Kamal Chenoy

Mr. Arun Jaitley who is a famous lawyer, apart from being a senior Minister has stated that old offences, circa 2002 are alright. Pradip Baijal and his minister who were involved in the sale of the historic Laxmi Vilas Palace Hotel in Udaipur were charged in an FIR. “Both the minister and secretary had a high reputation of personal integrity and if 12 years later an FIR is registered it hurts governance because it lowers the confidence of the civil servants to take decisions,” opined the Finance Minister.

So say a misdemeanor committed five years ago would be subject to prosecution, but not one that occurred later. Is there a Statute of Limitations which allows for this? Knowing the tardiness of the CBI, delays almost inevitably occur. In many cases of capital crimes the final sentence can take a dozen years. If the accused are people of personal integrity, they will be absolved speedily. But to give a clean chit, or to further weaken the CBI, as the FM is doing is to weaken the legal and judicial system. Are these the ‘Achhe Din’ promised to the people unjustly ruled and instead of those evading justice?

(Kamal Chenoy is a Professor at SIS, JNU. This article is reproduced from his facebook post.)