I had actually decided sometime ago that I will not be talking about the Sri Krishna Committee report since all debates around it have been much washed and ironed and nobody has anything new to say. Ditto the separate Telangana agitation. There is, as of now, not much to say that can be construed as specifically new. While there is nothing new to say about the separate Telangana movement since its main protagonist K. Chandrashekar Rao himself is still saying the same things, there is reason to talk about the Sri Krishna Committee Report. I have delayed making this post because I do not know if I will be in contempt of some court by saying what I have to say. In the absence of any clear indication of whether it is right or wrong, I have finally decided to go ahead with this post. This post of mine has nothing to do with the contents of the Chapter Eight, the infamous chapter which is supposed to give directions to the Union Government on how to manage the situation that has arisen out of the demand for a separate Telangana state. This post concerns itself with some events that may make the whole judicial process look ridiculous. Let us briefly recapitulate a few things so that we can talk about the judicial process.
The Chapter Eight is supposedly a confidential matter meant only for the consumption of the Union Government. But the fact that such a chapter exists was made public and this lead to a petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking that the chapter be made public since it concerns all people. In response to this petition a single judge bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court asked for the said chapter and it was duly brought by the Solicitor General of India in a sealed envelope. The Judge saw the chapter and gave his opinion, which was that its contents be made public while also giving the Union Government the opportunity to contest his judgement which the Union Government did. The matter went to a two judge bench and this bench stayed the previous judgement and asked the Union Government to once again produce the document in a sealed cover and bring it to them for perusal and further judgement. This is all fine, nothing wrong. However, certain other events caught me entirely by surprise.
There was a case filed in the City courts of Hyderabad saying that the Chapter Eight was slanderous and a Judge directed the city police that they register a case on Justice Sri Krishna and the other members. I am a layman and I do not understand these things too well, but how can a case by filed on someone when the document is still a secret? I am sure there is a legal mechanism that makes this possible. Maybe the basis for filing the case is the judgement of the single Judge. But I don't know. What took me by even greater surprise is the fact that the Osmania University Teachers Association organized a seminar on Chapter Eight and how atrocious it is. During the seminar (which was held over one day and had many speakers) it was said that the contents of the report are available. I was even told that the chapter itself is available. If and I say if, this is true isn't this a mockery of the judicial system? Are people just wasting time doing seminars on things which are imagined (and that is quite possible) or is there really a leak of some sort? Whatever the case I am confounded completely.
If it is a leak and the whole thing is public knowledge then isn't the judiciary wasting its time and money deciding if something should be shown to the public when it is already in the public domain. Since there is no confirmation that the debates are on things which the said chapter speaks about, I can only hope that these things are not from the report. But if they are, then somebody should be made accountable for the leak, whoever that person maybe. And here I stop since anything more may not be appropriate.
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