|
|
Analysis
In 2006, Courts Put the Fear
of Law
in the High and Mighty
by Rana Ajit
New Delhi, Dec 26 (IANS) The year set
to end will be remembered as one when the judiciary put the fear of the law in
the high and mighty with a series of high profile convictions that sent out a
powerful message that justice was not beyond the reach of common citizens.
Six convictions came in quick spate in the closing months of 2006. While all of
these were horrific crimes, the sentencing of the killers of two young women -
Priyadarshini Mattoo and Jessica Lal - evoked a huge sigh of relief across the
country as the trial courts had initially let off those charged with the
murders.
Then, coal minister Shibu Soren was jailed for life for the 1995 kidnapping and
murder of his aide Shashi Nath Jha, BJP MP Navjot Singh Siddhu was handed a
three-year sentence in a 20-year-old road rage killing, and Delhi's woman
councilor Sharda Jain was jailed for the abduction and murder of a male
colleague with whom she was romantically involved but who shifted his affections
elsewhere.
And Rishi Prakash Tyagi, a retired Delhi Police officer of the rank of assistant
commissioner, was ordered hanged for his role in the death in custody 20 years
ago of a youth accused in a petty crime.
Quite naturally, the convictions made it to the front pages of newspapers across
the country - with the verdicts in the Mattoo and Lal causes grabbing the
maximum headlines.
The lives of both women were cut short in their prime by two wayward and
pampered youths of well-to-do and well-connected families. While Matto lost her
life to the carnal lust of a fellow Delhi University student Santosh Kumar
Singh, a senior police officers' son, ramp model Lall was shot dead by Manu
Sharma because she refused him a drink at the fag end of a party.
With society at large and the media expressing outrage at the acquittals in the
two cases, the Delhi High Court stepped into the picture and ensured justice was
done. After a retrial, Singh was sentenced to death and Sharma to incarceration
for life.
The legal community views this spate of convictions as "steps in the right
direction" aimed at "putting the fear of law in high and mighty."
"Obviously, these convictions are right judicial steps, which enforces the fear
of law in high and mighty people as well," said former minister of state for law
and justice Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Former additional solicitor general K.K. Sood echoed his views, saying: "It is
the judiciary's message that rigors of law exist for the poor and rich alike.
Such steps embolden the people's faith in the rule of law and justice."
Even judges R.S. Sodhi and P.K. Bhasin, while sentencing Manu Sharma, had
commented adversely on the trial court's verdict acquitting him. "We are of the
view that this case is one that has shaken the confidence of society in the
country's criminal justice delivery system," they had observed.
Terming the trial court's judgment as "perverse", the two judges had passed
stricture against the concerned judge, now elevated to the Delhi High Court, for
"making undue haste to achieve a particular end, namely acquittal".
Such strong observations could trigger questions as to whether the lower
judiciary is vulnerable to manipulation and susceptible to various pulls and
pressures.
Said Sood: "It certainly points to the malady plaguing at least the lower
judiciary. It does indicate the vulnerability of judges in yielding to various
pulls and pressures."
Like the capital's courts, others elsewhere in the country took their own small
steps aimed at enforcing the fear of law. In Bihar, which often hogs the
limelight for its lawlessness, a court in Rohtas district took a unique step to
dispel the impression.
Rohtas district Additional Sessions Judge Arun Shrivastava in July convicted an
alleged rapist in what could be the fastest-ever trial of a criminal case.
Srivastava concluded the trial in just two days, convicting Gajendra Chowdhary
for raping a minor girl last December.
The lightening speed of this trial left the legal community gasping for breath.
They wondered if the judge sought to moot this new concept of
"justice-hurried-and-justice-buried" as an antidote to what is referred as
"delayed-and-denied-justice".
Beyond these headline-grabbing convictions, the justice delivery system
continued to be plagued by heavy backlogs in high courts and lower courts across
the country.
While the official figures put the number of various types of cases, including
criminal and civil litigation, pending in the lower courts at over 25 million,
the backlog in the high courts is over 3.5 million.
To reduce the workload of the lower judiciary, the government had set up over
1,400 fast track courts, initially for five years and later extended to 10
years. But even this has not made much of a dent in reducing the number of
pending cases.
Top | Analysis
The Week of December 24, 2006
Indo-Pak
Peace Talks: Moving on the Wrong Track by Rajinder Puri
2006 : The Year of Indian Diaspora by Aroonim
Bhuyan
Bloody 2006: No End to Violence in 2007 by
Col. Rahul K. Bhonsle
Words Meaning Changes and Misuse by Bush & Bin Laden
by Gaurang Bhatt, MD
In 2006, Courts Put the Fear of Law in the High
and Mighty by Rana Ajit
Can It Be The Beginning of The End of Partition?
by Amulya Ganguli
A Bold Judiciary Augurs Well for the Nation by
Maxwell Pereira
A Samuel Pepys of Emergency India by V.
Sundaram
Which God's Own Country by J. Ajithkumar
Communist Turnaround : From 'Land to Tiller' to
'Land to Tatas' by Amulya Ganguli
Communalism or Affirmative Action by Ram
Puniyani
Counting on People by Swapna Majumdar
A Tribute to a Poet by V. Sundaram
Urban Floods: Bane for
the People by VK Joshi
Tackling the
Water Crisis by Mini Sharma
In Quest of Space Colonization by Subra
Narayan
Psoriasis by Dr. Savitha Suri
Toxic Blood by Yasmin Rimi
Investing in Indian Real Estate: Is Your Checklist
Complete? by Sandeep Donald Shah
Why is Literature Indispensable for Human Life?
by TA Ramesh
Three Cheers for Thuggee Raj! by V. Sundram
Recognition for NARI's Work - A Report
The Village Bride of Beverly Hills a Book
review by K. Bharati
A Lonely Christmas in Jerusalem Shoshana
Kordova
Exposing the Hidden Half by Devindra Kohli
Porn & Mainstream Media Boundaries have become
Blurred by Elsa sherin Mathews
Mothers' Help: Home Surveillance Systems by
Gagandeep Kaur
Kerala's Feisty Fisherwomen by Nilanjana Biswas
Maternal Mortality: Civil Societies Call for Action
by Anil Gulati
The Olympics in London by Rajesh Talwar
|
|
