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principal challenge before our judiciary has not party still controls the railway ministry, and accidents ha"e changed in six decades: the problem of one statute not stopped. -e should not howe"er blame her for not of# and two laws, one for the powerful and the other for the fering her resignation, since no /nion minister has resigned weak. Kautilya, author oiArthashastra, was perfectly after a railway accident since 2ai ahadur 0hastri in 3456. happy to sacrifice the ideal for the good of the state, so The board of directors of 'ir $ndia has ne"er gone to there was neither conflict nor confusion in the golden age prison for an accident+ indeed, no one has e"en tried to pros# of Mauryas. The Mughals, during their jewelled period, ecute an 'ir $ndia or .ailways manager, let alone incarcer# were not perturbed by concepts like equality, although, ate him. -hy, $s death in a hospital, or building collapse, like the Mauryas, they understood that a state could not somehow more heinous than death from a mismanaged sustain itself without some sense of equity. ig fish cannot go"ernment utility, -hy is the pri"ate sector punished for quite swallow minnows with the impunity to which they negligence of public welfare, but ne"er the public sector, got accustomed in the imperial age of history, at least in when in fact it should probably be the other way around, the theory that guides a democratic !onstitution. ut only Those who run public sector institutions ha"e, without the delusional belie"e that double standards ha"e disap# any fuss, simply placed themsel"es abo"e the law. $f there peared in the application of law in democratic $ndia. was any justice, do&ens of nationalised bank directors The pri"ate sector has wealth, a useful yardstick of would ha"e been behind bars for the manner in which they power. ut e"en those few ministers without wealth handed out the people7s money to fly#by#night operators in ha"e the police. %o pri&es for guessing which of the two the full knowledge that most of the loan would be stolen be# is more ad"antageous. 'nd so justice, which wears a fore being written off as a 8%on )erforming 'sset8. My par# blindfold in statues, turns out to ha"e not only two eyes ticular compliments to whoe"er coined that phrase. %e"er but more than one face. has a sweet deal been "eiled by such a cle"er euphemism. $n the first week of last (ecember, an appalling fire *"ery %on )erforming 'sset should be rewritten in the ac# broke out in a pri"ate hospital in !alcutta, killing patients. count books as a 9ery 'cti"e 2iability. Many balance sheets The guilt was ob"ious: greed and indifference had bred a would suddenly look "ery imbalanced indeed. culture of mismanagement in which the legitimate need $ happened to be among the sub#class called journalists for profit had long succumbed to the lure of at the -hite 1ouse during the "isit by profiteering. There is always good money 'tal ihari 9ajpayee after 'merica had to be made out of misery. )ublic anger, destroyed the Taliban go"ernment in predictably, was intense. *le"en members Kabul in its search for justice after of the board of directors ha"e been 4:33. ;eorge ush was president, and arrested, including two reputed doctors through some mysterious process $ am held in great esteem in the city, one of them still unable to comprehend $ was gi"en old and infirm. The law should be, and the opportunity of asking president was, indifferent to esteem+ e"en if those ush a question. My query was not directors who were not directly in"ol"ed "ery complicated. -hen terrorists at# with the management share some tacked 'merica, the )entagon tra"elled responsibility. ut they ha"e no immediate 3<,<<< miles to exact re"enge. -hen hope of getting bail, not because of the law, terrorists attacked $ndia, -ashington but because politicians deflect public urged patience, calm and "arious anger at the first opportunity. These are Is death in a hospital, or other measures designed to make you fundamentals of democratic beha"iour. building collapse, someho a competitor for the %obel )ri&e for ut why are there two laws, one for more heinous than death )eace. -hy, -as an 'merican life the pri"ate sector and one for the pub# more "aluable than an $ndian life, lic, -hy do members of the .ailway !rom a mismanaged go"# -ere there two laws in the world, one oard ne"er get arrested when a railway ernment utilit$% &h$ is the for 'merica, and another for $ndia, accident kills scores or e"en hundreds of pri"ate sector punished !or There are. passengers, The !hief Minister of -est This would not ha"e bothered negligence o! public engal, Ms Mamata anerjee, has been Kautilya+ and he would not ha"e asked /nion minister for railways. 0he ne"er el!are, but ne"er the for the resignation of the Mauryan em jailed members of her .ailway oard, public sector, hen in !act pire7s =xcart oard either. ut $ hope which is the direct equi"alent of the is some reason for thought and it should probabl$ be the there board of directors, after an accident. 1er reflection o"er double and triple judi other a$ around% cial standards in ><3>. ?
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THE JANUS FACE OF JUSTICE

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