India, June 16 -- Our national motto is: Satyameva Jayate (Truth shall triumph). It is drawn from the Mundaka Upanishad. What it says is that Truth does not need defence. It is capable of defending itself.

In the sixties and seventies, there was a lawyer called ASR Chari, about whom it was said that if anyone could afford to pay his fee of Rs 10,000-a big sum in those days-he could kill any person.

The story may be apocryphal, but it contains an element of truth. Take the case of a religious leader in the South who allegedly got his secretary killed as he had an illicit relationship with his wife. He was arrested, but he engaged India's preeminent lawyer at that time and escaped unscathed. Truth is cheap; falsehood comes with a price. ...