Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Is the Indian Judicial System a farce?

With the recent flow of shocking events, I’ve lost all faith in the Indian judicial system. A professor gets beaten to death, on camera, by a bunch of hooligans and the latter walk away scot free; a woman gets murdered at a bar in front of hundreds of people and instead of punishing the murderer, the bar owner is targeted and harassed for not possessing the correct liquor license! What the hell is happening to our country? Have we all become blind? Why aren’t the culprits being put behind bars even when the evidence is right in front of our eyes?

In Prof.Sabarwal’s murder case, the poor guy and his colleagues were clearly threatened on camera by ABVP and NSU activists. The Chief Minster’s reaction to the murder is that it must have been an “accident”. The camera doesn’t lie. Has he no conscience? BJP is just trying to squirm away from the whole controversy by saying that those who have committed this heinous crime were never a part of their party and that they have nothing to do with them. The CDs that bore the evidence of the murder were clearly doctored. Nothing is gonna happen to the case. It will just lie like a dirty old sock in the last drawer. This entire furor in the news channels will go on for while and once another high profile murder/investigation comes into the picture, the cameras will pan in the other direction, forgetting that there was one Mr.Sabarwal who did not deserve to die such a gruesome death.

Jessica Lall and Priyadarshini Mattu. Two names that we’ve heard a lot over the past few years. Why? Because their cases too still lie in the can, waiting for re-trial. The person who shot Jessica Lall in front of hundreds of people is getting away with it cos he is the son of a high profile politician. Apparently, justice is not being done because there is not enough ‘evidence’ pointing towards him. All those who bore witness to her murder, have turned hostile because of threats to their lives. Ms.Mattu’s case is all the more depressing because the judge who chaired the first trial has said on record that he knew that the person on-trial was in fact the killer, but he had to be acquitted just cos of lack of proper evidence. What is this country getting to where people committing un-forgivable crimes get acquitted?

The public came out in support of Ms.Lall and Ms.Mattu’s families. Why can’t they do the same for Prof.Sabarwal? I believe there’s strength in numbers. The only thing that can save this country right now is unity.