It is for the first time in the history of India that acting Chief Minister has been found guilty in a case of corruption and convicted to imprisonment. The law of the land has moved quick and hard in the case of Jayalalitha, the charismatic Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. A case of corruption filed against her in 2003 has finally ended up in declaring her a culprit and sentenced to four years of imprisonment and a fine of 100 crore rupees.
The general perception in our country is that powerful ministers are seldom dealt with according to the law of the land and they find ways and means of circumventing the law. Politics and especially the vote bank politics help the indicted public personalities to distort the law and escape scot free. However, this has not worked in the case of Jayalalitha. Whether she goes for appeal to higher court or not is not what we are interested in. What we actually notice is that if really politics is kept away from influencing judiciary, this country will be able to overcome corruption, bribery and scams. That is a lesson which all political parties should learn and put into practice. Jayalalitha has been a political leader of eminence and has enjoyed the support of the majority of her voters. That is something at its place. But law takes its course and it is blind to superficialities. In a democratic country she has the freedom to knock at the highest level of justice. But at the same time she has to submit to the diktat of the law. Let this principle of enforcing justice according to the law be the guiding principle for all the organs of the State.