I have mostly seen that the Indian judiciary rarely convicts, it only harasses. A person gets bail, falls sick, and uses some trick in the book to avoid getting convicted. The judges seem competent, may be the Law has too many loopholes. Harshad Mehta the man behind the 1992 stock market scam was arrested and taken to jail innumerable times but was not convicted I think. Eventually he seems to have got so fed up of being harassed that he died a natural death. So also another stock market scamster Kirit Parikh, arrested, released, rearrested but not convicted. Fortunately the system has been kind to him, he is still alive.

I have always believed that the police / Courts in most states behave the same way. They arrest, release, re-arrest but rarely convict. Which is why I was surprised when the respected Supreme Court transferred the Best Bakery Case from Gujarat to Maharashtra. Is the judiciary in Maharashtra more competent or effective? To get a background about the case you might like to read Arvind Lavakare’s article on Rediff titled, ‘Blindfolded in the Best Bakery Case’.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/sep/09arvind.htm

To find an answer I opened my diary and saw notings on people killed in Maharashtra during riots or bomb blasts in the last four to five years. Here are my findings –

Event	Year	Died	Injured	Status
Mumbai Blasts
1. All over	1993 March	257	713	Case is with Special Court since 1993. Final judgment waited.
2.Ghatkopar	Dec02	2	31	None convicted.
3. Mcdonalds	Dec02	0	25	None convicted.
4. Vile Parle	Jan03	1	30	None convicted.
5. Mulund	Mar03	12	65	None convicted.
6. Ghatkopar	July03	4	32	None convicted.
7. Zaveri Bazaar	Aug03	34	112	None convicted.
8. Gateway of India	Aug03	18	37	None convicted.
Total		328	1045

All numbers from India Today issue. Status is based on available information.

Event	Year	Note
Riots in Maharashtra
1. Pune	2001-02	Muslims riot for some non-descript reason.
2. Nandurbhar	same	1 person burnt alive.
3. Malegaon	same	Angry with Sept 11.
4. Jalgaon	same	1 person burnt alive.
5. Sholapur	same	9 died. Of the two main culprits arrested under POTA or MCOCA, Congress govt released one prior to 2004 Lok Sabha elections.
6. Kalyan, Badlapur,		Amravati, Bhiwandi had minor riots too.
7. Bhiwandi	Feb03	Muslims riot because police prevents calves from being taken for slaughter. Cops hurt.
8.Parbhani	Nov03	Bombs thrown at local mosque. Armed mobs burnt shops & torched vehicles.

All information is based on newspaper reports of Times of India. While I have tried to be as accurate as possible there might be scope for error. Am willing to stand corrected.

Friends the point I am trying to make that in all the above cases people have not been convicted even after years of the event having taken place. This means that the Maharashtra police are unable to prepare a proper case before the judiciary or the latter is unable to exercise its intellect correctly.

Based on track record there was no basis for the respected Supreme Court to transfer the Best Bakery case to Maharashtra. Should it not have been transferred to a State where the police & the judiciary had a better conviction rate?

To be fair to the Maharashtra Government it is competing with the Canadian government. In 1985 an Air India plane ex Toronto was bombed mid air by two Vancouver based Sikh terrorists. 329 people died.. Yet nearly 20 years after the event these two gentlemen are yet to be convicted, the case is yet to be closed.

Friends what is common the above? The victims are Hindus. Need I say more!