Crime and punishment

It is a basic rule in jurisprudence that punishment should match the offence. It seems it should also match the status of the person. When the Chief Justice imposed Rs 10 lakh as fine on an ex-MLA from Bihar for pursuing a frivolous case (against a local newspaper report of 1994), his counsel pleaded that the amount was too high.

The Chief Justice said that, in fact, the politician should complain that the amount is below his position in society. The judge recalled a rich school mate who protested that the fine of Rs 50 imposed on him by the warden was too low for his family status and wanted a higher amount. “So the MLA should ask for Rs 1 crore,” the judge joked.