ISSUES AND CONCERNS

IDEA OF JUSTICE: FROM TARUN TEJPAL TO FRANCO MULAKKAL G. Gopakumar, a judge of an additional session court in Kottayam, Kerala, an important hub of various church denominations, has reportedly acquitted disgraced, defrocked former catholic bishop Franco Mulakkal. He was an accused of repeatedly raping a nun under his charge. Judge G. Gopakumar cited, failure of the prosecution to establish the crime, for the eventual acquittal of Franco Mulakkal by the additional session court in Kottayam. Reportedly, this Franco Mulakkal is the first Catholic Bishop in the country to have faced trial on the rape charge. It was on 27th June 2018, the victim of Bishop Mulakkal’s lust had complained at the Kuravilangad Police station in Kottayam, that she was sexually assaulted 14 times by this bishop between May, 2014 and 2016. Some 5 nuns took to fasting under the aegis of Joint Christian Council (JCC), demanding arrest of Franco Mulakkal. JCC had blamed authorities in Kerala for no-action despite many

NEW DELHI: Has the democracy gone berserk in India? It’s a strange and crazy question. But frankly India is slipping badly in ethical standard needed for a vibrant democracy. It is demo-crazy or else nothing can explain why there are close to 5000 cases pending against MPs and MLAs in the highest court of the land. A New Delhi datelined print media report informs that amicus curiae, senior advocate Vijay Hansaria has informed the Supreme Court that as of December 2021, there are 4984 cases pending against sitting and former MPs and MLAs. Reportedly it was 4110 in December 2018, now increased by over 20% since then. According to Sr. Advocate Vijay Hansaria, the author of the report to the Apex Court, shockingly there are cases pending for more than three decades against these people's elected representatives. Report informs that of the 4984 pending cases, 3999 cases were against MLAs of which 1675 were against former legislators, leaving 2324 against sitting MLAs. Interestingly in 1