Why can't netas boldly face the law?

'Everyone is equal before law. Law will take its own course.' This is what we hear if an opposition leader is arrested. At that point of time, the ruling party feels the law enforcing agencies are acting strictly as per rules. But if anyone from their side is arrested or even notices for questioning are served, accusations of misuse of law by probe agencies are made. This does not mean that the ruling parties at Centre in last 75 years never misused the probe agencies or there will be no such incidents in the future as well.

If a common man is accused of a crime, he is promptly arrested, and law will take its own (slow) course and he languishes in jail bail is granted or sentence is pronounced. We have seen how the accused in attack on AP Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy at Visakhapatnam airport is still facing trial and could not even get bail. In contrast, we have seen how those who attacked the offices of political parties and vandalised their offices had gone scot free. There are any number of cases where influential persons try to dodge the law in all possible ways and do not mind spending crores on hiring best of legal brains from across the country. Not just that, we have seen that if their arrest becomes inevitable, large-scale protests are organised.

A recent example of such protests was when the Delhi Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was arrested by Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi liquor gate scam. When ED served notices on BRS MLC K Kavitha and when she appeared before the probe agency on March 16, speculations were rife about her impending arrest and a large number of party workers were rushed to Delhi. It was proposed to organise dharnas and protests in Delhi as well as across Telangana. Incidentally, this phenomenon of protests is not unique to India. The protest virus exists even in United States. None less than the former President Donald Trump now fears that he might get arrested and has given a call to his party men to organise large-scale protests if he is arrested on Tuesday. New York prosecutors say the he is facing charges of hush money payment to a porn star. It is alleged that she was paid $130,000 during the waning days of 2016 election to silence her claims that she had an affair with him. Does he fear that the hush-money deal, allegedly crafted weeks before his presidential win, could also put him in jeopardy of violating campaign finance laws? Maybe. Defendants in such cases typically "self-surrender." But Trump seems to be in a mood to create a political drama.

The big question which the common man does not understand is why do leaders fear arrest? Why should others protest for them and create law and order situation and suffer injuries as police uses force to disperse them? Why can't the netas boldly face the law? Incidentally, all of them claim that they have highest respect for judiciary. If so, why not allow the legal process to take its own course?

One option the parliament may consider is create a special court for VIP cases with no provision for further appeal so that justice for the common man is not delayed. But in a situation where the opposition in Parliament refuses to be responsible and does everything to waste the hard-earned public money for their political gains, expecting some revolutionary changes at least in the next decade may seem naive.