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Arduous road to exoneration

The acquittal of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi in the disproportionate assets case is another reminder of the value of the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. For years, Mr. Prasad was demonised by his political detractors as an epitome of corruption and of everything that was wrong in backward Bihar. Although he still faces six cases in the fodder scam, he can with some justification now claim that he was from the beginning a victim of the politics of allegations and insinuations. With the Special Central Bureau of Investigation court pronouncing him innocent, the fodder scam cases too are likely to be weakened. The "disproportionate assets" of Rs.46 lakh were to have been linked to the "ill-gotten gains" from the fodder scam. In the name of cleaning up the political system, leaders of most political parties have tended to not only discredit their rivals the moment a corruption charge emerges but also call for laws to disqualify them from contesting elections to the legislatures. Mr. Prasad himself had to resign as the Chief Minister of Bihar in 1997 in the wake of allegations in the fodder scam. The dangers of such politics are self-evident. In a system where, in practice, both the investigating and the prosecuting agencies follow the dictates of those in political office, those in power are only too likely to resort to filing charges and framing cases against their political opponents. It is an imperative of sound political practice that a person against whom a credible case of wrongdoing is made out and charges are framed should not cling to office. That belongs to the realm of political morality that all parties would do well to follow. Yet any law that forces persons facing charges out of office before a fair trial lays itself open to the risk of manipulation. In a multi-party system as in India, where different parties are in power in the Centre and in the States, such a law is even more vulnerable to misuse.

Mr. Prasad's journey from being an accused to being exonerated has been a long and arduous one indeed, with not inconsiderable political and personal costs. With his walking away free from the case, the United Progressive Alliance Government can breathe easy, at least for now. The Government could not have afforded a fresh casualty so soon after Union Minister Shibu Soren was found guilty in a murder case and had to resign. Once their leaders are out of the Council of Ministers, UPA constituents would have reduced stakes in the continuance of the Government. The Rashtriya Janata Dal of Mr. Prasad is a crucial ally of the UPA, and the last thing the Congress, as the head of the UPA, would have wanted was a court verdict that had the potential to upset the political equations.

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