2G Spectrum Verdict Shakes Confidence Of Anti-Corruption Crusaders – OpEd

The verdict given by the special judge in the CBI court acquitting all accused in the 2G spectrum case of 2008 has certainly sent shock waves amongst anti-corruption crusaders and the general public all over India.

While the judge accused the prosecutors of giving “well choreographed charge sheet “ and virtually condemned what the judge viewed as shoddy prosecution, many people were shocked at the observation, since the Supreme Court which is the highest court in India observed in its February, 2012 judgement that the manner in which the exercise for providing letter of intent to the applications for Spectrum allocation was conducted in January,2008 left no room for doubt that entire decision was stage managed. Supreme Court further imposed cost of Rs. 5 crore each on a few companies involved in the scam.

After this observation of the Supreme Court , the country men believed that the 2G scam was real and corruption of massive proportion took place. Now that the special judge in the CBI Court has said that there is no proof of scam, people have started wondering as to whether the judicial judgements are reliable at all.

The special court was constituted by the Supreme Court to look into the matter in detail and give it’s verdict. Obviously, Supreme Court expected that the corrupt persons who were broadly identified by it would be punished. The special judge took several years to conduct the proceedings and then has now come with the shocking verdict.

The common man in the country is certainly not in a position to know about the intricacies of the case and about the technicalities of 2G spectrum matter.

However, several circumstantial evidence and earlier damning report of the Comptroller and Audit General of India (CAG) saying that the loss to government in spectrum allocation was Rs. 1.76 lakh crores, conclusively convinced the people that the corrupt people should be caught and punished severely. Now, they have all being acquitted and are claiming innocence.

Of course, the investigating agency CBI has decided to appeal against the judgement of the special judge in the High court and the verdict of the special judge is not the end of the matter. Obviously, High court will scrutinize not only the spectrum scam but also how the special judge came to this stunning conclusion of stating that there was no proof of scam.

Most Indians with no political links think that most of the political parties have gone into the control of people with suspicious and corrupt background and family control and such political parties winning elections and getting into power is the root cause for the extent of massive corruption in India in various spheres.

The anti corruption crusaders, who are keen to see a corruption free India ,now do not know as to what would be the way to fight corruption.

It is very clear that the special judge has not taken a holistic view of the entire spectrum case and ignored several aspects of the charge sheet , even while there is huge suspicion everywhere about the spectrum allotment and expectation that the special court would convict the accused.

With the credibility of the several politicians and bureaucrats remaining so low in the eyes of the people, common men have come to believe that the judiciary should be the ultimate forum to safeguard the probity in public life. People feel frustrated when judges give judgements which raise serious questions and the faith on the judiciary is bound to be eroded. This is not a good sign for anti corruption movement to succeed in India.

Of course, judgements need not reflect public opinion and judges should not allow themselves to be pressured by public perspectives on any matter. Still, the judgements should be good enough for the people to have faith in the judges..

Here is a famous anecdode

Judge: For want of evidence, I acquit you of the charge of stealing a goat.

Accused : In that case, your honour, am I allowed to retain the goat ?