The Theatre Of The Absurd?

Most of the statements made in this editorial, including the header above, don’t belong to me, even though I wish they did! ? These thoughts and words belong to some of the most prolific social commentators/ thinkers of our times who I happened to watch and hear on a forum discussion on CNN IBN. The topic was Rahul Bhatt and David Headley. Voice and words, theirs, sentiment, exactly mine. I couldn’t have put it better than them, so why waste time?

Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt’s son Rahul Bhatt and his friend Vilas volunteered to help the investigating agencies with crucial information on the David Headley case and fell in between the slats. Maa main desh ka sachcha naagrik banoonga? Slap! Slap!

The kids deserved better. An anguished Mahesh Bhatt cried out at the CNN IBN show, “It was Rahul and his friend Vilas who walked into the office of the Head of Crime in the Mumbai Police department and said that maybe David Headley was the same person that they ran into two years ago and that changed the course of their investigation. The authorities in Delhi were clueless till then. And when the Intelligence experts came they privately thanked us and said this was the right thing to do because we guys were groping in the dark. Is this how you reward two young men who have done what the nation prescribes to everyone? I think no. They imposed a code of silence on us and then selectively leaked out the information to suit their own designs. I am outraged. I am hurt, betrayed by the authorities who are actually supposed to handle this case with great sensitivity. It is the duty of the investigative agencies to come clean and tell the truth in a shriller voice that can be heard.” Duties of the investigative agencies! Have we heard that anywhere before?

As Pooja Bhatt rightfully pointed out, David Headley officially gets a visa, gets into the country, scans the cities, moves around freely, gets a house, enrols himself in a gym while the Intelligence sits on its butt. It is left up to the FBI to ring the alarm bells after which two unsuspecting youths come forward and voluntarily offer valuable clues. And what happens to these two young conscientious citizens? They suddenly need a clean chit to lead a normal life!

What disturbed senior lawyer Harish Salve was that “the impression which has been indelibly created is that these boys are up to something.” Salve expressed his dismay vociferously. “We look more and more like a lynch mob and less and less like a democracy. All you need is the police to cast aspersions on somebody and we are ready to beat up people. We are becoming a country of gestures, we are not delivering results. How many convictions have we opted? It is the theatre of the absurd.”

“Why should we harass two citizens who have behaved correctly?” Social scientist Shiv Vishwanathan demanded to know. “In fact, I am surprised why no one asks whether the Home Secretary should get a clean chit or why no one asks whether the CBI or the other investigating agencies should get away so easily. This is a serial of stupidity, stupidity of investigation, and the intelligence of citizenship succumbing to the stupidity of an investigation.”

Sadly for these brave youngsters, Vilas has already lost his job at the Moksh Gym and Rahul is losing his mind wondering what wrong he did.

And far away somewhere Mr Amitabh Bachchan is upset about Shah Rukh Khan not responding to his birthday wishes.

What planet is it where we live these days?