My experiments with untruth

folks,

Irony of ironies that my 1st post begins on a subject like this. It's a curious case of a judge, a union minister, an lawyer (guess who) and a young lass called Dhanya Rajendran of TIMES NOW news channel whose defiance of the judiciary in pursuit of truth stunned me.

On 30.6.09 the Times of India reported as follows,

In a stunning disclosure, a Madras High Court judge told an open court on Monday that a Union minister had called and tried to influence him to grant anticipatory bail to a medical student and his doctor-father in a CBI case concerning a forged marksheet.Justice R Regupathi threatened to write to the government and the Prime Minister about the matter if the advocate appearing in the case failed to submit a written unconditional apology by Tuesday. "A Union minister talked to me. He sought to influence me to release this petitioner on anticipatory bail," Justice Regupathi told startled advocates and officers in the court. He did not name the minister.

The hearing began on Monday with Justice Regupathi saying he was not inclined to grant any relief and pointing out to their counsel that the pleas had already been rejected by him earlier on June 15. He said he would reject it this time as well. To this, the advocate complained that the judge was passing orders on the basis of the submission of prosecutors alone. An enraged Justice Regupathi, noting that most of the orders passed by him since morning were in favour of the petitioners, said pressure was being exerted on him in this case. "A Union minister TALKED to me about the matter," he said. "You yourself know everything." The judge said unless an unconditional apology was tendered, he would incorporate every detail in his order. He said he would also write to the Prime Minister and the government about the pressure being exerted on him.

Thereafter the Madras High Court was abuzz with details of the courtroom bickering between the lawyer and the judge. Speculations continued about who the minister was, with the DMK even going on to claim that if he belonged to the DMK, the party would take action against him. The 1.7.09 edition of the Times of India claimed in an article titled "who is the mantri", pointed-out surrogately that the minister was none other than the DMK minister A.Raja. Even Jayalalitha claimed that it did not require super-human intelligence to know that it was A.Raja.

On 1.7.09, the TOI reported that the Chief Justice of India KG.Balakrishnan had claimed,

"It is a gross impropriety for a politician or anyone to call up the judge regarding a pending case. It is an interference in the course of justice. We in judiciary do not brook any interference in the course of justice. " Justice Regupathi declined to answer Dhanya's telephonic queries, and even as former attorney General Soli Sorabjee demanded that the judge should name the minister, A.Raja denied any involvement.

Then the U-turn happened on 6.7.09. Chief Justice KG.Balakrishnan claimed that Justice Regupathy had written to Gokhale the Chief Justice of Madras, which was forwarded to him, and that the said letter clarified that,

(1) The minister did NOT really talk to him (Regupathi),

(2) The advocate representing the bail-seekers had HELD OUT A PHONE to him saying that the minister was on the line and wanted him to grant anticipatory bail to his clients,

(3) That Justice Regupathi refused to take the phone and was, therefore, not really spoken to by the minister.

Now was that a googly ? Which version do you believe ? Regupathy-Raja combines or Gokhale-KG Balakrishnan co-productions.