Of Jessicas, Manus and Courts!!!
Sabrina Lall first cries out and then has Champagne. Manu Sharma’s home(s) is (are) quiet. The High Court finds lower courts judgment ’self contradictory’ and convicts Manu Sharma.
Manu Sharma will either be given a lifer or a death sentence. But he will go to the Supreme Court, with one of the best lawyers in the nation, Ram Jethmalani.
But who will take care of the scars of different people: A father, who died waiting to find legally who killed his daughter. A sister who suffered loss of both with one murder. A prime witness ( Bina Ramani) who was arrested, humiliated and put in jail for almost 10 days. A 19 year old who grew up being called coward by everybody.
Will a death sentence do? Will a lifer do? What purpose will it serve? Frighten people who tend to kill… or make them more careful about making murders. When I see/read news about such cases, and the verdict going on the side which the news media believes, it reminds of the movie Chicago. The lawyers make use of all the news media and win a case. No I’m not supporting Manu Sharma here…but what does it say about our nation?
Does the judgment mean that:
1. that trial courts bend to ‘power’- as in this case… Manu Sharma is a son of Former Haryana Minister and son in law of Former President Shankar Dayal Sharma, yeah the same president who used to visit Tirupathi two times a year
2. or that High Courts bend to news media – remember news media went on a campaign against Manu Sharma
I might hurt millions of Indians, and the courts might put me in jail…but question is …is justice done…
Appellate Judgment is fine, but judges are humans too…they might err and give judgment that are ’self contradictory’. But who will take actions against them? And in this case, if when Manu Sharma appeals… what are the chances of Supreme Court calling High Court’s judgment ‘Self Contradictory’?
Who will find if these ‘Judges’ are hundred percent correct. Again, it reminds me of a Japanese movie, ‘Rashomon’, where after a murder, everyone involved has a different story to tell.
Is our constitution, that was designed 55 years ago, good enough to tackle the new age problems? I’m not sure if all the 93 amendments have bettered our life.
Do we have the infrastructure to deal with Jessica Lall kind of cases?
Do we have enough sensible and courageous people?
What’s the guarantee that Manu Sharma won’t be let out on Parole?(Remember Orissa DGP’s son BK Mohanty under seven years imprisonment for raping a German woman went home on a parole and never returned until media made big news out of it.)
What’s the guarantee that Bina Ramani’s, Zaheera Sheikh’s will be safe after the judgments are all passed?
Who will answer these questions? A PM who is an MA DPhil and yet approves of a new reservation bill just for political reasons…or a President whose tenure is about to be over.
God save India… (oh by the way may be we should fight to decide which God – a Muslim
God or a Hindu God or a Christian God)
Few words cross my mind…of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee…and I present them differently
Mother, I bow to thee!
Rich with thy ministers sons,
Bright with their mischief lights
Cold with your policing lives
Darkness is the only sight,
Mother I bow to thee
I’m sorry Aurobindo ji and sorry Bankim Chandrajee…but that’s the situation of your India now…
I thought I should stop this here …but ‘hope’ in me says:
Mother I bow to thee
Even if it is darkness I see
Jessica’s Case is only a relief
In the way out of this long running melee
Mother I bow to thee!
“Justice delayed is Justice denied”
All this shows loopholes we have in our judiciary which we are still not able to fix after 59 years of independence.
“I thought I should stop here this…but ‘hope’ in me says:” – True, this is what keeps us going
Amit
20 Dec 06 at 2:12 am
When one talks about judiciary, not every thing is as straight as it looks. It is a play that evolves through many stages. And so I agree with you when you show skepticism in the legal procedures and the political underplay but I guess the campaign that media did for it was one way of giving voice to all those tongues that had no means what so ever or no clue how to express one’s opinion.
In this age when the fire to voice their opinion among youngsters kindles fast and also dies fast, as they think (thanks to the media itself) there is someone already ready to do the job so why should they bother, this is one major step(don’t know if right or wrong)towards re-establishing democracy in India. Though delayed, the judgment leaves hopes for others. Not that such delays should be encouraged!
sowmya
21 Dec 06 at 5:22 am
law was always like this in the past, present and will be in the future
irrespective of time, place and person, whether it was in dwapara
yuga or treta yuga, whether it is in india or usa, whether it’s
son of a king or a begger. How is it possible to give a precipitos
judgement instantly? truth itself comes out ultimately; i dont think
the assassin/convict is at peace all through this process; he is
the one to suffer the most traumatic phase, unable to understand
why he committed the crime in a rage( in this case which was not a
a preplanned murde, the crimemaker was inebriated and did the
crime for liquor( if am right), and this delay in judgement is the
most rigorous punishment possible; by giving a physical punishment
whether to the extent of hanging, how is that judgement has
served, could it replace the grief of the victim’s relatives/ could
it bring back the victim;
what has shankar dayas sharma to do with all this?it’s not he who
did the crime, and how is he going to TIRUMALA anything to do with
all this
if court gives decision, u say it bent to media; if it doesn’t
u say judgement is delayed.
in all cases the defendant may not be the sinner! every possibility
is there that innocent may be convicted.
stithapragna
22 Dec 06 at 10:12 am
Well, There are some issues you and there are some issues……
I was reading this work of fiction some time ago (the setting is the Los Angeles Police Department) and the protagonist is this dashing detective who is working hard to solve a twenty five year old murder mystery. As the events turn out…our man finds himself zeroeing on the supposed murderer of a ten-year old. The LAPD duo cracks into the “murderer’s” shabby little trailer and asks to speak to him. Surprisingly the guy starts confessing to the killing and starts spelling out the details voluntarily. The funny part of the whole narration is the trouble the experienced detective starts imagining in the courtroom even if the guy confesses….the next twenty odd pages are the Hero’s ruminations on how the lawyers are going to free the guy even if he confesses. And rightly so, the next twenty pages are replete with all the defensive steps they need to take to ensure the legitimacy of this confession.
I just cited this example to underline something beyond the traditional whipping boy,,a.k.a the ‘judiciary’…..and mind you this was a pretty realistic description of the judiciary of another large democracy!
There are many problems with pointing fingers at the Judiciary.
These are complicated times where the Judiciary handles an incredible number of cases and an equally incredible number of complications per case. Now couple this with the lazy government office attitude among the court employees and add the essential red tape into how quickly things are processed and of course don’t forget the corrupt offices, lawyers, politicians, the police and you name it.
Now it takes anyone with an IQ below room temperature in Alaska to realize what this potential mixture results in…..Delayed justice….as someone rightly said!
The judiciary is one of the distal points reflecting the corruption at the grass-roots level in our society. In other words….the courts are a mere reflection of how all the other things in our country are….just that an inefficient judiciary can really hurt at times and yes…can inspire some sensational headlines….justice after fifty years….justice after hundred years and so on…..So, I think we should stop blaming the judiciary and look at points more proximal to the courts, the very defects in our system of governance, this society itself that breeds such inefficiency and corruption.
Rahul
26 Dec 06 at 10:24 am
Thanks Rahul for the comment…
True…our society itself breeds inefficiency and corruption…and that itself tells why we need to change…how sooner can we do is the question…
I will remember this comment for a long time to come…
SKPeta
SKPeta
26 Dec 06 at 9:46 pm