An_Indian
26-Aug-2021
4245
Shashi Tharoor was hounded for years by the CBI. His crime? Belonging to the political opposition
Shashi Tharoor and his wife. After her death, the CBI pursued him relentlessly
Shashi Tharoor was hounded for years by the CBI. His crime? Belonging to the political opposition
Shashi Tharoor and his wife. After her death, the CBI pursued him relentlessly
Shashi Tharoor was hounded for years by the CBI. His crime? Belonging to the political opposition
Shashi Tharoor and his wife. After her death, the CBI pursued him relentlessly
The CBI has become a tool of the political rulers. When Congress was in power, it pursued members of the BJP. Today, it is used against Congress. What has become of institutional neutrality?
Seven and a half years after his wife’s suicide, Shashi Tharoor — a Congress MP, former UN diplomat, and acclaimed writer — has been cleared of any involvement in her death.
Sunanda Pushkar and Shashi Tharoor had been married since 2010, and lived very much in the public eye – a glamourous, successful couple who appeared to be living a romantic dream. Later, there were rumours that their relationship was becoming more troubled, and soon afterwards Pushkar was found dead in her room in a five-star hotel in Delhi in January 2014.
At first, her death was treated as suicide, but before long the Delhi police came to suspect that it was a murder case. Even now, it is unclear how she died.
Then, in 2018, the CBI charged Mr Tharoor with abetment to suicide and cruelty to his wife. He denied the charge – and the prosecution was never able to provide any evidence to support the accusation. Yet it took another three years before his name was finally cleared, and a judge ruled that none of the charges against him had any basis.
The real question here is not about the relationship between Tharoor and his wife; that is a personal matter. The real question is a political one: why did the CBI choose to hound Mr Tharoor for over seven years, refusing to let the case go despite the lack of evidence?
Cases against Congress members
Former finance minister P Chidambaram
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In a very different case in 2017, the CBI charged former finance minister P Chidambaram with corruption, forgery, and cheating. During his term in office, the CBI claimed, Chidambaram had taken bribes and been involved in money laundering.
It was a very serious allegation to make against a Congress MP who had served several terms as minister of finance. Yet Mr Chidambaram, by that time in his mid-seventies, was arrested in 2019 and served over three months in Delhi’s Tihar jail before being granted bail.
The trial is still pending, and Mr Chidambaram has not yet been cleared of charges.
Any allegations of corruption and embezzlement should certainly be pursued – yet so many are not. Why has the CBI chosen to focus so much of their resources on this particular case, while failing to investigate numerous charges against other politicians?
"A caged parrot"
The CBI simply repeats the words of its master, whether BJP or Congress
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The one thing that P Chidambaram and Shashi Tharoor have in common is that they are both members of parliament for the Congress Party.
This is the reason why both have been subjected to such relentless pursuit. It is less about any alleged crime than the fact that they are member of the political opposition. The BJP is ready to use any excuse to vilify its enemies – and, if possible, to have them imprisoned.
Yet they are only able to do this because the CBI, far from being an independent and politically neutral investigative body, has become a tool of the ruling party – a “caged parrot”.
That means that it has become deeply dysfunctional. An institution that should uphold justice does just the reverse: it perpetuates injustice, a vehicle for political revenge manipulated by those in power.
The process is the punishment
Shashi Tharoor has not been allowed to mourn his wife in peace
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The BJP is not wholly responsible for the current toothless state of the CBI. It has always been so: throughout its long history, it has never convicted anyone from the ruling government. It was intended to be an independent body responsible for holding people to account – and that includes everyone in power, regardless of their political affiliation.
When the Congress Party was in power, their own members were safe. If they are re-elected at some point in the future, today’s BJP rulers should make certain that all their accounts are in scrupulous order. Congress has no qualms about using the CBI to pursue its enemies, just as the BJP is doing today. It is no longer a question of justice. It is a question of power.
There was never any evidence linking Shashi Tharoor to the death of his wife – yet the CBI hounded him for over seven years, in what he described as a “long nightmare.” There was no purpose to this other than the persecution of a political opponent.
In his statement issued after the final verdict, Mr Tharoor also noted that “In our justice system, the process is often the punishment.” This, perhaps, is one of the central problems to the justice system in India today. The “process” should be a relatively short period of investigation and trial to prove either innocence or guilt; and the accused should always be presumed innocent, until unquestionable evidence is provided to the contrary.
The reality is very different. Hundreds of thousands of people in India are currently in prison without trial. Others, like Mr Tharoor, suffer years of vilification in the media. All because the legal system moves so slowly – and because the CBI focuses its energies on the enemies of government rather than the real criminals.
The CBI must claim its indpendence
Alok Verma lost his post as head of the CBI when he chose to investigate the ruling party
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The system itself needs to change. At present, the highest-ranking officers in the CBI are appointed by the ruling government. While this practice continues, it can never be considered a politically neutral institution.
Take the case of Alok Verma, the former head of the CBI who was dismissed by the Modi government in October 2018. He had chosen to investigate complaints into irregularities involved in the government’s recent acquisition of fighter jets – something the government preferred to keep quiet.
Verma contested his dismissal, and as a result was reinstated several months later. Yet the following day he was removed from office again, this time – since he could not be dismissed - transferred to the post of director-general of the Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards. He refused the transfer, and resigned.
This example shows that a change of leadership within the CBI is not enough. The entire system must change. If the CBI is to be fully independent, its leaders must be elected from within the organisation itself – not appointed by the government. Nor should the government have the power to dismiss them.
Changing the system in this way would mean a revolution from within the ranks of the CBI, demanding real autonomy. It could still happen – and it could become one of the institutions that save Indian democracy.
