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The Rediff Special/Ganesh Nadar

An old shutterbug and the hangman's noose

To be hanged by his neck till death." In the good old days the Lord said "Vengeance will be mine." These days the State -- the government, the courts -- has appropriated God's work and decided that it will take vengeance on people whom it judges to have done some wrong.

So to punish the killers of Rajiv Gandhi the Special Court passed the verdict of ''death by hanging'' to the 26 accused. Then the Supreme Court overturned this draconian decision and ruled that 19 of them were innocent and were to be acquitted.

One of them was jailed for almost eight years. His sin according to the government was that he tried to retrieve the camera of Haribabu who was recording the gory act for posterity. The man concerned, of course, had not been to the site of the crime. His mistake: he tried to get a photograph of the incident. If you ask any member of the press they will tell you that it is normal practice to borrow photographs when you need one.

So Subha Sundaram, 49, who has been a press photographer for 25 years and holds a press card of the Associated France Presse, tried to find another photographer Ramamoorthy who works for Associated Press. When he called Ramamoorthy's house he was told that Ramamoorthy was in the Poonamallee police station and that he was in trouble.

Ramamoorthy told the cops that "Subha Sundaram said 'If you had recovered that camera we could all have used those photographs.' " The cops picked up Subha Sundaram on this 'evidence' and held him for eight years.

As for the trial, all proceedings were held in camera. So the accused's version never reached the outside world.

In a modest studio on the first floor of a very old building in Royapettai, Subha Sundaram answered questions with a gentle smile. What is amazing is that his eyes twinkle when he speaks. The government may have incarcerated him physically, but his spirit remains untouched. ''Only after I came out did I realise the amount of lies the CBI had been feeding the media all these years.''

He had been charged under many sections but the two primary ones were trying to erase evidence and conspiring to commit murder. ''In my 25 years service a lot of people have worked for me. I cannot be held responsible for their actions after they leave me,'' he said. Haribabu, the photographer who died that day and was also an accused, had worked for Subha Sundaram. This fact worked against Subha. The CBI presumed that he must have known what was going on.

Anyway what was Subha doing on that fateful day? He had just finished a propaganda cassette for the Congress labelled Naatai Kakkum Kai, (The hand that protects the country). He had received part payment and was waiting for the rest of the money. "I thought that once Rajiv Gandhi came and went I might not get my money," he reminisces.

Later while the proceedings were going on Ramamoorthy met Subha in court. Ramamoorthy admitted he had been forced to make a statement by the cops under pressure.

While Subha was in jail his wife managed to keep his studio open,, but his two children suffered. They had to stop their education at the 12th standard level. His son is now a photographer and his daughter is studying computer science.

He restarted his studio on the day of the Saraswati pooja this year, considered auspicious by Hindus. He is trying to reactivate his work. He is going to remain a press photographer and will also do commercial work. He proudly states, "Each and every party that wants to make banners comes to me for photographs of MGR, Annadurai, Periyar, Kamaraj. I have all the old negatives."

He is not thinking of taking revenge on the government or anybody else, but adds sadly, '' In our country they say that the law was written with the objective that 'even if a criminal escapes an innocent man should not suffer.' That is all rubbish, if a knowledgeable press man like me can be ordered to be hanged in this country I shudder to think of people who have no idea about the law."

Will he sue the State? That is for his lawyer to decide. They have three years to do it. He admits that ''rebuilding my life will be difficult but I will try hard.'' He says his editors and his clients all are co-operating because they knew all along that he was innocent. ''Many of my friends are helping me. Many NRIs have also promised to help,'' he discloses.

Four months back he had gone to attend a friend's marriage. There erstwhile senior Congress leader G K Moopanar called him and enquired about his health. Lately, after the election results, Subha met Moopanar at his home. The fact that Moopanar, a confirmed Nehru dynasty devotee, welcomes him into his home speaks volumes for Subha's innocence. He says, "All political parties are being co-operative -- its like being born again; I will be back on my feet."

The State should not wait for Subha to sue it. It should compensate this journalist with two innocent children who for no fault of theirs became destitute for eight long years -- that too the best years of their young life when you really need your father.

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