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The 2G spectrum allocation scam case stands witness to the institutional decline of India. It provides a perfect example of how an immature democracy can fall victim to the forces of populist retribution against the high and mighty. The dubious enquiry being carried out into the spectrum allocation is nothing but a thinly veiled attempt on the part of the powers that appear to be taking action against those projected by our officious media as the villainous embodiments of corporate greed. Is it surprising then, that the niceties of law and the principles of justice are being consigned to the dustbin?

The latest act in the tragic-farcical drama of the 2g scam case is the testimony of CBI’s star witness Aseervatham Achary, a former aide of A.Raja, against the accused.

An important question that arises after Achary’s cross examination is ‘What is the credibility of witness Achary -who, inspite of being a simple stenographer with A.Raja, had political ambitions of becoming Minister of Parliament, & is also believed to be having many properties hugely disproportionate to his income?’

Day after day, we have seen and read zealous media reports on how Mr Achary spills the beans on the former telecom minister’s meetings with his co-accused, such as Kanimozhi, Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka and Sanjay Chandra.

But what are the implications of it all? Achary, in his cross examination, also revealed many more big names in the list of visitors to A.Raja – Sunil Bharti Mittal (Airtel), Anil Ambani (Reliance Communication), Ashim Ghosh (Vodafone), Sunita Reddy (Aircel), Anil Sardana (TaTa), Rajeev Mehrotra (Shyam Systema), Mahendra Nahata (HFCL/Datacom), B.K. Modi (Spice Group), Shiv Shankaran (S-tel).

Point to note is that all the representatives of companies Achary mentioned above as to have met with A.Raja are also 2G/3G beneficiaries. Does it imply then that these companies were also part of the 2g spectrum allocation conspiracy?

Are we trying to suggest that in a modern democratic state, industrialists are not supposed to meet a minister? A minister is above all a public functionary. It is expected of him to hear the views of a broad spectrum of people about policy matters. Prominent industrialists like Ratan Tata, Cyrus Mistry, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Mukesh Ambani & more have met with our politicians including A Raja & our Respected Prime Minister Manmohan Singh so many times. Recently Ratan Tata got his successor Cyrus Mistry introduced to many politicians/ministers. It is also believed that Sunil Bharti Mittal met with Prime Minister & his officials in the last months of 2007, which even prompted the Prime Minister to write many letters to A.Raja in the same period (Nov/Dec 2007). Does that mean that these politicians and industrialists are guilty of bribe taking/giving and are involved in some scam? In any case, so many people meet a politician for so many things that the fact of his having met anybody should hardly matter at all, unless these people happen to be hardened criminals, foreign spies, terrorists and other manifestly undesirable elements.

There is nothing to suggest that any of the accused in the 2G scam case fall in the above mentioned categories. It is a sheer desperate attempt to read too much into such meetings and try to establish the fact of a conspiracy or wrongdoing merely on this basis.

The thrust of Achary’s testimony in the 2g scam case is to establish the guilt of the accused merely by mutual association. This is nothing but a crude caricature of the tenets of justice, and ‘guilty by association’ testimony certainly should not be given weightage in the courts of justice.