So the much-awaited verdict was delivered with a hysterical media to boot: it's almost as if nothing else of much import is happening in India today. Sound bites of celebrities seeking a lessening of Salman Khan's sentence and the cacophony of television anchor experts has made this an even more miserable day.
So let's weigh in on Salman Khan first: I am pretty sure this time, he knew he wouldn't get away and it was an unlikely situation to get away from. He wasn't helped by the fact that there was a clearly planted witness and intense media gaze: the same media that gushes over him before every release of his. But will that dent his image? I don't believe so. Salman's brand value will not diminish to my mind only because the average Indian is fickle. We will forget and forgive. We will also be sympathetic. There will be a very few who will actually bereave the family of the man who lost his life or be willing to help those four who were severely injured in the 2002 case where the actor's SUV ran over homeless people sleeping on a pavement. That is who we are.
The reality is somewhat different and it is time we realised this. We have a miserably tardy justice system and this whole drivel of "the wheels of justice grind slowly but surely" are exactly that: drivel. Why should these wheels grind slowly? And what kind of justice do they eventually deliver? While everyone in India today is glued to their television sets, I have a few points to make which says a lot about Salman Khan's predicament as also a lot about what kind of society we have become.
We are social vultures. We need a steady stream of prey, and to only blame the television channels is a tad unfair. We love to see our heroes fail. And yet there are many of us who will pardon every folly of theirs but never forgive or empathise with lesser mortals.
Today it is Salman Khan. Yesterday it was Shashi Tharoor qua Sunanda's sad and untimely death. Tomorrow it could be anyone else.
The tragedy is that we love feeding off other people's misery and state of grief. We are a nation as if obsessed with the obituary page. But then let us reflect on a couple of things. While most people were quick to congratulate the magistrate who pronounced Salman guilty, did they for a moment think if it was indeed his celebrity status which may have worked against him? It is fine for people to castigate the police and the judiciary and say that celebrities are treated with kid gloves, but to my mind, it often works against them in the sense of getting a fair trial.
Then, of course, there is the mockery that is often associated with such trials. Did Salman Khan's lawyers actually serve him well? By resurrecting a witness after 11 years who claimed he was driving the car, did they really believe the judge or the people at large would buy this?
Today while Salman Khan the individual has been pronounced guilty, equally guilty is our justice system and that includes all the parts that make up the whole. From a shoddy police force which at most times botches up investigations to the slow pace of court dates and trials per se. I mean in which other country can you imagine a hit-and-run trial going on for 12 years?
We as a country continue to pat ourselves on the back on the robustness of our justice system, but it is this system that needs the most change. We need to create a criminal justice eco system which allows for fair and quick trials. Where the laws of perjury are made more stringent, and where it is not just the rich that can obtain dates in quick succession for their trials. A case in point is the Jayalalithaa case: so while 87% of the inmates of Tihar Jail in Delhi are under trials some for over three to four years for petty crimes like stealing, here is a former Chief Minister who is alleged to have embezzled public money getting court date after court date to ensure her case moves along.
I believe this day will be a fine day to actually shift the contours of the debate: move the needle from Salman Khan, many others drink and drive (though they know they shouldn't). What happened is unpardonable but there is also a backstory to this for which we as a people are responsible. We treat our film stars as Gods. We believe they cannot fail us. But they are human, for God's sake. As human as you and I, and fail they will. So while we exult over their achievements we needn't prey on their shortcomings but today was exactly that. Some silly panellist on a television channel expressed resentment over the support that Salman was getting from the film industry post the verdict. Of course he will. And he should. Why would a Hema Malini not pray for a lesser sentence? And yes it is the same media that has been showing us visuals of Salman and his family and not those of the family of the man who died or the people who were injured. So if the media is bitten by celebrity metaphors, why do you blame the others?
In the coming days, many pundits will tell us about the intricacies of the law; there will be others who will pontificate on the robustness of our judicial system, while few will spare a thought for the victims. We will then return to life as we know it.
Today is a verdict on us. And not just on Salman Khan.
(Suhel Seth is Managing Partner of Counselage: India's only strategic brand advisory.)The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.