THE INDIAN KIDNAPPING OF TWO INNOCENT ITALIAN MARINES - THE STORY OF THE DOG WITH THREE AND A HALF LEGS (Italian version to follow later today or tomorrow – Versione Italiana a seguire entro domani) March 17, 2014 Stefano Tronconi As we are all eagerly awaiting for the next Indian Supreme Court hearing on the case of the Italian marines to take place, I take the opportunity to share a recent exchange of messages with an Indian friend. I assume that most of you are familiar both with the case of the two (innocent) Italian Marines detained in India since February 15, 2012 and with the case of Devyani Khobragade, a former junior employee of Indian embassy in New York City. The messages have been edited and rearranged in a limited way for the sake of posting them. (…..omissis …..) Guptan: So, India is again fretting and fuming on the Devyani Khobragade case. The US has, to the utter consternation of India, made the indictment and issued a warrant to arrest her. That will not happen as she is now in India, but she has been made a fugitive from US Law. India is threatening that bilateral ties will be affected and all. As if the bilateral ties are only for the benefit of the US and not for India as well. India is ready to sacrifice the nation for the sake of a corrupt employee. Stefano: Kurshid (the foreign minister of India) is devoting so much time and energy to this Khobragade case even now that she is in India ..... Is this the priority of Indias foreign policy? And how hypocrital is this attitude considering how India has dealt with the case of the two Italian marines (who contrary to what appears to be the case with Devyani are completely innocent!)? I guess the Mahatma Gandhi is turning in his grave looking at how his political heirs are governing India … However, I am personally quite optimistic that this time the Indian Supreme Court will find a way to send the Marines back to Italy. The Supreme Court has already contributed its ample share to make a mess of this case. Guptan: I liked very much your I guess the Mahatma Gandhi is turning in his grave looking at how his political heirs are governing India. I would say that he had his second death in his grave seeing all this. About court rulings in general I am telling. The authorities who make a selection of the judges should do their best to see that the judges are as good as possible. And unfortunately in India it does not happen. The classical example was the judge in Kerala who stated that the alleged shooting could be considered as a terrorist action when asked by the defense counsel for the marines. Similarly, if the Supreme Court had applied a little more sense and taken a firm step to solve this problem it could have been already solved or at least taken out the present mess. When the Indian government was dilly dallying with all sorts of propositions, the Court could have ordered that the marines should at least be given more liberal bail condition and allowed to go to Italy and appear in court when India was ready to go ahead with the case. Delays like this here in India happen all the time and many innocent people spend their life in jail for no fault of theirs, but due to the inefficiency of the system. It si really pitiable. When it is a matter between India and another nation the Court and India should have taken a little more decency in dealing with it. We have a saying Atitho Deva meaning guest is equivalent to God. Nowadays India never does it in practice. I was always of the opinion that the Marines case and the Devyani case show the double standard of our government to the whole world. Stefano: Concerning the issue of judges and justice, the situation in Italy is almost as bad as in India (before the marines case I would have plainly said as bad as). The problem is that in any democratic country where politics is weaker than it should be (usually due to incompentent and corrupt political classes like in Italy and in India) and cannot therefore fulfill its role, the judiciary tends to fill the vacuum and operate in a situation of power abuse in areas well outside its mandate. The end result is usually worse than the original bad that would have been attained by politicians as judges naturally tend to have a very limited view of the world. Guptan: I saw one sight which made me think of how India is behaving with respect to Italy and to the US. I go to a shop early in the morning to get the milk for the day. Today while I was returning home after getting the milk I saw this. There is a dog with a defective fore leg which is always at the same street corner. It has made the corner its place of residence. There there is a stand of three-wheeler taxis the drivers of which feed it occasionally. The residential area where we live is full of stray dogs like this. They are a menace for anyone riding on two wheelers. These dogs very often take a dislike to them and bark and chase them making it a hell for them. These dogs do this to cars also. But drivers in cars are not bothered. This morning this three and half legged dog started to chase a car and followed it for some ten of fifteen feet and returned to its place fully satisfied that it had done its duty. The driver drove away. When the same happens with two wheeler rider he has to manuveur dangerously to avoid getting bitten. I thought that the dog is behaving like India. When it barks and chase a bike (Italy) it can cause a lot of problems for Italy. When it does the same to a car (the US) it can do practically nothing. India can cause problem for weak ones but with strong ones it can hardly do anything except barking. Stefano: I think your real life dog story is a perfectly fair analogy to describe the reality of what has happened! Ill share it.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 13:26:53 +0000