It pays to work for the government.

A Special Bench of the Delhi High Court awarded compensation of Rs 65 million to an Australian woman who was rendered quadriplegic after slipping in the swimming pool at an ITDC hotel in 1982. " The attempts to prove that Susan Leigh Beer is a liar despite convincing answers from her shows a stubborn desire to somehow wrest arguing points for the final hearing. Line of questioning also showed ITDC in a poor light as callous and insensitive," the judges said. Officials at ITDC, like in any government organisation in India, are completely immune to any punishment. They used taxpayer money to pay lawyers to prolong the case for 32 years so that the original managers would have long retired with their fat pensions. The compensation will be paid by the government so they have nothing to lose. Our munificent judges help by indulging them in this cynical contempt of the law by postponing hearings for trivial reasons. If the judges had asked the money to be paid out of the salaries and pensions of the concerned managers then these callous individuals would start to care. While the sufferings of a white Australian woman was valued in millions the same High Court in Delhi awarded a paltry Rs 300,000 for the death of a woman detained illegally by a state-run shelter. The woman had eloped with a man and her family had filed a false charge of rape against her lover on the grounds that she was a minor. The man was arrested and the woman was sent to a shelter for underage girls. Tests showed that she was over 18 years of age but the shelter refused to release her so that she died in childbirth. No one has been charged with kidnapping or manslaughter and the fine will be paid by the taxpayer. How convenient. Sadly the same facilities are not available for private individuals. While the punishment for death or crippling injury runs into few millions the punishment for contempt of court is Rs 100 billion, which Mr Subrata Roy has to pay if he is to get out of jail. Mr Roy showed his contempt when he failed to attend court to answer his summons but government officials regularly avoid court appearances without any punishment. Trouble is that our judges are sooo sensitive that even the truth is taken as contempt. God help if there has been a genuine mistake and feelings have been hurt. Funnily it is not a contempt of court when Amarmani Tripathi, murderer of Madhumita Shukla, is let out on parole for 2 months and it is not contempt when Manu Sharma, murderer of Jessica Lal, is let out on parole to enjoy nightclubs. When justice is a joke how can there be contempt? We hope that this will not be taken as contempt. We live in fear.