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Monday June 22, 2009

Rich and famous thumb noses at the law

INDIA DIARY BY COOMI KAPOOR


The media had a gala time when on consecutive Sundays, two icons of Hindi films and industry were caught with their pants down.

NOW, whatever has happened to the morals of the upper crust! From a rape case against an up-and-coming Bollywood star to the arrest of an aristocratic woman for customs duty evasion, recent days have exposed the seamier side of Indian celebrities.

Morals, apparently, are for the middle class, with neither the poor nor the rich caring a fig about them.

On two consecutive June Sundays, a celebrity each from the world of Hindi films and industry, respectively, moved from the society pages of newspapers to the hard-news page one.

And both earned immediate notoriety. The German word schadenfreude – delight at the misery of others – perfectly describes the reaction of the media and the people at the exposure of the two celebrities.

The first case first. Sheetal Mafatlal, the diamond-dripping glamorous bahu (daughter-in-law) of the Mafatlal industrial group, landed in the wee hours of Sunday, on June 7, from London, and immediately made a dash for the duty-free green channel at the Mumbai airport.

Bollywood actor in troubled waters: Shiney allegedly raped his maid in his Mumbai flat.

She was stopped in her tracks by a Customs officer and asked to empty her handbag. Murmuring protests, she did the bidding of the Customs. And, lo and behold, precious rocks valued at US$106,000 (RM376,000) popped out from her trade-mark Louis Vuitton bag.

Now, she pleaded that she was willing to pay the required duty; but to no avail. The Customs authorities appeared determined to punish her. She was immediately arrested and sent to jail.

The next two nights she slept, if at all, on a hard floor with a smelly and torn sheet as bedding in a dirty room she had to share with streetwalkers and women pickpockets.

The woman who was the envy of the entire celebrity set in Mumbai, the woman famous for her grand parties for international celebrities like Salman Rushdie, Donatella Versace, Prince Michael of Kent, etc, was now fodder for malicious gossip.

Her over-the-top life-style with an accent on excess, her patronage of best designer brands in personal wear, home furnishings, her 20-carat diamond rings and 200-carat emeralds all lent a sharper edge to the catty comments in the wake of her ordeal.

It was extraordinary that the Customs ignored her protests even though she was willing to pay the required duty. After two agonising nights in prison, a Mumbai court freed her on bail.

Her lawyer suspected a conspiracy, arguing how several celebrities, including Bollywood’s biggest star, were caught walking through the green channel with bagfuls of dutiable goods without being imprisoned. They were allowed to go after the payment of requisite duty.

But why was the 40-something queen of the Mumbai social set, educated at the Mumbai and Harvard universities, administered the shock therapy of a two-day jail stint and public humiliation?

Her lawyer suggested that her own family members, who are engaged in a bitter dispute over the sharing of the family fortune, were behind the vendetta.

Indeed, the Mafatlal family story is the stuff Bollywood films are made of. Daughter of an industrialist, she caused quite a scandal in the community when she married Atulaya Mafatlal who already had two children from his first marriage.

What was more hurtful for her own mother and sister was that at one stage, he was engaged to marry the latter.

So bitter was the family dispute that Atulaya Mafatlal’s mother accused him of stealing priceless paintings from the family homes in Mumbai and London, while the latter accused his mother of stealing equally expensive jewellery.

Also, there was a bitter dispute over the 10,000 sq ft (929 sq m) family bungalow in the upscale South Mumbai.

Another time the Mafatlals hit the headlines was when Atulaya’s eldest sister, Aparna, underwent a sex change to become, Ajay. She/he, however, denied that the sex change was for staking a claim on the family property. The Mafatlals were a leading textiles group till the mid-80s.

The following Sunday, up and coming Bollywood actor, Shiney Ahjua, hit the headlines for allegedly raping his maid in his Mumbai flat.

The 36-year-old star of such films as Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Woh Lamhe, Har Pal, Gangster, etc, allegedly forced himself on the part-time 17-18-year-old maid that Sunday afternoon when he was alone in the house. His wife and two-year-old daughter were out of town.

Arrested on a complaint of rape by the maid, the actor first said that the intercourse was consensual, though she had claimed that he had bound and gagged her before forcing himself on her. Medical examination corroborated her version.

The actor’s lawyer argued that the maid had sought sex “with the celebrity” for ulterior motives, a claim rubbished by the police. At the time of writing, the actor was still in police custody and there was little chance of his being bailed out immediately.

Under the Indian Penal Code, rape can attract a minimum of seven years of rigorous imprisonment. Son of a retired army officer, Shiney was a quintessential middle-class boy when he joined films after doing a stint as a stage actor. Though not an A-lister yet, his was the most talked about debut in Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi in the lead role a couple of years ago.

Meanwhile, the off-now, on-now marriage of Haryana politician Chan-der Mohan alias Chand Mohammed (45) with lawyer Anuradha Bali alias Fiza (38), took another turn on Sunday, June 14, when he turned up at her door as suddenly as he had disappeared a few months earlier. The two had converted to Islam on the eve of their marriage last December.

In March, Chand abandoned her, saying he pined for his first wife and children. And she had spewed venom against him, and filed a police case against him.

And now he is back with her yet again. There is no knowing the next twist in the Chand-Fiza story.

In sum, there is an all-round moral breakdown of society. The old value system has broken down while the new one, inspired by western mores, has yet to replace it.

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