In India, misusing authority to engage in corruption is such an easy game to play that politicians and civil servants have come around to believing in making the most of their situation. Since people at the upper end of the scale are often involved, they have no face to get tough on their low-level subordinates, who routinely harass ordinary people for even small bribes.
The reason for this sorry state of affairs is the poor quality of those who get elected, the absence of accountability at various stages of the administration, and, most importantly, the excruciatingly slow judicial process and the absence of deterrence that this implies.
The sentencing of four-time Haryana chief minister and Indian National Lok Dal supremo Om Prakash Chautala, his son Ajay, his former political secretary Sher Singh (all three MLAs) and two IAS officers who worked with Mr Chautala when he was last CM to 10 years in prison each comes as a breath of fresh air. This Chautala-led gang took hefty bribes from 3,000 junior teachers — essentially poor people — appointed at the time.
It is hard to recall any top politician being sent to jail for such a long term for corruption. This is not a case of political misuse of the CBI. The deterrence value of the judgment would have been greater had it been delivered more swiftly. Unless the high court negates the verdict, the penalised individuals won’t be able to contest elections for six years. That is a wonderful object lesson.