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Restoration of justice

No political system is free from the colourable exercise of power or the commission of honest mistakes, as India knows very well. The cornerstone of a robust democracy lies in its ability to correct itself — and quickly. The saga of Mohammed Haneef has had its share of twists and turns, but the ordeal of the Indian doctor, whose Australian work visa was revoked after he was falsely charged with supporting a terrorist organisation, would have been much worse in the ab sence of a swift and impartial justice delivery system. The Brisbane Federal Court’s decision to quash the Australian government’s revocation of his visa on “character” grounds is the latest victory for Dr. Haneef — against whom all charges in connection with the failed terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow were dropped after the prosecution admitted serious mistakes were made in rushing the case to court. In a ruling that is a blow to the Liberal government in Canberra, the court held that Australian Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews had applied the “wrong test” and fell into “jurisdictional error” while cancelling Dr. Haneef’s visa. It also ordered the Australian government to pay the Indian doctor’s legal expenses.

The circumstances under which the work visa was revoked were extraordinary. The decision was taken soon after a magistrate had granted Dr. Haneef bail and it was followed up by an order that he should stay in detention until the trial began in the ‘terrorism’ case. Mr. Andrews compounded his egregious conduct by refusing to restore Dr. Haneef’s visa even after the charges were dropped. Not surprisingly, there was widespread suspicion that, with a general election round the corner, John Howard’s Liberal government was cynically using the Haneef issue as a security scare to shore up its flagging political fortunes. Even if the Brisbane court’s ruling was made essentially on a finding of jurisdictional error, it does seem like the final exoneration of a man who suffered under Australia’s draconian anti-terrorism laws; was victimised by a shoddy police investigation; and suffered harassment by a government acting in high-handed and insensitive manner. Mr. Andrews’s assertion that he cancelled the visa “in the national interest and I stand by that decision” and the decision to appeal against the Brisbane court’s verdict suggest that the John Howard government is unrepentant and defiant in this matter, evidently for political ends. The silver lining is the self-corrective nature of the justice system. The prosecuting authorities owned up once they discovered they had made a grave error of judgment and now the court has rendered justice by restoring Dr. Haneef’s work visa.

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