Monday, September 08, 2008

Tired...

Sorry that I've been a bit all over the place lately. Just like you never get calls one-by-one, but all at the same time. That is what seems to have happened with my life all of a sudden.
ET TV seems to have hit critical mass with their recruits, they've got some very solid guys on board, and I doubt BCCL will look at the long gestation period that was required with Times Now, which despite the histrionics is neatest and cleanest, albeit very right-of-centre channel. But then again, I think that is very smart positioning given the other two channels. Toppling CNBC from the top might be quite a challenge, but I think they will give ita strong try. And I feel sorry for Undie Profit.
I can't quite get the arguments lauid by the two big papers that how Sanjeev Nanda's punishment is unfair because he is 'Rich'. The Times' argument that hundreds of Bluel;ine bus drivers still drive around after killing people is a bit shallow. First, simply because I have a bit of sympathy for some bus drivers who have to deal with zipping motorcyclists and jaywalkers with little regard for the law. Sure Nanda probably had to deal with an unlit police check-post, though I don't recall that being made a defence argument. Yes, the law should be equal for everybody and sure if I died in a road-side accident run over by some drunk and stoned twat I would want to guy to hang from the depths of hell. But I also believe that people, that is the middle classes need affirmation that the rich and powerful can't always subjugate the law. There is a sense among the geneeral populace that judges are corrupt and can be bought. The Chief Justice of the country and the Law Ministry have not done anything to change that perception. While jailing a South Delhi brat will give some idea that the legal system can't be twisted, we still believe in our heart of hearts that it can.
The problem is that the media has made only half-hearted attempts to deal with this perception of the justice system in India, true or not. Anyway, that is a debate for another day.

4 comments:

J said...

I think HT justified it by printing the comparison made by the Judge between Nanda and Alister Periera's case.
... Which reminds me to ask for you...
Any hope for HT? I see they are getting serious on the international news front... or not...
You would know better perhaps.

J said...

HI K, Check this: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_88KAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6k4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2722,6438206&dq=india+pakistan+aug+15

... and don't miss the comic strips that accompany the news of our independence in the same paper.
I think it's something to do with this: http://www.labnol.org/internet/search/google-scans-old-printed-newspapers/4458/

Anonymous said...

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/09/us-blogger-pleads-not-guilty-to.php

Anonymous said...

I find the media's support to Sanjeev Nanda quite hypocritcal. Here was a family, which had the money and used it to buy over witnesses, subvert the legal system and do everything possible to screw up the case. If he had remained in jail during the time the case came to court, it might have even felt sorry for the guy, but this rich spoilt kid didn't spend too many days in jail. Why the sympathy for this spoilt brat? So he was 19 then, more reason why he shouldn’t have been behind the wheels of a car then in that state. I live in Pune now, and I once saw a bus driver being beaten up by some bystanders, because he ran over some schoolgirl on a two-wheeler. It wasn't even the bus driver's fault, because this dumb female was zipping in out of lanes and trying to overtake the bus from the left. I think traffic rules state that you cannot overtake from the left, don't they?