Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Mockery of law

The editorial `Mockery of the law' (May 3) should make the judiciary rethink its priorities before entertaining petitions on frivolous subjects.

The innocuous incident involving American actor Richard Gere and Bollywood's Shilpa Shetty deserved to be dismissed as a playful act, nothing more.

R. Ramachandra Rao,
Hyderabad

* * *

In India, among the most misused of judicial mechanisms are public interest litigation. PILs are filed on every conceivable subject.

Unfortunately, in many instances courts take cognisance of even flimsy petitions and allow the hearing to drag on.

G.M. Rama Rao,
Visakhapatnam

* * *

When actor Khushboo talked about pre-marital sex, a lawsuit was filed; when Suhasini supported Khushboo, a lawsuit was filed.

Now comes another lawsuit against American actor Richard Gere for planting a kiss on Shilpa Shetty.

However, I do not blame the litigants; it is well known that such cases are filed either to intimidate the opponent or to gain fame. Judges who decide to entertain such suits are at fault.

Sriram Varadharajan,
Pasadena, California

* * *

It is unfortunate that most of the actions of our actors and politicians continue to dominate the minds of a majority of our countrymen when there are umpteen issues in our country that demand attention. A way out is for the media to pay scant attention to such incidents. As for Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, his call for burning of all copies of Richard Laine's book will only result in more profits to the author. The publicity over the incident will result in more people reading the work. The most unfortunate aspect of these incidents has been the way in which the judiciary has been forced to waste its time and resources on passing judgments.

Jeevan Kuruvilla,
Vellore

* * *

The editorial has correctly stated that under the rule of law citizens have a legitimate right to expect proper application of the judicial mind in various types of judicial processes. More often than not different rulings are given regarding identical cases.

K.K. Ammannaya,
Udupi

* * *

You have rightly begun the editorial saying "there is something wrong with our legal, moral, and social priorities..." In fact, many things are wrong with our priorities. In our meaningless race in this materialistic world, we are not clear where we are heading and what we are aiming at.

S. Ramani,
Vellore

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