New Delhi: African-American singer Akon crooned "You can put the blame on me" after simulated rape with an underage girl onstage at a club. But champion boxer Mike Tyson took a different tack.
The enraged boxer famously spewed after being convicted in 1991 for raping a 19-year-old and serving three of a six-year imprisonment: "I just hate her guts… Now I really want to rape her and her mama."
On a good day, it must be great being a celebrity (even if they would have you believe otherwise) and get away with a verbal threat with an intent to harm.
But at a time when international organizations are becoming increasingly intolerant of misdemeanors, (remember the rise and fall of John Galliano?) private companies and courts are no longer prone to looking the other way when a public figure gets embroiled in a scandal.
Take the case of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Despite contradicting accounts by the defense of what led to accusations of a sexual assault on a chambermaid at a New York hotel, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund is forced to step down under tremendous pressure while he is hauled away to an infamous holding facility in the United States that had once housed the assassin of Beatles frontrunner John Lennon.
Do celebrities get away with sex crimes?
At the peak of his career pop star Michael Jackson fought an ugly and protracted court case of molestation of a minor boy at his Neverland Ranch. The late singer was acquitted in the highly publicized case but it hugely dented his image.
In the relatively uncluttered justice system of the West, where appeals are dealt with quickly and injunctions are granted to protect the privacy of the innocent, public figures are tried as any other man.
The persecution by an unrestricted and vociferous media is however, an entirely different story. A public figure, responsible for his actions to the people who have put their faith in him, is forced to answer tough questions as the media takes a zero tolerance approach towards sexual harassment.
As Strauss-Kahn is denied bail on the plea that he is at flight risk and the people of France is divided in their sympathy towards the French economist whose ambitious plans of running for president of France next year, may have to be shelved for the time.
Do orgnisations look the other way?
Strauss-Kahn had faced a controversy in 2008 over an affair with a female IMF economist who was his subordinate. He apologized for an "error of judgment" and in an internal probe of the affair the IMF chose to look the other way.
However, it is not always the case with high-profile international organizations that have stringent multi-level clearance to screen high level appointments, Yasmeen Hassan, deputy executive director of women's advocacy group Equality Now and a former UN employee told the Reuters news agency.
But the system is vulnerable and top leaders sometime escape scrutiny. Ruud Lubbers, a former Dutch prime minister who became head of the UN refugee agency was accused in 2004 by a US employee of unwelcome touching. Although an internal report supported the allegation - which Lubbers denied - then UN secretary-general Kofi Annan ruled it could not be substantiated. Lubbers resigned in 2005.
Brilliant lawyers who know the system
Often public figures, entangled in messy sexual scandals, seek brilliant criminal lawyers who know their way around the legal system better than most.
Strauss-Kahn has hired Benjamin Brafman, famed for helping celebrities in serious trouble. Brafman, known for either winning cases at trial or negotiating deals, represented Jackson in the child molestation case in 2004 and won a not guilty verdict for rapper "P Diddy" Sean Combs on illegal weapons and bribery charges in a nightclub brawl and shooting that was witnessed by over 100 people.
A public scandal is enough to finish off a career of a politician in the West. Former US President Bill Clinton went through an impeachment trial by the House of Representatives in 1998 on charges of misuse of office in the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal case. It was a major blow to the political career of the charismatic Clinton.
Corporate bosses tread on thin ice in dealing with sexual harassment cases as hiring policies enumerate clearly the world over, a stringent code of conduct for employees.
In third world nations
In third world countries and those under a military, authoritarian regime, things have moved sluggishly and inaction in cases of sexual misconduct cases is often the norm. A backlog of cases in its criminal courts, lack of competent lawyers, an insensitive management and political and monetary clout that often enables an offender to buy his way out of legal muck, all stack up to repeat offenders often getting away with a slap on the wrist or less.
Onus of establishing guilt
Also, in most of these countries, the onus of establishing guilt often lies with the victim who faces social persecution when he/she reports a sexual harassment case. The people in positions of power in populous third world countries are rarely persecuted for sex crimes unlike their counterparts in the west.
Former Israeli president Moshe Katsav, after a year-long trial, was sentenced to seven years in prison for raping a woman and harassing two staff members. However, in 2005, when rape charges were filed by his deceased friend’s HIV affected daughter, South African president Jacob Zuma claimed it was consensual. The court jury found him not guilty in 2006.
Often suspected sex offenders opt for out-of-court settlement or flee the country to avoid being charged. Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski fled to France after being charged for raping a 13-year-old. He pleaded guilty to having sex with a minor, but never returned to the US.
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