SUSPENDED OFFICERS DON'T CRY: The Aftermath

So the corrupt officer who was apparently asking for too much got caught eventually and..... hang on, you do know how it happened right??

No.... well take a look at the previous post 

Moving on so by now you know that a corrupt officer Mr X was caught in a trap set by the Anti-Corruption department because he didn't stipulate to the previously agreed bribe amount and tried to extract more.

Anyway, people say that Mr.X was crying like a baby in front of the team and was then taken to custody immediately. He didn't make bail the very next day and it was imperative that he made bail in the next 72 hours because according to the Civil Service rules of the state, that officer automatically gets terminated if he/she spends 3 or more nights in jail. So eventually the case was filed, he got terminated as he couldn't make bail and suddenly we saw Mr.X in a whole world of mess.

At this point some of you might feel, "he had it coming" and "more power to the anti corruption department",but please hold on to your horses. In India the judiciary has a peculiar motto "Innocent until proven guilty", the idea behind it is that its better to let go 10 perpetrators than punish an innocent bloke. This is not technically and entirely justifiable but when you put into perspective the massive population of the country where there are an entire plethora of broken laws and crimes being committed than this ideology may not eliminate all the bad apples but won't hurt the good ones too.

So the court proceedings started in the District Sessions court where Mr.X got a fancy advocate because ....why not. The Anti corruption team had the evidences and the witnesses, including the contractor who Mr. X tried to fleece (read the  previous post ).

so all in all a solid front was put forward with all the witness corroborating the chain of events leading to Mr. X's indictment. Mr.X had realised that things don't seem that bright for him , so as soon as the District Sessions court ruled it against him, he was quick in action to get a stay on his sentence. So the law clock was reset and all these things have to be presented against in front of the High Court.

At this point one needs to understand that how the convoluted pattern of the law favored the alleged and it took almost 2 years for the District Sessions Court to hold him accountable which had given Mr.X the opportunity to gauge the direction of the judgement and take a pre-emptive action by getting a stay order. Although X is not out of the woods yet but he is getting enough leeway to fight for another day and in the judicial world , one day means more than just a day.

PC(Google Images)

So by this time Mr.X has had his resources drained by a considerable amount with no hopes of getting his name cleared as of now. But he has one advantage over the Anti Corruption department,yes I said advantage. The terminated Mr.X has literally no skills, talents or the fortitude to succeed anywhere else through sheer qualifications hence a government job is his only known abode. So for him getting reinstated is not just a matter of pride and dignity but a matter of life and death. No matter how evil of a government officer he is, he still holds responsibility of a father and a husband so for him there is just no other option but to fight till the end whereas the Anti Corruption department is doing a menial daily job and the witnesses have better things to do then go through the ordeal for testifying against a culprit twice.

So the High Court proceedings started and by this timne Mr.X had mended his way with the contractor(the prime witness), the Anti-Corruption department and his parent department as well. The proceedings were stretched at first, but ultimately the delay was going to drain his hard-bribe-earned money incessantly. Eventually the case ultimately grew weak because with time it had to, and the high court gave the judgement this time in favour of Mr.X to get reinstated.

At this point you might be thinking that how could our justice system let such a simple, open and shut case get completely overturned letting a corrupt officer, caught red-handed simply walk away. Well trust me this is absolutely true and some seasoned government officials could vouch for the fact that this incoming-outgoing is a part of being an officer.

PC( Google Images)

Now you must be wondering that with the High Court order in his hand  everything is back to normal. Mr.X thought so too, he was elated with the judgement and informed everyone in our department that he's going to be back soon. However there was one last twist in this story, just because you have a High Court order doesn't mean that the Government would take swift and necessary action to reinstate you and pay you back. No, because the people who would carry out the formality of putting up a letter, getting it signed by the higher officials and then type a whole new order for you , are actually just like Mr.X; the only difference being , they haven't been touched till now.

The excitement and happiness which Mr.X had, could be seen draining away with each of his failed visit. The staff at the ministry were quite blatantly ignoring him and telling him to come back later. Mr.X knew the drill so offered a hefty sum for their efforts, but sometimes people just like to watch you squeal don't they. Its just the sweetest desires of every person to see someone implore and beg for something ,who they think totally deserve it. Meanwhile the people from our department were teasing him that, maybe the High Court order had a spelling mistake or you took it the wrong department. Its ok to feel for Mr.X a bit, after all in the eyes of the law he was an innocent citizen who deserved his seat back. One fine day Mr.X went to the clerk at the ministry and straight up asked him if he was going to get his job done or not, the clerk again tried procrastinating and on hearing it he opened the office's window and was about to jump from the 6th floor of the building. He announced to the entire staff that this clerk is to be held responsible for everything that happens from now on, and.... it worked. People rushed to get him off the window and calmed him down. Offered him some water and then later that day Mr.X was given the coveted order he so vehemently desired.
That I believe was the most apt punishment which Mr.X desired, not to undermine the 4-5 years of the legal tussle but there is something about the finish line in sight. It just hurts too much to lose so much over so little.

So anyway last year Mr.X finally got reinstated and fortunately I was present at the Head office at that time. I saw a calm, shy and soft spoken man grinning at times who was just happy, finally. For a moment I thought that maybe justice was served finally and that a responsible and honest officer came out of the end of all this.

Three days later he was back at his usual tone and wit, demanded a transfer to a district of his choice and the contractors are complaining to the head office that Mr.X is trying to extract every penny worth of his ordeal which he so fittingly deserved. 

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SUSPENDED OFFICERS DON'T CRY

One of the perks of being in a Government job is the Stability factor. Basically it means that you might be asked questions regarding your incompetence but you will never be held accountable for your inefficiency, laziness or the fact that you simply don't care about the coveted government job you fought tooth and nail for. The idea is to prevail a sense of security among the officers so that they don't tremble in fear in implementing the policies laid down by the government, however as most things do in India, the Cobra effect gets activated when any policy is laid down by the lawmakers for prevention of any mishaps. 

But all is not that bad, there are anti-corruption laws and regulations which may exact severe penalties and punishments if found guilty. Although you might think that the judiciary itself gets walked by a snail in terms of pace, there is some truth to the fact that the Anti-Corruption departments do trap a lot of these bad apples which get media coverage as well, in order to set an example.

I am here to take you through one such case that took place in our department which actually tells a lot about the aftermath of asserting charges on a Government officer. This particular officer ,let him be X had a knack for being upfront in his dealings. X didn't care nor dreaded anyone despite not being that high in ranks.It was X's strong understanding that the job is permanent in nature hence the worst outcome of these "under the table" dealings, which were not that under the table, might get publicized at the most and X was right. There were hardly any people who ever got trapped in any corruption cases in the department got suspended at the most where you get almost 50% salary and if the Department finds nothing in order to charge you(which they don't) then you get reinstated after a few months;plus you get the backpay.

PC- hydnews.net

So X had no reason to worry logically and his insubordination put into the mix made him virtually untouchable. This was not only known to the people within the department but also to the contractors who had to go through X for their pertinent work.

All this was going fine, X had new cars, land, flats and everything else which added more vitriol to his dealings with everyone whether it was personal or professional. Now the thing with getting caught in a corruption case is that everybody is fine as long as you take the tacitly agreed price of your conscience and even the Anti-Corruption people know that, the problem arises when you suddenly start asking for an astronomical figure and start moving the goal post further. The normal "rate" is fixed , depending on your stature and the historical rhythm set by the "has-beens", but if somebody, like in our case X,tries to disrupt the established order then its bound to turn some watchful eyes your way.

X got a bit greedy and had started asking for a larger sum than usual for a simple signature on a file. This triggered unrest among the people who then went to the superior officers of the department, but X didn't care, he thought that if even one person got their way with him at a lower price then nobody would care about his authority(as a corrupt officer) and he cared a lot about his nefarious reputation.

So one such guy who had some influence over the department and was a seasoned contractor came to X for a mere approval. X saw that as an opportunity to send out a message and upgrade his earnings now that even the big players are kneeling before him. So X asked for a lot and eventually got a lot, but then at the stipulated date of approving their file, X wanted even more. There was a heated debate after which X threw the file in the garbage. The contractor didn't even think twice and went straight to the Anti-Corruption department, where they always do the suspect a favor by informing the highest officials first but X was undeserving of any forecast for the upcoming storm.

PC(Indiatoday.in)

So eventually the Anti-Corruption team laid out a trap where they sent the same contractor back to X , readily agreeing to all of X's demands. A quiet and desolated location is picked where both parties are scheduled to meet for exchanging the cash amount. However the cash is laid with a chemical (Phenolphthalein if I'm not wrong) and the serial number of the notes are already with the team. Then they install a small camera at an unsuspecting location where this entire scene could be captured and when the exchange is made then the teams simply come out of the dark to handcuff the perpetrator and is asked to  wash hands with soap which turns red due to the chemical reaction,hence the term red-handed. 

People react differently in these scenarios, some start crying incessantly whereas some try to settle matters then and there by offering some to the Anti-Corruption teams. Overall when you're caught, you're caught and there is hardly anything that can be done there, some media people come in and capture the moments to put everything in public record. At this point you might feel that story ends here, the deserving officer got what was imminent and now the course of law will decide the magnitude of the punishment. But trust me this is not even the interesting part of the story, the normal people believe that justice has been served that the country is devoid of one corrupt officer at least, however the story begins from here but this post is becoming too long and cumbersome. 

Do checkout the aftermath in my next one........

Do comment and follow for more insights of being a Government officer and other rants. Here's a link to my other entries-

The Confidential Report of the officers

The Election Duty

The New Culture of Godmen

A Prayer for Christchurch

History sheeter

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