Bharat Shah: From jail to bail

it's 3.30 pm on wednesday. we have just half an hour more before the supreme court concludes the second day of the hearing of bharat shah's bail plea. and just like that, we hear those magical words dropping from justice mb shah's mouth: ''bail granted!'' bharat shah's 26-year-old son rashesh shah, who has been fighting an almost solitary battle for his father's bail, leaps up from his seat, almost unable to believe what he has just heard.vijaybhai, bharatbhai's brother, begins to weep. everybody in the court, even strangers, turn around to congratulate us in whispers. rashesh struts out to inform his mother that the nightmare has just ended. he struggles to find a phone, because cellphones are not allowed inside the supreme court. a generous lawyer offers his phone and rashesh makes his call to inform his mother, a woman who has lived through this trying period with tremendous dignity. i notice a smiling kapil sibal emerge. i hug him and call him a hero. just then, ram jethmalani comes to us with a smile on his face. rashesh touches jethmalani's feet. the atmosphere is soaked with emotion and i am filled with hope. as i walk out of supreme court, the media follows me. rashesh, who is media-shy, gets into a car and leaves me all alone. my cellphone begins to ring, as calls from all over india begin to pour in for my reaction. this is what i tell them: ''this is no time for jubilation, but for deep introspection.'' we must ask the state and executives whether they shouldn't behave more responsibly when they have such enormous power at their disposal? acts such as pota and mcoca, if misused, can do irreversible damage to the person against whom they are used. it's time for us to demand from our leaders that the police force of this country be made completely independent. when the police are used by politicians to settle their own scores, they play havoc.