INDIAN JUDICIARY

How is Indian judiciary? A recent Supreme Court judgement finds out an unholy nexus between a former Kolkata High Court judge and former Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu.

The judge in question is Bhagabati Prasad Banerjee who secured a four-katha plot in upmarket Salt Lake area in 1987 in exchange of a verdict in favor of the Government.

When a litigation involving the government's irregularities in allotment of Salt Lake plots came up in his court, he initially stopped the allotment, but just after four days, he modified his order, allowing only the chief minister to use his dicretion to allot the plots.

So, when the next list of allotment came in, the judge's name was on the top of it. It's now learnt that he had practically bargained for a plot while he was hearing the case.

A perfect example of "give and take"!

If it hurts you, it is because a judge is involved in it.

Has justice any chance if the judiciary is corrupt?
MRINAL BOSE

SECOND COMING

So, George W. Bush stays on in the Oval office, despite predictions and expectations to the contrary. But this time he has to rule over a sharply divided US and the world.

No doubt Bush is manifold empowered this time, but this time he will be under a scanner from people of his own country as well as those of the world.

But would this make any difference to his ways? Would he mend his practices particularly in his foreign policy? One's specially concerned about his strategy of pre-emptive strikes on countries, which he considers to be a threat in his warped imagination.

Osama and his ilk must have been glad and reassured over Bush's victory. Sure enough,they didn't want the face of their enemy to be changed. What looms now is a renewed and fiercer war between the two sides with inevitable ramifications.

Like Bush, terrorism also gets a fresh lease of life at this juncture of history.
MRINAL BOSE