The Times of India has been tracking a very interesting story over the last few days. A Legislative Assembly (MLA) member was caught red handed for accepting a bribe of INR 500K in cash to settle a civil dispute. Ever since this MLA has been caught, he’s been on the run. In a bid to avoid being arrested, this MLA has been hospital hopping!

His misfortune or otherwise, the heart hospital that he went to seeking cover first said he was perfectly fit and said here were no grounds to admit him. The MLA then developed a severe headache and then went to another hospital where he has been admitted. This is the National Health of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) where he is now housed on the stated pretext that he is unwell!

In such a blatant act of exploiting the loop holes in the law, this MLA, who has no way to get out of the mess that he is in, is now in hospital. The organization that caught him is complaining saying that this time enables a man in power to tamper evidence.

This is certainly no isolated incident – the fact that the SEBI is moving the high court to seek access to someone who himself has confessed that he siphoned out money, the fact that the state governments of both Andhra and Karnataka took their own sweet time to act on cases where there was immense pressure to act and did all but bare little, the fact that someone who has been convicted for attacking parliament is still alive, and let’s not forget the story of the captured militant from 26/11 who’s still yet to have a formal charge sheet registered against him… the list is just endless.

When the principles of the Indian constitution were being formed, we choose to mirror “best practices” from the land that ruled us for a long time – the British. If the laws we incorporated were on the principles of natural justice, where has natural justice gone suddenly?

While our laws badly need a re-look, I think institutions like hospitals need to act a little more responsibly. If a hospital is intended to be a cause to support a noble profession like medicine, who does their act to house someone on “medical grounds” go in line with their stated cause? It’s easy to argue a case the other way saying we are doing our jobs. If that’s the case, the yard sticks have to be the same and hospitals need to accept a common man who goes to hospital with a burn or an accident. It is in situations like these that hospitals gets on to the moral high ground and says that an FIR is needed for us to accept this person as this is “police case”.

We all know how frustrating these acts are. It’s time for change… but who is listening???

Image Credit: Atomic Jeep

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