Justice for Jessica - I

When the lower court acquitted accused in the Jessica Lal murder case a concerted campaign started in media to ensure that justice is delivered.

Recently Meher Bhargava was killed in Lucknow, allegedly by people having connections with the ruling party and there is an intensive campaign in this case too, to ensure that guilty is punished.

I support such efforts, I hate it the very thought that there are people who go scot free after committing such heinous crimes.However I am afraid that such activism misses the point by a large margin and the reason I think the public is missing the point is this, the above cases are not the exception, but the rule.

What happened to Jessica and to Meher Bhargava, happens everyday in India to many Indians, it is a symptom of dysfunctional law and order machinery on one hand, and this is also symptom of dysfunctional society on the other hand.

Cases both criminal and civil remain in waiting list in the courts for years, sometimes even decades. Even if the cases come up for hearing, it is only after years that any verdict is passed. The reasons for this sorry state are both institutional as well as social. Our judicial system is structured in such a way to benefit the offender and harass the victim. First it is impossible to get the dates for hearing, if a date is fixed it turns out that judge is on leave or lawyers are on strike. If both are working then the defendant is absent because he has not received the summons (or in many refused to receive the summons, if you are mighty then there are lots of ways to duck the laws) or he is sick (on death bed) or he has some excuse. If he manages to appear then in the allotted half an hour or one hour, there is useless legal sparring and then case is adjourned for a date next month. That is what happened in case of Jessica Lal case, the verdict took more than six years.

And delay is the least part of it. There is a perception in middle class that judiciary is corruption free, nothing can be far from the truth. Lawyers are easily bought; public prosecution has been known to sabotage many cases, then the judges themselves can be influenced by various means available.

This is only half of the story; equally serious (if not more) is the issue of intimidation. Defendants are threatened with dire consequences, witnesses are harassed. This happens with the complicity of law enforcement, more often then not it is the law enforcement which is the perpetrator of the crime.
In short Indian Judiciary is rigged in such a way to delay and deny Justice to the weak, far from protecting the victim, it more often than not aggravates the hurt.

Then there is the social side. All said and done, India remains mired deep in feudalism (this is one of the few point where communists are correct). The only principle that applies is “might is right”, and this not only in some godforsaken village in UP or Bihar, this is also the reality of Delhi and Mumbai. Connections and influences are license to break laws and shred the social norms. Murder and rape, anything is forgiven if your daddy or uncle is a high flying politician/businessmen/bureaucrat. Heroes have a very short life and they remain unsung. There is only one way to survive in this society, to put on the blinkers, bear the tyranny of strong and filter out anything which is inconvenient.
Cowardice has become the better part of discretion. We have turned into cowards, and the worst part is that we know this too well. We realize our weakness and bet on chance that we or our family will not be a victim of predators. For actual victims, we only have indifference, to mask our deepest fear.

Can it be cured? I think yes. But even if it is possible, the first and absolutely necessary step is to admit the problem, to recognize that Indian judiciary needs restructuring, more than that, respect and fervor for equity and justice has to be established as a social value. That human dignity is not negotiable, has to become a cornerstone of modern India.

And it is in this respect that present activism is misguided. We are just treating the symptom and not curing the malaise. Even if Jessica Lal and Meher Bhargava get the justice, the sorry fact remains that countless victims will continue to be denied justice by our almost defunct Judiciary. Even if one were naïve enough to try, it would be impossible to focus on each and every denial of justice.

Case in point while Jessica Lal became a rallying point for middle class, case of Bant Singh was by and large ignored. His daughter was raped and he was assaulted by strongman of upper caste for filing a complaint. As a result, his arms had to be amputated, a fate worse than death for a common Indian.

This was rightly pointed out by the blessed half (one of the rare moments when I could agree with them), ofcourse that they missed the point is to be expected.