States: Tamil Nadu; Far from Pleasant

Jayalalitha's poll-eve conviction in a graft case sparks violence and casts a shadow over her party

When Justice V. Radhakrishnan began speaking, there was absolute silence in the packed hall of Special Court II. J. Jayalalitha and her followers waited with bated breath for the verdict in the Pleasant Stay Hotel Case in which the AIADMK supremo was the prime accused. Within minutes, the judge came to the charge of falsification of records and acquitted the former chief minister. There was an audible sigh of relief in the hall. Partymen rushed out shouting, "Justice has triumphed, Karunanidhi exposed." They danced to the waiting TV cameras and distributed sweets among themselves to mark the "victory".

Inside the hall, the judge got on with the rest of the judgement. "We have sufficient circumstantial evidence," he pronounced, "which proves beyond reasonable doubt that J. Jayalalitha, T.M. Selvaganapathy (AIADMK MP) and H.M. Pandey (former IAS officer) committed criminal misconduct, abetted by Rakesh Mittal and Palai Shanmugam (hotel executive director and chairman), and all the five accused were party to the criminal conspiracy." They were sentenced to a year's rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000. Jayalalitha was visibly shocked. As were the crowds outside. The change in mood was dramatic, a sudden silence descended on the scene again.

LEGAL MAZE

COAL IMPORT DEAL & TANSI LAND CASE: The Tamil Nadu Government has appealed to the Supreme Court against Jayalalitha's acquittal by lower courts.
COLOUR TV SCAM & CASE OF AMASSING DISPROPORTIONATE WEALTH: Trial on in special courts.
MEENA ADVERTISERS CASE, US DOLLAR SCAM, GRANITE-QUARRYING SCANDAL: Investigating agencies yet to file chargesheets.
INCOME-TAX CASE: Pending in the Economic Offences Court.
SPIC SHARES DEAL: Jayalalitha has appealed to the division bench of the Madras High Court against a single judge's verdict asking her to "compensate" the state Government.

Not for long though. Once Jayalalitha left the scene, an angry AIADMK cadre was ready to react. It targeted government buses passing by and smashed their windscreens. Soon the protests spread statewide. Around 10 buses were gutted, 90 more damaged. At Dharmapuri, three undergraduate girls of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University were burnt alive and 16 others injured when a petrol bomb was hurled at the vehicle they were in. Bus services were cancelled for 12 hours even as Jayalalitha denied that the AIADMK was involved in the incident.

By the next day, the state was back to normal, but not the AIADMK. Jayalalitha had earned the dubious distinction of being the first former chief minister in the history of Tamil Nadu to have been convicted in a criminal case. The prosecution's case was that in 1994, Jayalalitha along with Selvaganapathy and Pandey had abused their official positions and obtained pecuniary advantage for the Pleasant Stay Hotel by issuing government orders granting it exemption from various rules for a seven-storeyed structure of the hotel at Kodaikanal.

For Jayalalitha, the timing of the judgement is a big setback. She was flaunting her wider acceptability by acquiring alliance partners for the assembly by-elections and the verdict came as a major embarrassment. A fact that did not go unnoticed at a condolence meeting organised by the AIADMK for its former presidium chairman V.R. Nedunchezhian on the day of the judgement itself. Speaker after speaker vowed to "fight the evil designs" of the Tamil Nadu chief minister. New-found ally G.K. Moopanar of the Tamil Maanila Congress assured her that he would stand by her "during these testing times". The soft-spoken CPI state President R. Nallakannu said, "Those in glass houses should not throw stones at others." Jayalalitha herself lashed out at the DMK Government, vowing to send the present rulers to jail.

Such bravado apart, there is also the debate on whether the former chief minister can contest elections at all now. That legal experts are divided in their view is of little consolation to

Jayalalitha, who is caught in a veritable legal maze. Her decision to go in appeal against the hotel case judgement has only added to this seemingly endless battle. For now she is focusing on another verdict -- that of the voters in the by-elections, even hoping that the court order will generate sympathy for her.

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	Feb 14, 2000