Life Term: A Ploy to Defeat the System

Two verdicts, that attracted a lot of public interest, have come out within the span of one week related to cases of rape and murder. One, the Priyadarshini Mattoo’s case, where the apex court has commuted the death sentence pronounced by the lower court to life term, after a prolonged legal battle that took 15 years. The second, the Pratiba Moorthy’s case, where the fast track court, which took five years to complete, also pronounced a lifer to the taxi driver in a similar case.

The court ruling has given a rude shock to the public. Judiciary, the last remaining ray of hope for the common man, has begun to prove time and again that it is also slowly becoming part of the grand nexus between the rich and influential groups and that the common man has to fend for himself. If you can visualize what kind of agony and trauma these young girls would have undergone during the crime and their families thereafter, even the capital punishment is too little. I do not know if the judge would have taken a different stand if the victims were his own daughters.

Life term is nothing, but a ploy to defeat the system. The media has been playing a crucial role in unearthing cases which would, otherwise, have been buried by the system, but their role is limited to seeing that the law enforcing agencies are pressurized into action. Public memories are short and the whole episode will be consigned to history as time passes.

After waiting for a few years, the cases are either reopened for dubious reasons or, on occasion like Gandhi Jayandhi or a minister’s birthday, when clemency is granted to a few prisoners, these anti-social elements serving life term find their way out citing good behavior, etc. as reason for their release. Then they are free for the rest of their life. What more can we expect from the legal system in this country where even convicted terrorists like Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab enjoys a wonderful life.

Singapore is an example to follow. The crime rate is almost zero there because all citizens are equal in the eyes of law regardless of how powerful or influential you are. The time we take for each case, the minimal punishment with which the criminals are let off the hook, easy availability of bail for any crime and inability to carry out the court order is making a mockery of our law and order system. The citizens have to unite and initiate a mass movement against such judgments to secure the life of young girls.