Take an anonymous survey of police officers on how many times they have faced pressure from political leaders, especially those in power, and citizens will realise what terrible damage has been done to the police and other investigating agencies. FIRs that are ordinarily difficult to register get recorded when those in power desire them. Often, the full state machinery is employed to arrest opponents and chargesheet cases, however weak the evidence may be. This is because they are confident that the cases will only come up for hearing years later. The careers of those arrested or prosecuted will nosedive but neither the investigators nor the politicians who pressured them will be held responsible.

In these circumstances, no one expected that former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and his associates would get relief so early, at the stage of the framing of charges. This is just the start of a case in court. Had the charges been framed, it would have taken years for the AAP leaders to be exonerated. By then, a media trial would have held them guilty and the public would have believed the story.

One also wonders about how those........

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