“By giving 40,000 rupees you can get a judicial order."

“By giving 40,000 rupees you can get a judicial order. If this
is the state of affairs only God knows what will happen to the country,”
Chief Justice V N Khare said on arrest warrants issued against former
President Abdul Kalam and two top judges, including him, by a Gujarat
magistrate, who was filmed on videotape by a TV journalist when allegedly
accepting a bribe for issuing the warrants after a fraud case was filed against them.

Questions are now being raised on sting operations as they are also animated
by spite, spicy details, vanity, revenge, bitter comedy and bawdy excess.

The sting season has been never-ending on television news. In 2001 India
was hit by an arms scandal after a website secretly filmed senior military
and defence officials apparently accepting cash from journalists posing as
arms dealers.

The scandal forced the resignation of the then BJP president, Bangaru Laxman,
and former defence minister George Fernandes.