Lalu Prasad Yadav convicted
in fodder scam case
sentence on October 3
The Judgment is out; though the exact quantum of sentence
is yet to be out. A special CBI Court in Ranchi today (Monday) held the former
Bihar chief minister and RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav GUILTY in the case
related to the fodder scam.
The quantum of sentence in the case will be announced
on October 3rd.
Lalu Prasad Yadav faces immediate disqualification as a
Lok Sabha member as per the recent Supreme Court order which says that an MP or MLA would stand disqualified
immediately - if convicted by a court for crimes with punishment of two years
or more. In the instant case, the punishment is expected to be more than this
limit.
The case, RC 20 A /96, involves Lalu Prasad Yadav,
another former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra, JD (U) MP Jagdish Sharma and 41
others, including four retired IAS officer and a former Income-Tax
commissioner.
In this case, all these accused have been held guilty of fraudulent
withdrawal to the tune of Rs 37.7 crores from Chaibasa treasury in the 1990s. Chaibasa
was then part of undivided Bihar and is now in Jharkhand. Lalu Prasad was the
Chief Minister of the then UNDIVIDED STATE.
All the other accused including another former chief
minister of Bihar, Jagannath Mishra, have been convicted in the case.
The Judgment, though belated, must serve as a warning
to all other corrupt Politicians that
sooner or later, they will have to serve their time in Jail for the corruption
indulged in by them while in Office.
It is noteworthy that the UPA tried its last ditch effort in the shape of the
Ordnance that is utter non sense – as correctly described by Rahul Gandhi.
Whatever his detractors might say, Rahul Gandhi deserves ALL PRAISE for his
“STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART” comments on the ordnance. In my view, he has grown
several notches Higher by putting his foot down though belatedly, on the
NONSENSICAL ORDNANCE. This was a hit with a straight bat and nothing concealed
beneath it – like other Politicians do. Media men will go on reading between
the lines forever, but, there is nothing between the lines, above the lines or
below the lines in what Rahul said. What was said was all that he felt and
said. And, it was badly needed for Congress and UPA. It was a different thing
that congressmen later on were latching on to Rahul Bandwagon, though earlier, many
of them were for the Ordnance.
The unfortunate thing however is the dragging on,
dragging on and dragging on of investigation of the cases and the lengthy
Judicial Process. Given such delays, in most cases, the illegal beneficiaries
in such scams can get away without a conviction because of the sheer lapse of
time. Assuming that someone commits such a crime at age of 60, he may not face
any conviction before his death even at 80. This is totally unsatisfactory. The
investigation and Judicial processes must both be speeded up considerably in
India, if they are to be effective. It is not the Individuals but the system
that is at fault. There must be targets, there must be penalties for delays, there
must be independent assessment of the progress of investigation and trial.
All said, despite delays, CBI and the court do deserve
grateful thanks from the country.
But, is it the END OF THE ROAD for Lalu. This may not
be. There will be appeals and further legal processes and so on. We certainly
need quicker, much quicker, legal processes in India.
If India can’t ensure this, the Guilty can never be
punished and the innocent can never be exonerated.
The Supreme court needs our Grateful thanks for putting
down the corrupt in their proper place.
The RIGHT TO REJECT – in respect of Election process is
another significant decision from the SC in ensuring that the
corrupt and the undeserving do not even contest Elections.
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