mustache. He had summoned the conductor to help him open the rather
puzzling window that all Tamil Nadu buses seem to have. The conductor
not feeling in a helpful mood shrugged his shoulders and went back to
his conversation with the driver. I motioned that I would try and
having had the same difficulty with Tamil Nadu bus windows earlier
managed to open it for him. Delighted the man grabbed my hand and
kissed it repeatedly with his very hairy mustache. His thanks poured
out in Tamil and it quickly became very clear that significant
communication was not going to happen.
Hours later with a huge urge to communicate he pulled out some
paperwork from his bag and handed them to me with a big smile as he
pointed at himself. The papers were photocopies of court documents.
They were written only in English. The earliest entry was dated 1976
and documented him taking not permitted leave of 21 days while
employed as a police officer resulting in his dismissal. In 1988 he
stood for the first time in front of a court to unsuccessfully defend
himself. Now in 2010 his next court date had arrived. Thirty four
years and this case still hadn't been resolved. No wonder he looked so
dejected. Such is the state of the Indian courts. It takes decades to
clear up even the most trivial court case.
In 2002 over 3/4 of Indians in jail were waiting trial (in some states
it is 90%). A staggering number of prison inmates awaiting trial have
already been imprisoned longer than the most rigorous sentence that
they could ever be given for the offense they are alleged to have
committed. Another good reason to avoid Indian jails.
--
****************************************************
Tyson Brooks
In India
Photos
http://picasaweb.google.com/tysonbrooks/
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