Our much venerated justice system gets waylaid by administrative lapses, inattention or prejudice and fails to deliver justice.
This week, both the Upper and the Lower House of Parliament were rocked by protests of parliamentarians horrified by the brutal gang-rape of an intern in a southDelhiluxury bus. The demands of the infuriated and anguished members of Parliament included, among other things, changing the law to deal more stringently with rape, fast tracking courts for rape trials, better policing, firing the currentDelhipolice commissioner, and the death penalty for rapists.
While it is admirable that our MPs have shown rare unanimity in their condemnation of this hideous, barbaric act by hoodlums (except when shaming the Chief Minister and Home Minister over the deteriorating law and order situation in Delhi), it is perhaps pertinent to point out that among the many reasons we cannot deal effectively with rape, one is simply the general failure of our justice delivery system.
When in spite of an extensive administrative and legal apparatus our law and order mechanism routinely fails to deal with crime it actually ends up encouraging crime. And however much we may babble on about the death penalty and hanging rapists, as long as the conviction rates are low, the justice process moves at a snail’s pace and the investigation is untrustworthy, there is very little chance of protecting ourselves from any crime, including violent ones like rape and murder.
All overIndiathe conviction rates of criminal cases are declining. Some states are worse than others. Besides, the police do not complete investigations for years on end, which adds to the slowness of the law and order system. And justice is so delayed in our country that it is practically non-existent for most people.
A recent report by a Mumbai NGO Praja Foundation on the state of policing, shows how microscopic the rate of conviction really is. Of the 1,61,528 cases tried in courts in 2011, the verdict was given in only 8 per cent or 12,296 cases. Of these 8 per cent, a mere 17 per cent, or 2,082, cases ended in convictions. And a whopping 83 per cent cases have seen acquittals. Given this situation, there is no real reason for criminals to fear the justice system.
Given this background, one needs constructive means to stop crime, which must include both preventive steps and effective reactive steps that could act as a deterrent. The police are essential factor in both crime prevention and justice delivery. For which we need more police personnel as well as a more responsible and efficient policing system like what may be possible if the long-pending police reforms are carried out.
Merely increasing the severity of the punishment does not help. Every time we are shocked by the latest barbaric rape people demand the death penalty. This is not useful for two reasons. First because it may actually encourage the rapist to kill his victim thereby destroying her testimony, after all he would have nothing to lose and much to gain. And second, because even the Supreme Court has shown concern about the death sentence.
Besides, recently, 14 former judges appealed to President Pranab Mukherjee to commute to life the death sentences of 13 convicts. The SC admits that they were sentenced to death by mistake. Unfortunately, two other convicts who had similarly been given the death sentence by mistake have already been executed. Ravji Rao was hanged in May 1996 and Surja Ram in April 1997. And in an unrelated case, the Delhi High Court recently acquitted two convicts who had been given the death sentence, blaming the police for sloppy investigation. Mirza Nissar Hussain and Mohammed Ali Bhatt, accused in the 1996 Lajpat Nagar bomb blast that claimed 13 lives and injured scores, were acquitted of all charges.
The judge blamed “grave prosecution lapses” and “inefficiencies” including “lack of proof connecting some of the accused with the bomb incident, failure to hold TIP (Test Identification Parade) … not recording the statements of vital witnesses…” Further, the policework raises “a question mark as to the nature and truthfulness of the evidence produced.”
Hanging is not necessary to deter serious crime. Conviction is. The certainty of punishment and not its severity is what actually works. The fact that no one is punished for serious crimes for decades is what emboldens criminals. Nobody has yet been punished for the demolition of the Babri Masjid 20 years ago, witnessed by the nation on live television. Not the vandals who destroyed the almost 500-year-old mosque, not their leaders, not the goons who looted and killed during the movement. After
examining evidence for 17 years, the Liberhan Commission declared that it was pre-planned and held 68 people guilty, including Hindutva honchos and senior public figures.
They continue to hold public office, lead political parties, and be honourable members of Parliament. Not only do leaders get away with murder and other crimes, they are also worshipped for their muscle. The nation mourned when an architect of the anti-Muslim riots in Mumbai following the Babri Masjid demolition passed away last month. Bal Thackerey, who stridently invited and justified violence against Muslims, was given a state funeral and paid obituary tributes both in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, though he was never a member of Parliament. And Narendra Modi, widely believed to be the architect of the 2002 massacre of Muslims inGujarat, is lauded for good governance and projected as a possible Prime Minister.
Practically all culprits indicted by the Nanavati Commission on the 1984 Sikh massacre, the Srikrishna Commission on the 1992-93 Bombay riots, the Liberhan Commission on the Babri Masjid demolition and other such commissions roam free. Meanwhile, the Nanavati Commission, probing theGujaratmassacres of 2002, is on its 18th extension.
Our much venerated justice system gets waylaid by administrative lapses, inattention or prejudice and fails to deliver justice. Which is why politicians who have helped kill hundreds, even thousands, of Indians are rewarded with power and veneration, and mourned flamboyantly when they die. If we want to lessen crime we need to be serious about justice. We cannot have a make believe justice system and a dysfunctional law and order mechanism. If a criminal knows that he will definitely be clapped in jail he may wish to reconsider his act. If we want retributive justice, it must work every time and be the same for everyone. And it must treat rapists and political criminals accused of grievous crimes equally.
(The column will be back in itsold slot in the ensuing week)
