Politically speaking, our diplomatic image matters a lot right now. We would not want to harm our ties with many nations just because they find another reason to hound us with human rights violation cases. Since the trial has been fully open and fair, we actually stand to gain a lot of diplomatic respect and have a strong case for giving him any sentence we wish to. IMHO, 31 crores spent was worth it. TOI would run this type of sh1t story of course.
In journalism, the worst kind of stories are page 3 stories and ones based solely on statistics.
our diplomatic image has been good, but that has not helped us much, apart from bringing us word of mouth appreciation. No country wants to support us on core issues like kashmir and dealing with pakistan.
We should have had a no-nonsense, tough policy with regards to terrorism and separatist activities from the start, now its too late to adopt such a stance.