It has taken 63 years but is still not enough.

The Supreme Court said yesterday that a politician must be disqualified from holding office if convicted of a crime deserving a prison sentence of 2 years or more. TOI, 11 July. Earlier the court had ruled that any criminal may stand for election for parliament or assembly and even hold a ministerial post but such a person could not seek employment as a police constable. Is it any wonder that all our politicians are criminal scum and keep the police and all investigating agencies under their control? " The only question is about the vires of section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act ( RPA ) and we hold that it is ultra vires and that the disqualification takes place from the date of conviction," said the justices. So what is this iniquitous section that the judges struck down. It has a sub-section which says that a politician cannot be disqualified for 3 months after conviction and if he appeals to a higher court within that period then he can continue in office until the appeal is heard. Which of course means that politicians just keep appealing forever, which gives them time to threaten, bribe or murder witnesses and if they can drag it out long enough many of the witnesses may have died of natural causes. Sukhram is still enjoying life more than 25 years after being caught with mattresses stuffed with banknotes and 29 years after 5,000 Sikhs were murdered following Indira Gandhi's killing not one Congress fellow has been imprisoned. However, this judgement was totally inadequate because judges and lawyers are an integral part of this gross miscarriage of justice. Lawyers keep asking for endless postponements and judges agree docilely. After all, there are juicy sinecures to be had after retirement. Chairmanships of bodies such as the Press Council or the National Human Rights Commission or inquiry committees, set up to hoodwink the public, which write heavy reports that politicians ignore completely because by this time people have forgotten the original outrage because newer, even worse outrages have occurred. So it is perhaps best not to be very expedient. It is natural, therefore, that criminals are attracted to politics. Once elected they are able to control the exchequer, roam around the world with kith and kin at taxpayer expense and control the police so that every investigation meanders to a dead end. Just as Bofors did. That is why the prevalence of corruption in India is double the global rate. Globally 27% of people said that they had to pay a bribe when accessing public services. The figure for India was 54%. TOI, 10 July. The constitution was written 63 years ago. We are still suffering.