Father Stan Swamy, an 84-year-old Parkinson’s patient, was denied even a straw and sipper in jail, and Professor G.N. Saibaba, who was 90% disabled, was kept behind bars for years despite severe health issues. Both were treated as if compassion had no place in justice and are now dead. But someone like Asaram, convicted of child rape, is granted a six-month suspension of sentence on “medical grounds.” Similarly, another convicted rapist, Baba Ram Rahim, is given frequent ‘furloughs’ and is out of jail for half the year because he commands crores of votes in North India. It’s hard not to ask, are humanity and empathy reserved only for the powerful and the godmen because they can be milked for votes?
