India, Aug. 16 -- Name the crime in which the accused man, even after conviction, continues to be platformed, celebrated, and rehabilitated.

You will see him at literature festivals, surrounded by a gaggle of wide-eyed admirers. He will routinely appear on television debates expounding on weighty matters, an election result here or economic policy there.

When he writes a book about his time in jail before an obliging high court judge acquitted him, his liberal pals will heap fulsome praise through reviews and back page blurbs. Oh, but he has been acquitted by a court of law, they say.

We are told constantly, that the accused or convicted man is 'brilliant'; that he has an aura of creative edginess that makes some of his behaviour, well...