RJD’s grave offence

• The recent incident in Bihar where Laloo was caught on camera distributing Rs 100 notes to Bihar voters should be considered one of the gravest violations of the Model Code of conduct.

— Gaurav Dua Delhi

Crime and punishment

• We wish to express our strongest consternation at the manner in which the MMS/Baazee.com cases are being handled by Delhi Police. We specially condemn the arrest and continued detention of Avnish Bajaj, CEO of Baazee.com. Anyone who knows how the internet works also knows that it is nearly impossible for any site operator to control what its members do. The implied liability being attributed by Delhi Police is untenable. This is akin to making Microsoft liable for the junk porn that we get in our Hotmail mailboxes. Next time Bill Gates comes to Delhi, some cop may actually arrest him. While we recognise the seriousness of the issue and condemn such activity, we also condemn the manner in which this case is being treated. Avnish Bajaj is not a criminal who needs to be kept behind bars. He had brought nearly $25 million (Rs 100 crore) to India for Baazee.com and has led the company through risky times to being a successful venture. It is such of flawed rule of law that encourages Indian talent to migrate and remain abroad.

— Abhishek Singh Hardoi

• Aropos of the editorial, ‘Cyber waves’ (IE, December 21), are punishment and education mutually exclusive alternatives? The boy has committed a crime, and has “injured” other people. If his punishment includes some sort of restitution to his victims (and an apology), surely that would help to educate him about the harm he has done.

— Karen Norrell Atlanta

• The clip was on the website for quite some time, and I can bet the employees of Baazee.com must have noticed that. It’s not easy to miss something like that. I can bet this arrest, will prevent numerous other website owners from publishing this clip and any other like it in the future. The arrest of the guy I feel is not even half as bad as to what he did to the girl. He is not a kindergarden kid. He consciously taped the girl and then forwarded it! Why? He wanted some fun, so what’s the big deal if the fun just got little sour. Punishing him will at least ensure that others will think a hundred times before doing anything similar to any girl. And you want to criticise the police! Why the hue and cry over everything the police does?

— Pawan On e-mail

• We need to sit up and take notice of the manner in which mobile phones have been put to use by young people recently and to explore ways to respond to it.

— Venkat C.V. Thane