India’s expanding crisis in criminal politics recently highlighted the bizarre conviction of Kerala legislator Antony Raju.
Not only did the case take an extraordinary length of time to lead to his arrest and disqualification, but it also exemplified the alarming rarity of convictions for politicians despite the commonality of criminal charges against them.
Raju, a member of the CPI(M) ally Janadhipathya Kerala Congress, represented the Thiruvananthapuram Assembly constituency. His legal saga began in 1990 when he practiced law in Thiruvananthapuram.
He faced accusations of tampering with evidence to prove that 61.5 grams of hashish found in the underwear of his client, Australian citizen Andrew Salvatore Cervelli, did not belong to him.
Cervelli was arrested at Thiruvananthapuram airport on April 9, 1990, after authorities discovered the banned substance concealed in his underwear. The trial court sentenced him to ten years of rigorous imprisonment based on the prosecution’s evidence.
The Shrinking Underwear
Cervelli appealed to the Kerala High Court, which acquitted him in 1993 after proving that the garment presented in court was too small for him.
Following this revelation, the police launched an investigation into the damaged underwear, originally a shabby blue garment. A state forensic laboratory determined that someone had cut and re-stitched the item.
The investigation uncovered Raju’s involvement; he had obtained the original garment from magistrate court custody with the help of a clerk. He returned the altered item just before Cervelli’s High Court appeal.
Based on the police findings, a district court in Thiruvananthapuram ordered a case against both Raju and the clerk for tampering with evidence.
Local media dubbed this incident “The Case of the Shrinking Underwear,” drawing comparisons to the high-profile O.J. Simpson trial in the United States, where a glove failed to fit the defendant. However, unlike Simpson’s case, Raju’s manipulation backfired, severely damaging his political standing.
Though the court granted Raju a month’s bail to file an appeal, the repercussions were significant. After decades of delays, the court found him guilty of conspiracy, tampering with evidence, and misconduct as a public servant, sentencing him to three years for tampering with evidence, two years for fabricating it, and one year for criminal breach of trust, all served concurrently—netting him a three-year sentence.
According to the Representation of the People Act, this sentence led to his automatic disqualification as an MLA and barred him from contesting elections for the next six years. This verdict came 19 years after the charge sheet was filed and nearly 36 years following the incident, following a Supreme Court ruling that lifted a previous quashing of the proceedings against him.
A Legal Landscape
India’s political arena is rife with legal controversies. A report by the Association for Democratic Reforms reveals that 306 of the 763 sitting MPs (40 percent) in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha face criminal cases. Of these, 194 (25 percent) confront serious charges, including murder and crimes against women.
While the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned political leaders like RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, it reported a shockingly low conviction rate of about one percent over the past decade.
Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary revealed to the Rajya Sabha that from 193 cases registered by the ED against politicians in the last ten years, only two resulted in convictions.
Despite serious charges, many politicians remain in office while cases linger for years. Judicial delays, strategic legal maneuvers, and endless appeals often shield them from accountability.
While a landmark 2013 Supreme Court ruling mandated immediate disqualification for MPs, MLAs, and MLCs convicted of crimes with sentences of two years or more, loopholes in the law enable many to contest elections amid pending charges.
Legal cases against politicians reflect the paradox of India’s democracy. Despite judicial oversight, media coverage, and growing public awareness, systemic issues ensure that justice remains elusive.
As demonstrated by Raju’s case of shrinking underwear, politicians have mastered the art of legal evasion, overshadowing the pursuit of genuine accountability.
Content contributed by Dilip Bobb, reported from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India, sourced by indialegallive.com—The writer is former Senior Managing Editor, India Legal magazine
