I shall come back to it, but first thing first. Like many people in the country, I also deplore the fact that Sheik Hasina went to jail. I am not sad because she was taken to jail. I am sad because she had to go to jail. It is possible that she has been arrested on trumped up charges. May be she is the victim of a conspiracy. May be she is guilty as charged.

Over the last few days I have heard some of the most ludicrous comments. One politician argued over the statutory limit. He said that one couldn't be tried for a crime committed in the period before the relevant law was passed. His view was that charges against Hasina may have become time barred. I didn't quite get him. For god's sake, we are not talking about an ordinary criminal, but a leader of the people, a moral icon, who should remain accountable at all times.

Then there are the unhappy others. Some of them aren't happy because, according to them, there was no need to arrest Sheikh Hasina. There are others who are doubters. They believe Sheikh Hasina could do no wrong. They are full of conspiracy theory and paranoia.

Their beloved leader is surrounded by enemies who are trying to destroy her, the colleagues from her own party, evil schemers from the government, and perhaps foreign powers who would like to give this country back to the anti-liberation forces.

Not to say these concerns are not real. Experience over hope, we have seen how politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen have subordinated this country to their greed, how they have plundered its economy doing whatever it takes, covering up murder, taking bribes, sucking up to foreign diplomats, running business syndicates, doing extortions, selling formalin-laced fish and adulterated food, their acts contrived and condoned in the hierarchy of gangland protection, each standing over other like an umbrella, wholesaler over retailer, godfather over wholesaler and leader over godfather.

I understand that part. But someone needs to explain what is so wrong if Sheikh Hasina, like many other politicians and businessmen, was picked up from her house, taken to the CMM court, denied bail and sent for detention. So many others, although less luminous, have been dealt in the same manner. Why should it be different for her?

I personally believe that one shouldn't be taken to jail until that person is convicted in the court. The complaint should be investigated, merit of the case determined and then the trial held while the punishment should come at the end of this long process of justice.

Unfortunately, that is not how the law works. Last week, we read about a mentally-challenged young man who was arrested and thrown into jail because he had the same name as a suspected drug dealer. Sheikh Hasina was Prime Minister of this country, the leader of the opposition more than once, yet she never tried to change that law.

Why should we look for an exception for Hasina? I can understand those who don't believe she is guilty. I can understand those who claim that she is just a victim of another plot. But I don't understand those who claim that she should get preferential treatment, tried without keeping her in jail. Then what about other prisoners who have been arrested on the basis of similar charges? Shouldn't they be sent back to the comfort of their homes? They can sip on tea or coffee until the verdicts are announced.

Now let us talk about double standard. This is about saying two conflicting things in the same breath. I am amazed how many people say that they want new reality, yet hesitate when time comes to reorganize the molecules of the world. W.B. Yeats wrote about the Irish Revolution in 1916, "All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born." The double-standard mind loves to preach the beauty, but hates to practice the change.

That is a symptom of atavistic mind which lives in the coils of feudalism. In my lifetime I have seen one human being carrying a chair on his head and following his feudal master, who, surprisingly, was another human being.

The chair was placed on the ground where the master wanted to sit and picked up again when he moved. The familiar scene in the village was that the master sat on the chair, raised above those he came to listen to him sitting on the ground.

I understand that some of us are still carrying that chair on their heads. They want to see their leader placed above others, treated differently and with dignity. It is called respect. The Sicilians speak of a "man of respect" who can hurt, even kill others to enforce that respect. The Japanese believe that respect emanates from the densities of the unspoken.

And that offers two choices to get Hasina out of jail. One is the Sicilian way, when the mob can attack the jail and bring her out. The other is the Japanese way. She can fight the case, prove her innocence and win the hearts of millions whose heads shall bow in respect.

My request is to put down the chair and relax. Democracy is about having that chair in the heart, not on the head. Let justice take its own course. If Hasina is proven guilty, we shall break that chair. If she is innocent, we shall embellish it. This is her chance to earn respect as a leader. Admirers, lackeys and supporters of the world, don't blow it!

Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a banker.