Election contortions.

Having allowed the 2 Italian marines accused of murdering 2 Indian fishermen in February last year to escape back into Italy the Congress got into acute difficulty. The memory of Ottavio Quattrocchi leaving India on 29 July 1993, 2 years after the assassination of Mr Rajiv Gandhi, to escape arrest is still fresh. The Supreme Court took a dim view of events and held the Italian Ambassador, Daniele Mancini responsible since he had personally guaranteed the return of the marines. The Ambassador's claims of diplomatic immunity was rejected by the Court and he was ordered to remain in India. The court ordered all airports to be watched to prevent him from escaping as well. This put both the Italian and Indian governments in a quandary as the neat little plot was beginning to unwind. So on 22 March both marines were returned to India after the government promised that they will not receive the death penalty and that they will not be arrested. In reaction the Foreign Minister of Italy resigned yesterday because of criticism of the decision by the Italian press. How can the government preempt the law. If Kasab was hanged for killing Indians then why should an exception be made for the marines? Does it mean that our law is tailored to suit a criminal depending on the color of his skin? Does a man deserve to be hanged because he is called a " terrorist " and these 2 are immune to our laws because they are called " marines "? Either the law should be changed to ban capital punishment or it should be applied equally to all. Trouble is that if the law is uniformly applied a lot of our politicians and government officers would face the rope. Amarmani Tripathi, murderer of Madhumita Shukla, is allowed to roam around in Gorakhpur on parole. Manu Sharma, son of a Congress politician and murderer of Jessica Lall, was out on parole enjoying himself in nightclubs. The Yadav brothers, sons of a UP politician and murderers of Nitish Katara, are allowed to roam around outside prison to attend hospitals for frivolous complaints. Bitti Mohanty, son of the retired Police Chief of Odisha, BB Mohanty and convicted rapist, went on the run for 7 years after getting out on parole. Raghuraj Pratap Singh or Raja Bhaiya, who has 47 criminal cases, including murder, registered against him, has been elected 5 times as independent MLA from Kunda in UP. He was serving as Minster of Food and Civil Supplies and Minister of Prisons in UP but has had to resign his post because he is accused of involvement in the shooting and killing of Deputy Superintendent of Police, Zia-ul-Haq who went after illegal sand mining by the local mafia in Pratapgarh District. The problem for the Congress is that it does not want Italians to be held to justice, but with elections looming, it cannot be seen to be soft on Italians. Hence the contortions. Love it.