducts.

It is interesting to note here that Mr. Sen never appeared before any committee where he could be cross examined. He deliberately avoided facing the committees knowing it fully well that examination-in-chief without cross examination has no value in the eyes of law. This is not taken as evidence but it is mere statement of an accused, which invariably contains tons of falsehood and only some grains of truth.

Mr. Sen is a typical Bengali bluff master. While lecturing in the Rajya Sabha he said that he was made a 'sacrificial lamb' but he was not a 'quitter'. He would fight it to the last. He would tell the world from the house tops that he was absolutely guiltless. He was a victim of conspiracy hatched by some judges of the Calcutta High Court, who had been jealous of him. He said that the former Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, him self a corrupt judge, made him the soft target to show that he was free from corruptions.

There is no doubt that Mr. Sen was not to be impeached for any misconduct during the period of his judgeship but he was being held guilty for the period when he was an Advocate and was appointed a Receiver by the High Court. His conduct as a Receiver was, no doubt, unbecoming to say the least. What actually defies logic is that how could he be appointed in the first place because before the appointment of any person, his bona fides are properly enquired into? People say that Mr. Sen has always been a 'go-getter'. He could induce anybody to do a thing to his own liking. That is how he could pitchfork in the hallowed circle of the High Court judge.

This has compelled every right thinking person to give a new thought to the very system of appointment of High Court and Supreme Court judges. This also proves the point to the hilt that there are a large number of corrupt judges working in the High Courts and the Supreme Court of India and if immediate remedial measures to cleanse the existing judicial appointment system are not introduced, the ingenious and insincere persons would make their way in the judiciary bringing bad name and repute to it.

Mr. Soumitra Sen has now resigned. If he had the courage, as he claimed then he would have not resigned. Although his impeachment was a foregone conclusion yet at least his defence would have become the part of the history in the same manner as the impeachments of Lord Clive and Warren Hastings in the House of Lords have now become the precedents.

The question, therefore, remains, why the impeachment proceedings in the Lok Sabha were dropped? Some say that the impeachment was only for removing the judge, what was the need for the exercise, when he has already resigned? After resignation the impeachment became infructuous. That is very true but the resignation has not washed away his misconducts. Witch-hinting is bad but impeachment should have been gone into, that too, after marathon exercises at many stages. Now all of a sudden when the person concerned has resigned then all his sins do not go in to thin air. This aspect must be kept in mind for the future.

Can Brilliance of Lawyer Obscure Facts?

Parmanand Pandey

Three days back i.e. on 18th of July 2011; I appeared before the Supreme Court of India as the counsel of the Indian Federation of Working Journalists (IFWJ), National Federation of Newspaper Employees (NFNE) and other Unions of Newspaper Employees in a case filed by Anand Bazar Patrika Group of Newspapers of Kolkata. It may be mentioned here that Anand Bazar Patrika group is a big group of newspapers, which publishes the largest Bengali daily, 'Anand Bazar Patrika', prestigious English daily 'The Telegraph' and the business daily, 'Business Standard' and one famous Bengali literary magazine. Two very famous weeklies like; Ravivar (in Hindi) and Sunday (in English) were being published from this house but their publication has been ceased for more than one and half decades.
Before the independence of the country, 'Amrita Bazar Patrika' (English) and 'Jugantar' (Bengali) were ruling the roost in the West Bengal but after the freedom was achieved Anand Bazar Patrika's circulation jumped by leaps and bounds and within no time, it left all newspapers from West Bengal far behind. Its popularity was at zenith during the Bangladesh was in 1971, when it cudgels on behalf of more than ten million refugees, who took shelter in India to save their lives.
This newspaper has although been considered as a good paymaster for its employees. Yet, strangely, it has now filed a petition under Article 32 of the Indian Constitution for scrapping of the Working Journalists Act and also for setting aside the recommendations of the Majithia Wage Boards set up by the Government of India for revising the wages of the newspaper employees.
What has disturbed me a lot is not whether the Act is wrong or right, Wages fixed are high or low; but the way the arguments were advanced by a very very senior counsel of India Fali S Nariman who is considered to be an icon of the legal profession.
Mr. Nariman firstly stated that the draft Wage Board recommendations were not made available to the petitioner. This is patently wrong in the sense that the Wage Board was a tripartite panel consisting of employees, employers and government representatives. Therefore, the employers' representatives were privy to every activity and report or recommendation of the Panel. Secondly; if reports were not available to the petitioner how and why did the petitioner assail the recommendations of the Wage Board? Thirdly; how could a petition be filed when the impugned document is not attached with it? Fourthly; it is responsibility and duty of the petitioner to first avail the report and then impugn it? All these questions prove beyond doubt that the petitioner advocate was undoubtedly not adhering to the principle of 'do no fiddle with facts.'
But Nariman is a Nariman. Even Hon'ble judges give high credence to what he says and utters in the court. What is still more surprising is that the gravamen of the main petition is for scrapping of the Working Journalists Act but the arguments were advanced against the recommendations of the Wage Board.
I bought it to the notice of the Hon'ble Judges— Dalveer Bhanari and Deepak Verma but even then they stayed the notification for two weeks. It was all due to humungous impact of Fali Nariman that he has on the Court.
Blind faith, as they rightly say, is always wrong and should be avoided. Is there not a lesson to learn?

Trampling of the democracy in Ram Lila Maidan

Parmanand Pandey

'Rule of law' is the basic and quintessence of democracy. It has to be assiduously preserved and protected by all those; who are at the helm of affairs in a democratic set-up. Without observance of the rule of law, the democracy becomes a farce and many a time worse than dictatorship.

What has happened the other day at Ram Leela Maidan of Delhi to spoil the Satygraha of Swami Ram Dev was most shocking and nothing but the mockery of democracy. Anybody would be aghast to see the harrowing scene of the atrocities being perpetrated by the police on the peaceful satyagrahis in the mid of the night, when most of them were fast asleep.

The government owes explanation to everybody as to why the draconian measure was adopted to disperse the Sayagrahis? Any dispensation having the semblance of civility would think at least a dozen times for taking any step to drive away the peaceful people. But, the step of the police action that was taken by the government would be unthinkable and emphatic no.

Baba Ram Dev has been campaigning for nearly two years to bring back the vast sums of Indian money stashed away in foreign banks. It is claimed that if the entire amount is brought back, India would instantly become a rich country.

The whopping amount of Rs. 4 lakh crore that have been spirited away from the country is mind—boggling ,to say the least. It is beyond anybody's comprehension as to why the government of the day is developing cold-feet in this regard? The more the government wants to conceal it, the more the suspicion of the people gets thickened and strengthened about its malafide intentions. Now the people have started saying that those sitting at the top in the government do not want to touch the corruption and corrupt elements. In fact it is they who encourage the corruption. If those like, Baba Ram Dev raise there voice they are subjected to derision, ridicule subjected, lathi-charge and tear gas. This amply exposes the government that it is prepared to compromise with corruption and its generator at every step. It is frightened even with the name of 'corruption' as it is neck-deep into it.

This government accorded the red carpet welcome to Swami Ram Dev on this matter demonstrating its sensitivity, even if it was for public consumption, it cannot say that Baba's demand for bringing back the black money is unjustified. Swami Ram Dev has actually caught the fancy of the people. The government firstly wanted to cause rift between Anna Hazare and Ram Dev but when it failed in its objective, it started the dirty game of vilification, character assassination and defamation of Swami Ram Dev.

People are not fools; they can well see-through it.

But, however, Baba has not to deviate from his path, come what may. The public support is abounding to the cause for Baba Ram Dev; the need is channelise to make a corruption free society. Let us hope for the best

Castration of Culprits: Medicine Worse Than Disease

Parmanand Pandey

A judge of Delhi, Ms Kamini Lau has suggested that the punishment to the convicts of rape case should be made exemplary and extremely deterrent. Her main suggestion, however, is that instead of increasing the period of incarceration of a rape-culprit to life imprisonment or putting him gallows, he should be chemically castrated. Such a person would find that his life has become a virtual hell for him and he would be constantly subjected to derision and ridicule of the society. This mortification will always haunt him to make him realise of his beastly guilt every moment till the last breath of his life.

In fact, according to many theories of punishment, there are mainly its three objectives: Reformative, Retributive and Deterrent. The crimes have also been broadly divided into two categories: One is against individual and the other is against individual plus society. In the second type of crimes; although the sufferer or victim is individual yet, it is considered to be a challenge to the law and order of the state and therefore, it is treated a crime to have been committed against the society. The state prosecutes the accused persons only against the crimes falling into IInd category. Punishment depends on the gravity of the crime.

There is no gainsaying that the rape is the most heinous crime and the trauma of a rape victim is indescribable. No amount of punishment can assuage and ameliorate the pains and sufferings of the victim. The attitude of the society further aggravates her mental agony and torture wreaking havoc on her. Therefore, the foremost thing that is to be done to change the mental attitude of the society as she undergoes almost daily. She often falls prey to deep depression. The rape victim deserves the sympathy and sweet words of the people around her and the culprit needs to be condemned in the harshest possible manner.

Having said it all, we, as a civilised society, will not have to lose the hope of a criminal getting reformed. A criminal's mental framework has also to be taken into account, particularly at the time of crime. It is also possible that he might have committed this dastardly crime under the influence of drinks and drugs. That is why, in criminal jurisprudence 'Actus Reus' is said to be based on 'Mens Ria'.'Tooth for a tooth' and 'eye for eye' is a form of retributive justice. Now it has become a thing of the past except in some hidebound Islamic countries. Genuine remorse and regret have worked wonders for the improvement of a criminal. Hence, the suggestion of the Delhi judge for castration of rape criminal however, well intentioned it may be, must be rejected at the very threshold.

Even the notion of this sort of punishment will push the society to the dark days of medieval period, which no well meaning person would like to return to. Be that as it may, the civil society, the judiciary and the legislature all will have to pool-their minds to see that the horrendous crime of rape is curbed. Punishment must be tinged with meaning intentions.

Medicine should never be worst than the disease. Its purpose is to cure the disease; not to further push the criminal into the vale of the barbaric crimes.

Mamata's Historic Win in West Bengal

Parmanand Pandey

Massive victory of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal assembly elections is satisfying, momentous and epoch making. Marxists have been blown after 34 years of uninterrupted rule in the strong gale of Mamata's popularity.

Actually, it has been set in the psyche of the people for the last nearly two decades that the Marxists were invincible and it would be impossible to replace them through any democratic exercise because; they have mastered the art of subverting the public opinion by taking recourse to force and coercion and rigging the elections. In fact, the people of West Bengal have been fed up with the dictatorship and goondaism of Marxist rulers and cadres' right from the early eighties; but their anger reached the saturation point from the late nineties. If free and fair elections had been held for the West Bengal assembly, they would have thrown out in 2001 elections, if not before. Notwithstanding the huge wrath of the general public Marxists managed to win the 2001 elections. People, however, were aghast and felt cheated. In 2006 general elections of assembly the patience and anger of the people crossed all limits though; the Marxists were again able to manipulate the results in their own favour. This led to further cynicism among the young men and women and they started taking up the arms in large numbers.

Thus the Marxists have been mainly responsible for the growth of naxalism and frustration among youngsters. In fact, Most of the leaders of the Left Front suffer from arrogance and hubris. They still live in the Stalinist era and have refused to come out of time warp. The world has moved millions of miles ahead and away from the ideology of Lenin and Stalin, but they ridiculously harp on that fossilised philosophy. Scientific discoveries and means of production have changed and revolutionised the world beyond recognition, yet the blockheaded Marxists tired to oppress the wishes and aspirations of people with indiscriminate application of force and fraud.

At one point of time, the West Bengal was considered to be the most industrialised state of the country and was in the proud company of Maharashtra and Gujarat which at present is not only the worst governed state but the least industrialised state of India. Hundreds of industrialists and industries had to migrate from West Bengal to other state because of hostile attitude of the Left government. Hundreds of thousands of workers were left high and dry during the misrule of the Left Front. In the name of promoting trade unionism, they killed the hens that were laying eggs to feed the workers. Not surprisingly, therefore, the West Bengal has been posting very high negative trend of growth from all indexes resulting into large scale unemployment.

The most egregious misdeed of the Left Front government was; however, to allow the large scale infiltration of Bangladeshis in India. Needless to mention, crores of Bangladeshis have permanently settled in India by illegally entering through porous borders and the most outrageous act of the Marxist government was to give legitimacy to these Bangladeshis by providing them ration cards and putting their names in the election voters list. Thus the infiltrators are now the bonafide citizens of India As a consequence of it, the original inhabitants have been reduced into minority and they are cursed to live in the constant fear of Bangladeshis. These Bangladeshis have changed the demographic contours of several electoral constituencies not only in the West Bengal but in other neighbouring states like; Assam and Bihar. As these Bangladeshi have been voting in favour of the Left Front en block, therefore, they were always welcome with open arms of the Left government. Bangladeshis have now spread to almost all parts of India thanks to inept handling of the Central as well as the Left Front government of the West Bengal. They (Bangladeshis) are now posed a serious threat of law and order problems in almost every state. Besides, the security of the country is also endangered because of their sizeable pan-India presence.

All said and done; the Left Front leaders must be praised for their monetary honesty and austerity although the same is not true about their cadres. The general cadre of the Left Front has been as corrupt or sometimes more corrupt as the Congressmen and other party workers. It must be borne in the mind that the Left Front leaders and cadres would not easily swallow and tolerate their defeat and, therefore, they will certainly pose problems for Mamata Bangerjee at every step. Since they are well-entrenched at all levels of administration they will create stumbling blocks and hindrances for the new dispensation by all conceivable manners.

Therefore, Mamata Bangerjee will have to tread very cautiously. She will have to use the iron hand to crush the trouble makers but at the same time; she will have to take urgent steps for developmental works, so as to come up to the high expectations of the general public. I am sure she is fully aware of the challenges May she gets the strength to successfully grapple the problems and difficulties and surge the state forward by Godspeed. More about Mamata sometimes later.

Killing of Osama: Pak Exposed

Parmanand Pandey

The precise 40 minute military operation carried out by American navy to kill Osama Bin Laden on the last May 1 at Abbottabad (Pakistan) was absolutely marvellous and breathtaking. This was really unprecedented from many angles. The operation has completely exposed the duplicity and blatant lie of Pakistani authorities for whom Osama Bin Laden was virtually laying golden eggs. What was known to everybody, although Pakistan was trying to cover it with thin veneer, yet became stark clear after the military operation that Osama Bin Laden and numerous other terrorists have been trained, fed and nurtured and sheltered by Pakistan Army. Pakistan, without doubt, is a rogue state which has been thriving on the crop of terrorists. It is the biggest exporter of terrorism across the world, be it India, USA, Britain, Chechanya or Canada. India of course, is the biggest victim, which has to bear the brunt most.

It is very regrettable that western countries, particularly USA, mainly responsible for creating the monsters like Osama Bin Laden, have been feigning ignorance about the Pakistan sponsored terrorism. In fact, USA has often shown insensitivity towards the plights and sufferings of India even when she had to capitulate before Talibani terrorists at the time of hijacking of aeroplane at Kandahar. The ring leader of the hijackers Majhar Masood walked passed into the Pakistan territory in the full glare of authorities after his release by no less a person than the then Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh. His photographs were flashed in newspapers addressing the gathering in a mosque situated in Pakistan. India plaintively pleaded to the world that she was the victim of Pakistan sponsored terrorism but no one heeded to India's cry.

It is also shameful on the part of Indian leadership which developed Goosebumps when it came to sternly dealing with Pakistan trained thugs of Taliban. The families of the hijacked passengers in India showed despicable behaviour by assembling before the P.M. house and orchestrating the demand for release of hardcore terrorists in lieu of the release of their kith and kin. These middle class families would not shed any tear on the death of hundreds of brave jawans on the border but they did not hesitate to make hue and cry or hullabaloo over the impending death of some of their relatives. India Media's role was highly condemnable, which created all hype and hysteria in favour of shameless family members of hijacked passengers. As a result of it, the weak and debilitating government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee buckled under the pressure. Again Indian Parliament was brutally attacked and the country lost many brave policemen but that too could not move even the so-called democratic countries.

The main culprit of Mumbai riots, Dawood Ibrahim is sitting pretty and enjoying the comforts of Pakistani hospitality at Karachi. Similarly, the masterminds of 26/11 of Mumbai are roaming freely in Pakistan. What to say of mimicking the Abbottabad operation of USA, Indian Government has shown the chicken heartedness by not hanging the judicially pronounced culprits like Kasab and Afzal. Entire world knows that Pakistan was responsible for trespassing in Kargil but Pak authorities denied their hands in the war being fought in the name of Mujahdeen. It was ruse for throwing dust in the eyes. It is good that nobody now gives any credence to the denials of Pakistan.

Coming to OBL, Pakistan Government crossed all the limits of lie and hypocrisy, when it has been befooling the world for nearly a decade that it was actively involved in anti-terror campaign and tracking down of Osama Bin Laden, while the reality was totally different and OBL was being harboured by it. America must have pumped in more than thirty billion dollars in Pakistan just to get hold of Osama Bin Laden but every time, when American forces were close to catch the dreaded terrorist, the move was invariably jeopardised by Pak army as it always alerted the target. Alas! The money that was given to Pak was used for propping terrorism in India.

This meticulous military operation of Abbottabad has also exposed that Pakistan's bluff and bravado was hollow to the core as American choppers carried out their operation well within the entrenched garrison of the army and its army could know about it only when the entire would was rejoicing the death of the dreaded criminal Osama Bin Laden. It would have been better if OBL had been caught alive as that would have further laid bare Pakistan's schemes and lies. The death is hardly is rejoiced except in the cases of demons like the mass killer Osama Bin Laden. Let us join the world to celebrate the obliteration of the devil.

Support Drafting Committee Of Jan Lokpal

Parmanand Pandey


An unnecessary controversy is raging these days with regard to the presence two Bhusans - father son duo— Shanti and Prashant in the Jan Lokpal Drafting Committee. Right from the day, the government accepted the demand of Anna Hazare to draft and enact the Jan Lokpal Bill with the help of the representatives of the Civil Society, a section of influential persons is not able to digest it. These people are raising innumerable objections, which are frivolous in nature but ulterior in motive. There are some publicity hungry people, who are knocking at the doors of the various courts and questioning the very constitutionality of the Drafting Committee. They say that it is the job of Parliament, which cannot be given to others under threat and duress. They are umbrage as to how the civil society can subvert the democracy and usurp the powers of Parliament.


As it is was not enough, a group of people, whose interests would be hit hard after and who do not have any hesitation in serving as the lackeys of the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats, have spearheaded the smearing campaign against Bhushans. There are some, who are shamelessly and brazenly painting the image of even Anna Hazare with the black brush. They are referring to some report by Justice P.B. Savant Committee, which is totally rubbish one and which has no relevance at all to the task of the Drafting Committee. One can well understand, if there were any substance in Justice Savant's report, the Maharashtra government would never have remained quiet and spared Anna Hazare, who has become a permanent sore in its eyes because of his relentless struggle against corruption.


Now for the last so many days, some infamous corrupt persons like; Amar Singh and Digvijay Singh have launched attack on Bhushan every day with new allegations. One day for their alleged involvement a CD and the other day in availing the largesse from the Mayawati government in U.P. or on third day for evading the income tax and the next day branding them as Public Interest Litigation blackmailer.


Now the question arises as to why, these controversies are being raked up at this stage? Obviously, the corrupt elements know that they will have to face the heat of the stringent law most, that is why, they are up in arms against the very legislation itself. Nobody is asking a question to these self serving and self styled righteous people that even if Bhushans were involved in misdemeanours, how will that have bearing on their competence of drafting the bill? If they have done something wrong, they should be hanged for that but why the public cause be stalled? Moreover, if the strict law comes into the existence, then all those found in corruption would be prosecuted and penalised including Committee members. Therefore, the need of the hour is to extend fullest possible support to the Drafting Committee, so that strong and effective law is enacted soon to curb and control the menace of corruption.


Bogey being raised by the agents and advocates of corrupt elements must be smashed at any cost and that is where lies, the future of Aam Aadami and this great country with bright future but dismal present and bleak future.