India, Nov. 14 -- In the front office of Star of Mysore hangs a framed quotation by Leo Tolstoy: "If you feel pain, you are alive. If you feel other people's pain, you are a human being."

Looking at yesterday's front page, I was left with a haunting question: Are our public servants capable of feeling another person's pain?

The answer, judging by yesterday's SOM, is a big NO.

Public servants in India are seldom humane.

What happened to Rajesh is not merely heartbreaking. It is terrifying and it should send shivers down the spine of every law-abiding citizen in Mysuru.

Not simply because an innocent man was allegedly tortured into confessing to a murder he did not commit, but because this is not the first time such a tragedy has unfol...