The Hindu Business Line : The dignity of the House

The Fourth Estate comprises the eyes and ears of the nation and democracy in India cannot survive without its existence and effective functioning. So nothing can be wrong with the sting operations, when the object of the effort is to preserve and protect the dignity of the Houses of Parliament.

WHATEVER DECISION the Lok Sabha takes on the report of the five-member committee set up by it to probe the "cash-for-questions" charges against 10 MPs, it will be worthwhile going through certain portions of the probe's findings, especially those relating to whether the dignity of the House was compromised by the alleged actions of the members concerned.

However, the tenor of the probe's findings is clearly reflected in its recommendation that the House could consider expelling all the ten MPs involved because "the continuance of these members as members of the Lok Sabha will be untenable."

Among other things, the committee said unambiguously: "In view of the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, the committee is of the opinion that the allegations of accepting money by the said members have been established," adding: "The committee further notes that it is difficult to escape the conclusion that accepting money had a direct connection with the work in Parliament."

What this means is that the probe is convinced that the MPs involved are indeed guilty of the wrongdoing they have been charged with.

This is the most important point not merely before the House but also before the entire nation. Representatives of MPs have judged for themselves the veracity or otherwise of the charges levelled against their fellow-members by a section of the media.

The second important point is the probe committee's evaluation of the offence. It says clearly that "such conduct...was unbecoming of members of Parliament and also unethical," calling for "strict action".

And that action is expulsion from the House.

The finality of the committee's view on the matter is adequately reflected in its decision to turn down the request of the MPs under the scanner "to review the entire unedited video footage".

More directly, the committee said: "Having seen the unedited raw footage of Cobrapost.com pertaining to some members, the committee has no valid reason to doubt the authenticity of the video footage."

At the time of writing, it remains to be seen how the Lok Sabha will view the committee's findings, but it is already on record that the BJP has distanced itself from the probe on procedural grounds, namely, that no precedent should be created "by which a member can be expelled from the House without proper procedures being adopted."

Incidentally, the party, which would like the entire issue to be subjected to the rules of privilege, stands to lose as many as five MPs if the expulsion move is accepted.

This issue is, of course, for the Lok Sabha to decide, but there is another aspect of the `sting operation' that needs to be highlighted not merely within the House but also through discussion and debate in the nation at large.

It is that (as reported) the "media had no business to barge into the houses of MPs and offer them bribes."

As the Janata Dal (United) MP, Mr Prabhunath Singh, has been quoted as saying, "anyone who had committed an offence should be punished, but this did not mean that journalists could intrude into MPs' homes with their cameras."

The first point to be noted here is the Speaker's reported stand that the media was just "doing its duty".

Second, the fact remains that the Fourth Estate comprises the eyes and ears of the nation and that, taken as a whole (the pluses outnumbering the minuses by a large margin), democracy in India as it is today cannot survive without its existence and effective functioning.

All this apart, do not revenue intelligence people set traps for suspects and catch them red-handed when the offence is being perpetrated in a contrived setting?

If nothing is wrong with such an action, nothing can be out of place with the media's `sting operations' — especially when the object of the effort is to preserve and protect the dignity of the nation's Houses of Parliament.

Ranabir Ray Choudhury

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