That the upper echelons of the Indian establishment are filled with grand little men of feeble integrity or diminished competence—and sometimes even both qualifications—is one of the country’s best-kept official secrets.

Somewhere deep inside the innards of the system is a shortlist of our ‘Most Reliable Men’. These are names that can be counted upon to deliver via an inq­uiry commission or an investigative rep­ort exactly what the system needs when­ever there is a call for justice that cannot be brushed aside with silence, denial, threats or force. On the rare occasion that a crucial job ends up in the hands of someone ‘unreliable’—Justice B.N. Sri­kr­i­shna confounded the government by indicting politicians and police officers in his report on the 1992-93 Bombay riots—the establishment, which inclu­des leaders from all parties, closes ranks to ensure the findings are never acted upon.

The very fact that our governments and courts regularly set up...