Indian court jails ex-film star politician for corruption
The chief minister of the prosperous southern state of Tamil Nadu was charged with amassing illegal wealth in 1997, when police seized assets including 28 kilogrammes gold, 750 pairs of shoes and more than 10,000 saris in a raid on her home.
Prosecutors said her assets, which reportedly included two 1,000-acre estates in the lush tropical state she ran, were vastly disproportionate to her earnings during her first term as chief minister, which ran from 1991 to 1996.
Jayalalithaa was found guilty of "amassing wealth disproportionate to known sources of her income," prosecutor G Bhavani Singh told reporters outside the makeshift court in the southern city of Bangalore after the verdict was issued.
The judge handed down a fine and a four-year jail sentence, but it was not clear whether Jayalalithaa, who runs the third largest party in India's national parliament, would be taken into custody immediately.
The ruling means she will be automatically disqualified from parliament in accordance with a Supreme Court order last year that state and national lawmakers should be ejected from office if sentenced to more than three years in jail.
Hundreds of party loyalists had come to Bangalore to show support for their leader, and many were in tears as the news emerged from the closed court session.
"She will come out victorious, she will come out stronger," one supporter told NDTV news channel.
The 66-year-old politician enjoys huge popularity in Tamil Nadu, India's southern manufacturing hub.
Her AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) party emerged as the third biggest force in the national parliament after winning 37 of the 39 parliamentary seats in the state in this year's general election.
Jayalalithaa and her supporters have always maintained that corruption charges against her were politically motivated.
She has earned the loyalty of people in the southern state with a series of highly populist schemes including an "Amma canteen" that provides lunch for just three rupees (five cents), although she has also drawn accusations of an autocratic governing style.
Her comments during the election campaign that it was time for a change in New Delhi raised speculation that her party could act as kingmaker to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, although in the end, his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won an outright majority.
Nevertheless, she is regarded as an ally of the prime minister, and her conviction will come as a blow to the government.
Jayalalithaa took over the leadership of the AIADMK party after the death of its founder MG Ramachandran -- her on-screen love interest in multiple movies.
Police were on high alert for protests after Saturday's verdict.
Three close associates of Jayalalithaa were also found guilty of corruption and sentenced to four years in jail, Singh said.
All four defendants were present when the judge delivered the verdict in a makeshift courtroom set up at the main jail in Bangalore, India's southern technology hub.
The case was held in Bangalore rather than Tamil Nadu for security reasons and there was a heavy police presence as the verdict was delivered, with authorities fearing clashes between rival political supporters.
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The next two in the line of fire are the Italian Ice Goddess and her son in the National Herald case!
@Rakib: I agree with your comment on the Indian psyche. And I think there is nothing wrong with it. If a person atones for his wrongs by overwhelming rights, he must not be punished. Expecting a perfect, idyllic system of governance is just a pipe-dream. Even in most advanced countries, politicians are regularly found wanting in their morality- with a scam or scandal coming up every now and then. In Jayalalitha's case, one can without a doubt say she was guilty of corruption. But, she was a wonderful CM compared to the other option of DMK, whose chief's sole concern was of filling the pockets of his minions and family members. Nobody would want to vote for this party whose scale of corruption was unprecedented in Indian history. There would be a political vacuum in the state, with either BJP or Congress cashing in, depending on how well they play their cards, now.
@WB: This is the pathetic state of Indian democracy and judiciary.Court took two decades to come to a judgment This is a lot better than our court system. Our courts took 2-3 decades to try Zardari and could not decide even a single case. In fact we are the only country which outsourced his case to Swiss. Who questioned that why do you (Pakistan) have HC and SC?
She is going jail becouse of Law not because of Takhta Palat from Army. This is the difference between Army law and real democracy.
@truth please. I never commented on curruption. I commented on populistic measures that politicians use to win back elections. All at the cost of loss of revenues for govt The same money they should be spending on building trains,metros,airports,modern infrastructure, schools,industrial hubs in every city.Tamil nadu had huge potential and was at 13.12% gdp now it's 4.14% lowest in the country. You see the downward slope. I am just against socialist type freebies approach.Politicians must invest in their citizens future by means of skill building,education, entrepreneurship, industrial culture and make them independent, not hand out doles and make dependant and handicapped. "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day;teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
@Mega
Show me a politician without a shade of corruption in India. You can show a very few, and I can show the same percentage of such ones in Tamil Nadu. Yeah she is less corrupt than the Kalaingar family. The common people here are fulfilled and satisfied how the state is forwarding. She was corrupt and got punished for it. If corruption was taken as common character of Indian Politicians(which actually is) I will cast my vote for her who is not just pretty good but very good on any national average. It was an actual statement during elections " If Gujarat model was economic progress without inclusive growth, Kerela model was social progress without economy, Tamil nadu model was the real economic and social progress with justice". She is corrupt but she is also good at her job.
This is the pathetic state of Indian democracy and judiciary.
Court took two decades to come to a judgment and it will take two more decades to give judgement on the appeal.
She will go home on bail and justice never comes to people.
And look at how horrible our democracy is. People are willing to burn buses and kill innocent people for a corrupt rabble-rouser.
We naive and hollow and to the extent of being stupid Indians listen to Modi's exciting speeches and hail him as a great leader.
A great leader does not talk, he walks.
So far Modi has been limping and even sitting on many important issues. His reaction to the communal disharmony that has flared up after his coronation has been cold.
Yes, there are other ministries, but what are they doing?
I'm willing to give Modi the benefit of doubt until he completes a whole year. But after that people will get tired of this man also, if he shows no backbone and does some real ground work.
@Gp65: Please also include Chautalas in the list of politicians convicted in India.
@Gp65: I was talking of mass psychology. Even if no case can be made out or ever proved against Robert Vadhra for e.g., he will still be looked upon as a "guilty" by the masses. That would be unfair but so it is. I would provide for Modi (Gujarat),Rajiv Gandhi (Bofors) Advani, Uma Bharti (Ayodhya) etc under "Unproven" & Laalu under "proven". Secondly, Courts don't go about issuing character certificates & give "clean chit" awards; they merely dismiss prosecution's case on grounds that charges were not proved. Consider when Guj-riots occurred & when SC set up SIT & consider during long years in the interim in whose area of influence was the Home Dept which controlled the police who had access to all evidence & witnesses. Absence of conviction is not always absence of guilt. It's often failure of prosecution. But public has its own mysterious ways to turn everything on its head. Or else, Indira would have never got re-elected.
Indian people made it clear how angrythey were about corruption by their support for Anna's movement and later by throwing Congress out.
The courts are giving historic decisions on corruption cases against top poliiclans (Laloo and now Jayalalitha) as well as corporates (2G case and now coal scam)
Indian central government is implementing systems that increase transparency and reduce chance for corruption including moving all approvals online.
Indian legislature (forced of course by vox populi) passed the Lok Pal bill against corruption.
Between civil society, legislature, executive and judiciary strong attempts are being made to minimize high level corruption.
A combination of initiatives such as Digital India, direct benefit transfer, Jan Dhan Yojana and Aadhar will ensure that money meant for poor will directly go to them.
So finally there is some serious progress in India's fight against corruption.
This just cannot happen to pakistan politicians
@Rakib: Nice try dragging Modi in an issue that is in no way related to him and somehow implying that he too was guilty (though after 10 years of intense scrutiny, Congress could prove nothing) just as Jayalalita is indeed guilty.
Hypothetically, if the disqualification were not to be there & she were to announce midterm election, she would still be re-elected with thumping majority. Such is her popularity. It shows a facet of Indian mass psyche. Following is only as my opinion: Indian masses forgive all sins short of treason if the politician-sinner reforms. If the person atones not by words but by deeds & makes amends by performing well by the masses, the shady past is overlooked. That attitude is different from the ancient, non-Indic principle of "lex talionis " (Law of Retaliation), which doesn't sit easy on Indian conscience, Macaulay's Indian criminal code notwithstanding. Obviously judiciary can't function on popular sentiments but of such collective forgiveness there have been many beneficiaries among leaders-CMs/PMs included-charged at some time or the other with real, imaginary, proven, unproven criminal misdemeanour ranging from corruption to rioting. .
She can appeal. From what i have learnt, her prison sentence can be cancelled but she cannot get out of the charge of corruption. Which means, she has to resign now as CM and no election for her for next 10 years (6 years if her 4 year sentence is commuted). She will have to pay 100 crores. Considering the money she has amassed, this may not be that difficult for her.
she has been granted 4yrs of jail and 100cr penalty and will also have to quit.Indeed its a landmark judgement.
she may have been corrupt in 1997 ... she was good now.... she will have to resign now....and fight no elections for another 10 years....
No one is above then law, Real beauty of Indian System. She have to resign from her position and Now if she will be found guilty in upper courts(assuming Apex too), Government of India will acquire her properties. Cheers