Ensconced in ivory towers, learned judges of India’s much-proclaimed independent judiciary seem to have lost touch with ground reality. They seem to utterly lack the quality of mercy for millions of accused or litigants suffering the weight of the world’s most uncaring justice system.

A glaring example of the laws’ delay and persecution of prominent anti-establishment intellectuals is the continuous prosecution of Tarun Tejpal, author and promoter-editor of the print magazine Tehelka. Way back in 2013, at a revel in sunny Goa, Tejpal is alleged to have ‘raped’ a colleague in a hotel lift. Egged on by woke leftie feminists, the Goa government — not the victim — filed a criminal case against Tejpal. Almost a decade later in 2021, a session’s court in Mapusa (Goa) acquitted him. But the Goa government appealed the verdict.

Currently, the appeal is being heard in the Bombay high court. Instead of letting the matter rest, the BJP government of Goa is still persecuting Tejpal — ruined by sky-high legal costs — for an ill-advised indiscretion. The type of offence for which Tejpal is being hounded are unchecked criminal offences occurring daily in public trains and busses plying in BJP-ruled states. Perhaps they should address this issue as assiduously.