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The unfair case of the unknown Indian

Ranvir Nayar

This is a tale of two cases currently on in the French courts.

The contrasts could not have been sharper. One has been making international headlines all last week. The other has not been heard of, almost. One involves a famous French politician, the other an unknown Indian. One involves serious crimes against humanity, including genocide and sending over 1500 persons to Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War. The other involves a commercial dispute between two companies, involving damages of just 100,000 French Francs.

One sees rapid action by the police and a quick arrest. The other has the cops waiting on their haunches. One of these two persons is now a free man, away from the clutches of the French justice, while the other has been remanded to police custody for four weeks and even denied bail.

And guess who is the man in the jail? No, it is not the Nazi. He is the free man, virtually cajoled by the French administration to go into hiding, days before the Supreme Court dismisses his last appeal. Though later "arrested" by the Swiss police, he has since been lodged in a clinic, a practice not unknown in India.

The man in jail is the Indian, an employee of a small, Jaipur-based auto-ancillary company. He was arrested last week following a complaint lodged by the French auto giant, Peugeot. The complainant alleged that the auto-lamps put on display by the Indian company in an exhibition in Paris were in violation of its trademarks and its design patents. The case is far from being conclusive and is commercial, rather than criminal, in nature.

The Indian businessman was not only arrested, but remanded to custody for at least four weeks and denied bail.

The other case involves a high profile politician of France -- Maurice Papon, who has served as a minister and has extremely close contacts with the establishment and top politicians of France. In 1998, after being pursed by a dedicated father and son team of Nazi hunters, Papon was found guilty of having sent over 1500 Jews from Bordeaux in south-western France to concentration camps and most to their deaths. Papon was sentenced to 10 years in prison, after his initial life term was commuted.

However, despite facing serious charges of genocide and the ultimate human rights violation, Papon was allowed to remain free and allowed to travel as he pleased. Since 1998, the French Supreme Court has been hearing Papon's appeal and the case was to come to a conclusion this week. Last week Papon openly declared to the media that he would rather go into exile than go to jail. Yet, the police did nothing to arrest him or to prevent him from leaving the country.

And sure enough, when the matter comes up for discussion in the court, Papon's lawyers released a statement proclaiming that Papon has run away from justice.

Though the French government, immediately after the courtroom drama, expressed its shock and the justice minister even announced considering changing the laws to restrict freedom of people while their appeals are being heard, the proclamations of innocence failed to cut ice with anyone.

"This is a crystal clear case of someone being protected at the highest levels. How else can you explain the total inaction of the police and the government for the entire period while Papon was shouting himself hoarse about his plans to escape?'' asks a lawyer.

"The government is guilty of inaction in both the cases,'' says an observer. "In the Papon case, they failed to act to prevent the escape and in the other case, the government failed to maintain a correlation between the alleged crime and the way it was handled. If the government or the police had not been so heavy-handed in the case of the Indian, there is no reason why he should be spending even a day without being granted bail,'' she says.

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