HOSTILE WITNESSES



There have , recently , been a lot of court cases in which murders have been committed . Nothing that hasn't happened before one might say , but , these came into focus because , they were committed in front of witnesses , without any fear of retribution .

It is a very sad thing that people believe that you can get away with murder , and do .

Prominent among these have been :

1 . The Best Bakery case :
14 people were killed as Best Bakery was burnt down by the mob . Zaheera , a key witness ,
gave a signed statement saying that she could identify the person(s) responsible . At the
court hearing however , she turned hostile . She then asked for retrial saying that she had
been forced to lie . At the retrial however she again retracted her original statement .
2. The Nitish Katara case :
Nitish Katara was murdered by his girlfriends brothers who did not approve of their
relationship . The girl, Bharti, who at first said that her brothers were responsible ,
later turned hostile . Other people who believed that Nitish had met with foul play at
the hands of the brothers, are also one by one , turning hostile .
3. The Jessica Lal case :
The worst of the whole lot is probably the Jessica Lal case . Jessica Lal was murdered in
front of 300 people !! Of which , 32 were initially called upon as they were standing
closest to the place where she was murdered . One by one , all are now trying to back
out of their initial testimony .

There has been a lot of talk of punishing the witnesses if they turn hostile .
In fact there is going to be a new bill which will be as follows :

1. Witnesses who turn hostile in court will now go to jail for a minimum of three months and maximum of two years along with a fine
2. For the first time witnesses will have to sign statements they give to the police. A copy of the statement will be given to the witness and crucially another copy will be sent to a magistrate
3. The signed statement can then be used in court in case a witness backtracks later
4. For the first time there will be an independent public prosecutor who will not come under the CBI or the police
5. Police officers only of the rank of a sub inspector and above can investigate an offence that carries jail term of seven years or more.

In my opinion witnesses are being dealt with harshly .

First of all , it takes a great deal of courage to take a stand against a powerful person .
Secondly, none of them wants to retract their statements , they are forced to do it .

Even after knowing this , the court wants to punish the witnesses !

It is like saying , even if you haven't committed the murder , you will pay for it !!!

If they testify , the murderer's henchmen will kill them , and if they don't , the court will
punish them and they will forever lose their good name making the rest of their lives
impossible !!


I agree that the murderer shouldn't be allowed to get away , but, this is not a fair way to
go about achieving it .

The proposed bill's second and third points are logical , namely

2. For the first time witnesses will have to sign statements they give to the police. A copy of the statement will be given to the witness and crucially another copy will be sent to a magistrate
3.The signed statement can then be used in court in case a witness backtracks later .


However , the remaining points are ridiculous .

The jail term for hostile witnesses is perhaps the strangest of all . It is as if the jury has
decided that since they cannot catch the criminal they might as well punish the witnesses !!

4th point says that there will be an independent public prosecuter not connected with CBI
or the police . What on earth will this achieve ?? Instead of having to pay off police officers
or CBI officials the murderer directly or indirectly has to buy only one individual !! Can't
anyone hear the cheers emitting from the accused ??

The 5th point is of no significance whatesoever . Everyone knows that corruption occurs at the
higher levels and that police officers often aid the criminals . A sad but true fact .

The points that should be included in this bill should be such as will bring the criminal act to
justice :

1 . If a witness turns hostile , then care should be taken to investigate why this happened .
2. Right after the muder phones of all witnesses should be tapped , so that if threats are
received there will be a record of these threats .
3. Protection should be given to the witnesses , and , in case of death of a witness under
protection, cases of murder should be set up against the police responsible .
4. Last and most important , if a witness suffers in any manner such as bodily
harm or harm to any family member or death (other than natural causes )
during the trial , then this should be taken as proof positive of the murderer's
guilt .

Religion and Reincarnation

Recently there was much discussion on a book called "Born Again" by Walter Semkiw . In it the author claimed that he knew all about the past lives of certain famous people like Shah Rukh Khan , Amitabh Bacchan , Jawaharlal Nehru etc .

In Hindu religion , in practically every religion in the world , reincarnation is mentioned , if not treated as an established fact .

Now what do we mean by reincarnation?

In Bhagvad Gita Lord Krishna says that the human body is transient , that the only thing that remains constant is the aatma or the soul ,which "cannot be burned by fire , soaked with water , in short , cannot be destroyed or killed ". The soul can take different forms and these are called reincarnations of that soul . Just as a person changes new clothes for old , so too the aatma changes one body for another .

In Buddhism and Sikhism ,too, being offshoots of Hinduism , the concept of reincarnation is very much an accepted fact .

In all these religions reincarnation revolves around karma , i.e , the simple concept of action and reaction . In simple words , good deeds beget good times and bad deeds beget misfortunes .

In Christianity , too , the concept of reincarnation exists . Christ himself was resurrected after his physical body "died" on the cross .

This particular book was different (at least to me it was ) in that , it said that it was possible for one soul to take on multiple bodies at the same time .
I found this a novel concept and thought about it for quite some time afterwards . In Hindu religion one soul taking on one body is accepted , but not this concept of one soul and multiple bodies . The reason I pondered over this matter for so long , however , was that I kept remembering a few dialogs from the Ramayana which run as follows :

Lakshmana(on spotting the golden deer ):Brother , I do not trust this phenomenon . It is against Nature . There cannot be a Golden Deer . It is a trick , for never has such a creature been heard of or seen or even imagined .

Rama : Brother , just because one hasn't heard or seen or imagined a particular phenomenon does not mean that it is impossible . For , there are many things of which humans are not aware but which do exist nonetheless . Nothing is ever against Nature . For , the Almighty has thought of all things even before they were imagined by humans .

If the Lord has already thought of all things even before they are imagined by humans , then why is this concept of multiple reincarnations at the same time unacceptable ?? For it to have occurred to Walter Semkiw ( the author of this book ) , it should have occurred to God first isn't it ??

I am still no nearer to finding the answer to this question than I was before . Hence this blog .

I hope someone out there will know the answer !!

Reservations at PG level ? Who came up with this foolish idea ?
I believe that reservations have a place but not at PG level and definitely not 50 % !!!
Look at the poor students of AIIMS , fasting for 16 days without any results ! And on top of that the officials carry out a lathi charge ! May I suggest that the police think for a moment as to who they are Lathi charging ? These are the students of AIIMS , would - be doctors of our country , the intelligentia . They are not the poor , illiterate farmers who believe in promises of color TV's and free power at election time . If anything were to happen to any one of them can they guarentee the replacement of such an invaluable brain ; Such hardworking persons who by sheer ability and will-power chose the difficult proffession of becoming a Doctor ?

Q : Where are the so-called Gandhians , the secular people of this country , the politicians who ask for votes on these very issues ? Why are they all mum ?

A: They are each waiting for the other to make the first move , so that they can then condemn the other . The so-called secular congress govt is so secular that it sees only the SC /ST 's of the country and none others . The BJP who carry the torch of Hidutva is afraid of saying anything in favour of the movement for fear of not getting any minority votes at all .

Where does it leave the hardworking student ? On the streets fainting of hunger for the cause they believe in , that's where .

Some of the arguments in favour of this law are as follows :

1. They (SC/ST's ) have been trodden underfoot for centuries and they must be given special preference / treatment now .

Yes , they have been trodden underfoot for centuries . Does that mean that they should now be given the opportunity to trod and trod heavily on those who centuries ago trod on them ? The aim should be to make downtrodding obsolete whether of the SC/ST's or of others .

2. It is very necessary to give them reservations because they do not have the financial support to reach PG level of studies .

Well , I can only say , they seem to have the necessary financial support to buy fake certificates and pay lakhs of rupees as donations to ensure a seat ! Look at Lalloo Prasad Yadav's daughter if you want one among the many examples !
If you put more reservations , then more people like Lalloo's daughter will become Doctors and more and more deserving candidates will be downtrodden , whether of SC/ST background or others .

3. A line most often repeated "There was reservation for SC/ST 's in the Constitution framed by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar who was himself of a lower caste and wanted their upliftment ".

Poor Dr . Ambedkar ! What a price to pay for framing the Constitution !
Had he been alive he would have been the first to eliminate reservations of all kinds , for ,
when he framed the Constitution , he was wise enough to see the need for reservations and
fifty (nearly sixty ) years after independence (maybe even before that ) he would have been wise enough to see the need for abolishment of all reservations .
He was definitely a man of vision and his vision for a Progressive India would not have included bad (or even worse , foolish )Doctors or Engineers or Government Officials who cause rather than treat diseases , who build bridges that fall down instead of staying put and who only believe in bribery and corruption instead of public service .

Upliftment of the SC/ST's :

There was a system in our society , it is true , which made an unfair distinction between the people of one strata of society and another .

Suggested Solutions :

1. Do not teach the SC/ST's to hate those who do not belong to their caste . Teach them instead to compete and compete fairly and win . It will definitely bring upliftment in their souls and remove the feeling of inferiority .

2. Keep reservations only upto school level . The way I see it , one who cannot pass his/her tenth standard exam can hardly be qualified to enter any Undergraduate course let alone a PG course !
If the student is exceptionally hardworking and deserving , by which I mean that he/she has truly cleared exams without cheating or using fake certificates , then make a provision for giving scholarship which covers the tuition fees of any college as well as the cost of books needed for that course . That is , provided he is offered the seat on passing a competitive exam like EAMCET or IAS , of course . For if he/she is really brilliant , he /she can do it without reservation .

3. Stop all reference to their being of SC/ST caste . By giving reservations you are only reminding them again and again of belonging to an inferior caste .
This in addition also makes them slothful , for , who needs to work hard if a seat is reserved for them irrespective of their performance ? And one who does not work hard can never succeed in any field .

4. Increase the number of seats in colleges so that even without reservation a really hardworking student (whether of SC/ST or other ) can go on to become the pride of our nation not on the basis of reservation but out of sheer ability .

Last of all a note to all those politicians who are busy stuffing their pockets glutinously with crores of rupees .
Ask the God residing within you , your conscience (if you have one left ) , whether you are truly bringing in this reservation law for the good of the downtrodden or for encouraging even more bribery or for making your own sons/daughters doctors/engineers ??
Spend a few of those crores on building better schools , hiring better and dedicated teachers , infrastructure and well stocked libraries .

Then there won't be any need for reservations !

Who says there is only bad in this world ?
There is a lot of good as well . Though news papers are full of reports on murders , rapes , looting and swindling , there is still a lot of good in this world .
I say this because of a personal experience . The other day my aunts , together with my mother and myself , went shopping . My aunt's car was parked near Bata ( anyone in Hyd knows that spot) . Leaving the driver to park the car we left for shopping in Gen Bazaar .
When we came back there was another car parked right in front of our car horizontally . Horizontally !! There was just not enough space to get our car out . We were stranded in the car park ! My Uncle who was to be picked up from office was waiting for us to come, and there we were in the car park !
We sounded our horn and waited a long while to see if someone would come to remove the car or if the owners would come to retrieve it . No one came .
In the meantime the other drivers who had parked their cars there and were waiting for the owners to return asked us what the matter was .
Our driver had seen the car being parked ,but, seeing that the driver was right alongside it to remove it if necessary, had not said anything . He left the car for a short 10 min and returned to find that the driver had gone somewhere leaving us stranded .
Then the other drivers came and shifted the Maruti van that was parked on one side of our car and gave directions to our driver who was driving the car to bring it out .
Even when there was no need for them to bother about our problem they rallied around and offered their assistance . I think it shows that humanity is not yet dead . People do come to help others in times of need .
Total strangers treated it as if it was their problem to get us out of there ! There is a divine spark in all of us that prompts us to help our fellow human beings , so I guess it is true that there is a Paramatma in every Jeevatma .

I hope many others will try to see the good that is in every human being to some extent or the other .

I was watching a feature in the News today in which Mr. Narayan Murthy was giving his opinion about something . I am in awe of him , and have been ever since I first heard about him . There was an article in which his meteoric rise in the s/w industry was described . I think that everyone can learn something from him .

I mean how many of us would be willing to sacrifice the safety of our jobs to establish a separate corporation !!
So much has to come together for it to happen .

• Hardwork : he had it in spades .
• Family support : his wife actually gave him not only the permission to step into the unknown , she financed it !
• Talent : He had the extraordinary organizational ability in order to not only establish an organization but also to take that org to the top .
• Continued Hardwork : He continues to be it's successful CEO .

On this I would like to quote Jeffery Archer's Line in his first bestseller Not A Penny More Not A Penny Less . It goes something like this "It is always difficult to make a million honestly . It is slightly easier to make a million dishonestly . The most difficult thing is hanging onto the million you have made ." (If I have quoted anything wrong in this quote then it is my error entirely !)
That was what struck me most about Mr .Narayan Murthy . He made his first million honestly . And he not only managed to hang onto it but went on to break all records of making millions !
As to the second part of the quote , I think the prime example of making a million dishonestly would be Mr.Dhirubhai Ambani .
How many of us would be capable of not only hanging onto our millions but to our integrity and principles as well ?
Look at IT people today . More and more incidents of IT people going to bars and clubs and pubs and behaving like a cheap villian in a Hindi movie are being reported everyday .(Throwing money at dancing girls , liasing with hookers etc .)
How many have the moral fibre to gracefully accept success (monetary success that is , for there are different types of success in life .) ?
He (Mr.Narayan Murthy) not only works hard himself but also hires only the hardworking . I once heard him say that " If my son does not clear the test for hiring people then I would not give him a job in my org. "
What great thoughs !! On the one hand we have politicians who are busy trying to prevent their sons from going to jail for just punishment for crimes committed . And on the other hand there are people like Mr.Murthy who nip nepotism in the bud !
May India continue to have hardworking individuals and great thinkers like Mr. Narayan Murthy . It is because of people like him that as an old saying in Telugu goes "Varshalu kurusthunnayi , pantalu panduthunnayi ."("We are blessed with rains and good crops ." It is believed in India that only when good deeds are done by people that God blesses the land and Nature showers its boons on the people .)
I hope many more people will learn from the example that Mr. Murthy has set .