A few years ago, in the early part of this de­cade, I was working wi­th a foreign bank in Delhi. Renuka Ch­oudhary was the Union mi­nister for tourism in those days. Tourism had been identified as a cash cow and all stops were removed to promote this industry. Renuka Choudhary did a wonderful job and interesting campaigns were laun­ched to promote India as an attractive destination.

I distinctly remember one such campaign, which was run to promote India as a destination for medical tourism. Surgeries were cheaper, consultation with doctors was inexpensive and it made eminent sense for anyone from the developed western world to travel to India to find medical remedies to their ailme­nts. It helped to know that many renowned doctors in the US and the UK were from the subcontinent.

Medical tourism continues to be an attractive option even today as scores of foreigners keep coming to the shores of the erstwhile British colony to find cheaper solutions to their medical problems. That said, the opportunity beckoning the current tourism minister Kumari Selja is much better than Renuka Choudhary. And why is that?

Incidents over the past few years have revealed that there is an enormous opportunity that the tourism ministry can leverage on, which can yield brilliant results. India has su­preme potential to emerge as a brilliant destination for cr­ime tourism. Yes. You re­ad it correctly — crime to­urism. A co­untry where you can co­me, commit a crime and lead a happy life ever after.

Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it. Well, initially when I was thinking about it, it seemed ridiculous to me too. But wh­en I consider the fact that in a country where the rapist po­liticians of Goa do not get punished for long despite the desperate mother of Scarlett Ke­eling running from pillar to post, things start looking different.

When I consider the fact that a terrorist like Ajmal Ka­sab, who shoots down hund­reds in Mumbai and gets cau­ght red handed, is allowed a chance to defend himself and, in turn, throws up ridiculous arguments in court suggesting that he came to Mumbai to become a Bollywood he­ro, the argument in favour of crime tourism becomes ev­en more stronger.

And if you look at the amount the government is sp­ending to protect Kasab — unofficial estimates put the am­ount at Rs 35 crore till date — you begin to wonder. Kasab, incidentally, is probably more secure in Indian jails than he would have been in Pakistan.

Even in the high-profile attack on Indian Parliament in December 2001, despite the Indian government treating the case as an act of war, the case is still not closed, even after eight long years. Afzal Guru, the only convicted culprit, is awaiting confirmation of his death sentence.

And now the involvement of an erstwhile director general of police S P S Rathore in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case has only reaffirmed my faith in the enormous potential of crime tourism. Rathore, in 1990, was charged with alleged molestation of a promising tennis player Ru­chika Girhotra. He was the inspector general of police and the head of Haryana Lawn Tennis Federation.

Three years later, unable to bear the trauma, Ruchika killed herself. Nineteen years thence, in a court verdict delivered a few days ago, Central Bureau of Investigation's special magistrate J S Sidhu sentenced 67-year-old Rathore to six months rigorous imprisonment. In a clear mockery of the verdict, Rathore got instantaneous bail. Doesn’t this prove that in a country like India, it is almost certain that you can get away after committing gruesome crimes? We have had numerous such instances in the past wherein the country’s criminal justice system has proven to be spineless and ineffective.

In such a situation, the government should make the most of it and regularise the inefficiency of the entire system. Kumari Selja, please la­unch a campaign for crime tourism. Invite people who want to commit crimes to this country. Roll out a red carpet for them. Give them the tools and support to commit the crime. Be selfish and exploit the ineffectiveness of your colleagues in the home and law ministries.

In any case, they don’t ne­ed to do much more from a management perspective th­an what the state machinery is doing at present — that is, nothing. At least by promoting crime tourism, you will be able to raise some more revenue to ensure that we have enough in our coffers to take care of the idiosyncrasies of criminals such as Kasab.

I am sure if the Union government were to take my ab­ove recommendations serious­ly, it would be a sad day for all Indians. However, our grief will not be more than that of S C Girhotra, the desperate fath­er of Ruchika or that of An­and and Madhu Prakash, the parents of Aradhana, Ruchika’s close fri­end, who have been fighting a lone battle for 19 long years, only to see the criminal justice system and Rathore make a complete mockery of it.

The writer is a senior banker at HSBC. These are his personal views