Those who are clamouring for this smart cookie’s extradition need to think again. What is the way ahead going to be like?

I can see at least a major set of issues in our country here. The none-too-flattering conditions of our jails are being internationalized as a legal issue. Already a lot of adverse attention was obtained on this count through the Purulia arms-drop case. Now, the Indian State is under duress to satisfy the British court that the precious culprit, if allowed to be extradited, will not be, in effect, treated like similar Indian offenders. And that’s a hell of worms.

The first worm. Will our prisons pass the test of minimum benchmark of humaneness by global standards? Where do we stand? And what does the state of our prisons speak of our idea of treating fellow Indians who erred on the wrong side of the law.

Not all of them, mind you. Roughly speaking, about 70 per cent of our prison in-mates are under-trials, who have been waiting for their ordeals to end for years. Many of them would have served shorter terms in prisons than they already have, had they been tried and convicted. I remember Justice K. T. Thomas, when he was a judge in the Apex Court, being seized of this issue. He, for all his good intentions, could not make any dent in this regard.

The second worm, pertains to ethics. Can the Indian State, just to get hold of Mallya, agree to guarantee him what, in comparative terms, would be VVIP status vis-à-vis prisoners in India? Because he cheated the country of a humungous amount? Smaller thieves can rot in allegedly sub-human conditions, whereas this big fish must be allowed to retain his status as the ‘king of good times’?

The third worm. If Mallya’s crime is that he has defaulted to the tune of some Rs. 9000 crores, isn’t that small change compared to many others who are bigger than him, and better connected? How can he be targeted, without initiating comparable action against the rest of the brood? And will the State dare to confront any of them? If not, won’t it be guilty of violating Article 14 of the Constitution, which prohibits discriminating between citizens on any basis whatsoever?

That should explain why Mallya looks so unruffled. He can afford, he believes, cock a nook at the exertions of the Indian Government. Very likely, he believes that no one is really earnest about his extradition. He believes at least a 50% chance of being right. Having been inside the political ring he knows that what is enacted in public is largely for public consumption.

After all, Lalit Modi is somewhere in his neighbourhood, living in serene opulentence, extending lavish hospitality to all who matter. He is senior to Mallya in this game of out-smarting the government. Why can’t he be brought home? Well, there will be embarrassment to a few who cannot be embarrassed? The IPL baron knows how to play his cards, doesn’t he? Well, how do you know Mallya does not?

As ordinary citizens we find it hard to believe that the flight of Modi and Mallya to the UK could not have been forestalled. They travelled elaborately. Mallya had 11 massive suitcases with him. Even the media began to talk about his escape only after the flight to London took off with its exotic customer! I remember a TV anchor making it obvious in all sorts of indirect ways that he knew what was happening real-time.

Well, these are days when investigating agencies play second fiddle to the media. As in the case of the elusive Honeypreet Singh of papa Ram-Rahim fame, for example. Even when the journalists were interviewing her, the Haryana police didn’t deliberately have a clue to her whereabouts!

Does the State, or doesn’t it, have a duty to ameliorate the privations of the thousands of employees done in by Mallya? If the argument for coddling corporates is that they help generate employment, and enrich the exchequer, surely the corollary too needs to be addressed. The cheated employees are citizens, after all. They are tax payers. Every rupee due from them by way of tax was taken when they were earning. Now they are in hell. The State can look the other way?

Whatever is realized through proceeding against Mallya should be used, first, to disburse the dues to these much-harassed, and long suffering, human beings. It is surprising that their suffering matters to none.

I would play the devil’s advocate and say, it would make better sense to forget Mallya. Nothing can be gained by getting him back. What makes sense is to make fool-proof arrangements to ensure that the billionaire bandits who are still left in India do not take the Mallya route. And all outstanding dues, whitewashed with the euphemism of non-performing assets, recovered to the last rupee. So long as the government continues to look benignly at these billionaire bandits, efforts to extradite Mallya look a hit of play-acting. You are doing nothing to recover the loot from the bandits who are within reach; and you are straining your nerves, and our nerves, to get at someone who is a bit out of reach!

We can hardly afford the spurious heroism of sleeping while the burglars are fleeing with national booty and screaming hypocritical alarms after they have made good their escape.

This may be good theatre, but back economics.

It would be interesting to know how much the government has spent already in getting Mallya back and how much more. Whichever way the matter turns, the people of India are the only losers.