Roving Eye
Chief Ed and Sp. Correspondent Sethia

The poison pen is back (though this time it happens to be a Steadtler and not a Montex Mint). Let's see whose going to get it first now...searching...still searching... target found.. .locked on: The Doon School couples!
History repeated itself in Tata House, as the circle of love continued to run deep in the House. One of the pair happens to have a regional connection with the Father of the nation. They were apparently witness to exotic events such as the Inter-House Hindi Poetry Competition where they did try to shy away from our reporters but got nabbed. The renowned celebrity couple of the school, again from Tata House, who have stopped making public appearances together, drifted apart following a dispute in which one of them demanded privacy and space for himself. They are both getting through this painful phase only because of the House's cricketing needs. Sources tell us, the Kan U gang is supposedly losing one of the more prominent members thanks to a certain British element (or at least half-British). The Brit is accused of spinning a web around his most 'preferred' batsman. Our condolences to the bereaved gang. Even at such a mournful juncture, one of the members of the gang, Ur, must be congratulated on talking to a girl without changing colour five times.
The Doon School has, apparently, opened a new boot camp for raring-to-go and bubbling young persons willing to make a contribution to the country. These aspiring soldiers are being trained, surprisingly, by a lady teacher who is very familiar with the reactions of students.
Recently, School Council proposals have been handed over to the newly-appointed secretary for the installation of a wash-basin in a certain teacher's class. It is, reportedly, a challenge to remain awake in the teacher's presence, who broke all records in the history of the world for being the best bed-time storyteller. "Arey bhai, class boring hai toh zarra bahar khade ho jaao!"
Yoga has found new takers in Chandbagh as the Nizam House cap (who, in reality, is from the land of the Rajputs) is moulding his mind and body to become a yogi so as to woo a certain Welhamite, and has been going around giving 'prasad' to his Vedic Maths teacher. We would like to bring to the notice of the school community the case involving the whacking of two very valuable books, one of which is entitled 'How to Speak English Effectively' belonging to a very disgruntled Apurva Maheshwari. Moving on, most of the Jaipur House prefectorial body is congratulated on coming back as authorities on this very date. They have been spying on the NAPU for us and have definitely done so effectively. They attended all the Union meetings and have come in very handy by reporting to us the fact that our very own COP (what was he doing there?) has been running campaigns called "Down with the Weekly" , and has given it top priority with the Council. He is apparently gathering troops and planning a major revenge on the Chief Ed (how many attempts is he going to make?).
The poison ink has run dry and our creative juices have drained out completely. So, goodbye, but not for' ever. We will strike again... that is for sure!

Justice in Jeopardy
Uday paratap Singh wonders where our legal system is headed

These days, in our country, celebrity status is turning out to be more of a con than a pro. People in power are unnecessarily targeting celebrities to raise issues. This turn of events is disturbing, not only for the celebrities concerned, but for the country at large, and the judicial system which is allowing such events to go unchecked.
Maneka Gandhi, animal rights activist and BJP MP, it seems, wants more publicity than she usually gets, and so has made it a habit to target big banner films as soon as they appear, and gain press mileage out of it by making it a big issue. This has happened with Karan Johar's Kaal, Shahrukh Khan's Paheli and Rakesh Mehra's Rang De Basanti. Till now, however, she has not been able to stop any film from releasing, but recently she did manage to have a scene from Rang De Basanti cut. Her actions are completely unjustified, as she, every year, lets by numerous regional movies and small-budget films, but when it comes to well-publicised movies, she makes a huge hue and cry. What I suggest to her is to either uniformly crack down on all f1lms or then ignore them and just do her quiet job of working with NGOs and animal welfare organisations.
Going on, on the same issue, our legal system is also flawed. How can we just crack down on celebrities such as Tiger Pataudi and Salman Khan, and let the others go free? There are many people who are still hunting and whose acts are going unnoticed. However, when Tiger Pataudi's cars were caught with animal carcasses, the authorities created a huge stir and made claims of not letting him get away with breaking the law: In another case, Salman Khan, who was charged with killing two black buck eight years ago, has now been sentenced to one year's imprisonment. The fact is, that he shot the deer long ago, when the animal rights movement had not reached the crescendo it has today, and he now has to bear the punishment due to the delayed-sentence. However, the seven others who were also involved in the case with Salman have been let off scot-free, This is a gross violation of justice, as different verdicts have been announced for the same crime. Are we targeting Salman just because of his celebrity status? The answer is yes and this is a very sad fact that we have to accept that such a situation exists. As actress Preity Zinta said, and I completely agree with her, "It's so sad that when an actor, Salman Khan, kills a black buck in isolation in the middle of a forest, he gets sentenced to jail for one year. But when somebody shoots a girl (Jessica Lall) dead in the. presence of fifty people, he walks away scot-free".
We must try and change such unfortunate happenings in our country. The Jessica Lall case brings into focus a legal system which is not functioning as it should. All those accused in this case were recently acquitted. This was because most of the important witnesses turned hosci1e due to the absence of a witness-protection programme. On the one hand, people are targetted because of their status and on the other, they are let loose because of their connections. Justice must be fair and equal for all, as that is the real meaning of justice and not what is being dealt out today.