THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary - July 9, 2018 - Topic 1

No, Minister: on Jayant Sinha's decision to felicitate convicts

Everyone is entitled to presumptions of the guilt or innocence of a convict. And this applies equally to those who hold high public office as it does to ordinary citizens. But it is one thing for Jayant Sinha, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, to have serious reservations about the verdict of the fast track court in Jharkhand that convicted, and sentenced, a bunch of people to life imprisonment in a cow vigilantism case. It is quite another to felicitate those convicted merely because they were let out on bail by the Jharkhand High Court. A release on bail, as Mr. Sinha surely knows, is not an acquittal. 

The eight garlanded men he posed with for celebratory photos are still convicts, who were tried in a case in which a meat trader was savagely beaten to death on suspicion of transporting beef. That a Central Minister could have hobnobbed in such a public fashion with those convicted of murder is inexcusable. As a lawmaker, he ought to have known that doing so would raise inevitable questions in the public mind about his commitment to the rule of law and his lack of faith in the criminal justice system. In doing what he did, he allowed his personal beliefs to trump his public responsibilities. Mr. Sinha has declared that he is against any kind of vigilantism and all forms of violence. His defence for his grave lapse lies in a fine distinction. He believes there is a difference between the eight who were let out on bail and some others who participated in the murderous assault. While it is true that the group of eight was released from prison on the ground that the available visual evidence showed them only as onlookers as opposed to assaulters, the Jharkhand High Court’s order is not a proclamation of innocence. This depends on the outcome of the appeal — something that Mr. Sinha did not care to wait for.

From the string of statements he made on social media, it is far from clear whether Mr. Sinha has so much as paused to consider, leave alone care about, what the eight were doing at the scene of the crime. This strengthens the charge that narrow political considerations, as opposed to a presumed miscarriage of justice, played a role in his action — to first champion their innocence and then to celebrate their release. His clarifications notwithstanding, Mr. Sinha has lent the impression he has been guided by the political exigencies that prevail in his Hazaribagh Lok Sabha constituency, where the murder took place. Wittingly or unwittingly, he has opened himself up to the charge that he is indulging cow vigilantism and taking sides on the basis of the party affiliation of the convicts. One of the convicts, Nityanand Mahto, is a local leader of the BJP, and is known to Mr. Sinha. For him to claim he did nothing more than wish the eight well when they came to see him on their release on bail is neither convincing nor acceptable.

Vocabulary

Entitled: give someone a legal right or a just claim to receive or do something.

Example: Employees are normally entitled to severance pay

Synonyms: qualify, make eligible, authorize, allow, permit, enable, empower

Presumption: behavior perceived as arrogant, disrespectful, and transgressing the limits of what is permitted or appropriate.

Example: He lifted her off the ground and she was enraged at his presumption

Synonyms: brazenness, audacity, boldness, audaciousness, temerity, arrogance

Verdict: a decision on a disputed issue in a civil or criminal case or an inquest.

Example: The jury returned a verdict of ‘not guilty.’

Synonyms: judgment, adjudication, decision, finding, ruling, decree, resolution

Garland: adorn or crown with a garland.

Example: They were garlanded with flowers

Synonyms: festoon, wreathe, swathe, hang, adorn, ornament, embellish

Inexcusable: too bad to be justified or tolerated.

Example: Matt's behavior was inexcusable

Synonyms: indefensible, unjustifiable, unwarranted, unpardonable, unforgivable

Inevitable: certain to happen

Example: War was inevitable

Synonyms: unavoidable, inescapable, inexorable, ineluctable, assured, certain

Distinction: a difference or contrast between similar things or people.

Example: There is a sharp distinction between domestic politics and international politics

Synonyms: difference, contrast, dissimilarity, variance, variation, division, differentiation

Assault: a physical attack.

Example: His imprisonment for an assault on the film director

Synonyms: battery, violence, sexual assault, rape

Proclamation: a public or official announcement, especially one dealing with a matter of great importance.

Example: Eisenhower signed a proclamation admitting Alaska to the Union

Synonyms: declaration, announcement, pronouncement, statement, notification

Impression: an imitation of a person or thing, especially one done to entertain.

Example: He did an impression of Frank Sinatra

Synonyms: impersonation, imitation, parody, caricature, burlesque, travesty

Exigency: an urgent need or demand.

Example: Women worked long hours when the exigencies of the family economy demanded it

Synonyms: need, demand, requirement, necessity; urgency, crisis, difficulty

Acceptable: able to be tolerated or allowed.

Example: Pollution in the city had reached four times the acceptable level

Synonyms: bearable, tolerable, allowable, admissible, sustainable