In a judgment delivered less than two weeks ago, the Supreme Court sought to make a statement. That statement was unequivocal and clear. Over and above its role to punish offenders and make an example of them, it had for supreme duty of guarding the Constitution and ensuring it was respected. And that means protecting the constitutional right of every individual. This constitutional right guarantees, among other things, the right of an individual not to have his freedom of movement unduly restrained unless it had been so ordered by law.

Our system being based on the sacrosanct tenet that every person is presumed innocent unless proven guilty, theoretically the whole justice system seems pretty fair. It would seem then that we could all sleep soundly at night because justice will always prevail, the bad ones always be convicted and sent away and the good people always be protected.

Now reality check. Everything in law is subject to interpretation. Different judges interpret laws differently and thus come out often with conflicting rulings. This landmark decision by the Supreme Court is surely not being followed, at least in its essence, by other judges.

Proof : the list of those provisionally accused, and held in custody without having been convicted, is way too long by any standards. The worst one, in recent years, was Ceal Meeah who had been imprisoned for three years, suffered the worse kinds of humiliations and then subsequently released because three years later, prosecution decided there was no conclusive evidence against him. Now, regardless of what you and I may think of this decision, bottom line is legally, the man is innocent. His constitutional rights have been thrown out of the window and his dignity trampled on over and over again.

As if that was not bad enough, we are about to do the same thing again. No less than nine people have been arrested and refused bail since ?Saint? Chetty has decided to repent and confess or so he says.

Based on his ?revelations?, some have been arrested, some released, some sent to jail, all following obscure legal interpretations of the law, applicable for some and not to others. Or so it seems. And public opinion is for sure not helping.

We may all have our opinion of Vinay Deelchand, Dev Hurnam or any one of those nine people. In our minds because Chetty has named them, they must be guilty. How could they not? After all, one is known for being a loud and foul mouthed, constantly rebelling, constantly pointing the finger at what he claimed were injustices and constantly disturbing our psyche with his crude way of talking. And that makes him guilty? In most people?s minds, it does. Look what happened to Meeah.

Yes, I am questioning the motives behind Chetty?s revelations. Yes I am questioning the police?s motives behind it?s stand in this affair. Yes I am questioning the DPP?s motives behind all the decisions he has taken so far. Yes I am questioning the judges and magistrates? interpretation of the law. But it is my job to question. I am, by no means, telling them how to do their job. That would be preposterous. They should know. If they don?t, then we have a big problem. Oh, another thing : tomorrow, it could be you?