Justice delayed is justice denied!

The recent verdict acquitting the suspects in the Jessica Lal case again highlights the many ills facing our legal system. The "eyewitnesses" turned hostile in the court and the "honorable" judge threw the case out without looking at the circumstantial evidence. What was more appalling was the fact that the verdict was reached in a matter of days, when we all know how long a typical case takes to reach a verdict at our esteemed courts! What more proof that India - the world's largest and a vigorous democracy - is thundering ahead as the fastest growing economy!!!!

In fact, this case has received so much attention because of the people involved in it. The victim, the suspects and the witnesses all belong to the very-well-to-do segment of the society. Imagine what would have happened, if the bartender had been someone from a different section of the society. Probably the verdict would have been the same, but would it have created the same level of uproar among us? We probably would not have even heard about the case.

All this made me think - do we still remember any of the high profile cases and their verdicts - where the victims were not so fortunate to have good connections? I did a quick google search to find out the status of some of the cases that I remembered reading in the newspapers many years back. Here are some of them and their current status:

Ramesh Kini Case: Kini's landlord, Laxmikant Shah, was trying to get Kini out of the flat. He (Shah) happened to be a close friend of Raj Thackeray. One evening, Ramesh Kini was found dead in a cinema theatre in Pune. His wife told the police that her husband was regularly threatened by Shah, Raj Thackeray and another Sena man called Ashutosh Rane. She said Ramesh had left home saying he was going to the Shiv Sena office. The next thing she knew was that he was found dead in Pune. Raj was questioned by the CID while Shah and Rane were arrested. Soon, Saamna growled a warning from Shiv Sena to the government and the CM addressed the assembly saying that Raj was innocent. Now this was in 1990. The status of the case - Verdict by an additional sessions court in 2002 - Shah and his son were acquitted for want of evidence. I am not aware of any action after this.

Syed Modi Case: Syed Modi, a national level badminton player was shot dead in 1988. Sanjay Singh, a UP Minister, was accused of being involved in it due to an affair with Modi's wife. As of 1990, Sanjay and the wife were acquitted, and in 2004, the remaining were acquitted for want of evidence. I am not aware of any action taken after that.

Priyadarshini Mattoo case: In 1996, Mattoo was found strangled to death in the bedroom of her South Delhi apartment with 19 injuries on her person. Santosh Kumar Singh, son of J.P. Singh, currently Inspector-General of Police, Pondicherry, harassed Mattoo in January and February 1995 and again in August, November and December that year by stalking her, telephoning her at her residence and at a hospital where her mother had been admitted, and stopping her car and shouting at her. Mattoo lodged police complaints against him, following which he apologised to her. She was provided with a personal security officer by the police on the orders of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, but Santosh Singh continued to harass her...and then she turned up dead! In 1999, the judge acquitted Santosh Singh, pointing to lack of evidence and inadequacies in the investigation. No news after that! Last heard, petitions were being signed to reopen the case!

Also, there are the more recent cases of Satyendra Dubey and Manjunath.

...and the list goes on. Now I have been only talking about the relatively well publicized cases. I am sure there are many cases which have not collectively merited even a column in any newspaper. Also, everyone knows about the direction that the Bofors investigation and the Tehelka case took, not to mention the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Narmada Bachao Andolan and so on.

The typical responses to these verdicts have been the same - our justice system sucks, our police are not equipped to conduct a scientific investigation, our cops are not paid enough, blah blah...and that is the end of the discussion. However, Shouldn't we be more proactive and work with people who are ensuring that justice is served to the affected parties? Shouldn't we demand for a reform of the judiciary and the penal code to ensure that the courts do not take 14 to 15 years to "realize" that the investigation was not carried out properly? I have not seen any petitions or movements to get this done. Please, if you know of any such agencies / organizations, let me know. I would like to participate in this noble cause.