When some of the guilty face the law,The law squints at their crime.Some innocents serve to settle scoresAnd end up doing time.Much depends on who you are,And what you’re known to say—Are you promoting Hindutva,Or standing in its way?Nupur and Rohit’s FIRsGot them rightful bail;Zubair must just have awful stars—He gets to stay in jail.‘Syndicate’, ‘destabilise’,Do those words ring a bell?The highest lawyer amplifiesThe lowest IT Cell.Hindu power evermoreIs what Hindutva’s selling.Electoral bonds are such a snore,Offence is so compelling!If every Indian is the sameHow can some be greater?Call one a nationalist in name,The other one a traitor.Bake it into life and love,Institutions and schools.Keep some below and some above,The double standard rules.Here’s a winning formulaTo make the Rashtra stronger:Lengthen the long arm of the law,And let its nose be longer.Open Lady Justice’s eyes,Change their very colour—Help her decide that discretion isThe better part of valour.Break a mosque and win a temple;Defer that habeas corpus.Law can be so flexibleWhen law has found a purpose(The purposeful can clean eraseAny kind of blot:Preside over your own caseFor a Rajya Sabha spot.)The enemy is not out there,Forget the China fuss!Akhlaq, Teesta, Aakar, Zubair—The enemy is us.Start a witch-hunt so pernicious,That those who have a voiceSee the law grown so capriciousAnd face a Hobson’s choice:Shut up, be safe, or else detailWhat, when, who, why, and howAnd maybe get marched off to jail,Singing Bella Ciao.The enemy is accountability,And democratic practice.When power rests on sentimentThe enemy is justice.When things were going from bad to worse,That was a precursor;I’m trying to say, in awful verse—We’ve gone from worse to worser.Mitali Saran is an independent writer and columnist based in Delhi.The featured image is an illustration by Pariplab Chakraborty. To view more such illustrations, click here.