"Kanoon Ke Haath Bahut Lambe Hoote Hain". A much publicized dialogue during the Bollywood days of 1970's and 80's. It symbolized the fact that law did catch up with you, escape was not an option as one day the "Prodigal Son" of a much "Beaten Up Mother" would arrive to confront the villain and kill him much to the weeping joys of his Mom and Wife / Finance. But then the time taken, unlike the movie which is limited to 3 hours and Vijay (The Son) transforms to ACP in no time and justice prevails (Minus the romanticism), by the Police Force in India takes an average of 10 years to bring someone to justice. The case of the SPS Rathore, who in 1990 sexually molested a 14-year-old girl, Ruchika, took 20 years to get solved. And if that wasn't shameful enough the perpetrator of this crime gets a jail sentence of six months and a 1,000 rupee fine. He leaves the court smiling, saying he will appeal. And I am not even counting the years of mental and physical torture borne by the family over the 20 years done by Rathore to keep a seal on his misdoings.
The "Holy Grail" of justice in India is a 150 year old penal system which till the unfortunate incident of Ruchika had no account of child molestation crimes. The system presently is being reviewed. Thanks to the huge media outcry regarding the 6 month jail sentence and 1000 buck fine the government has finally shaken up the system and seems to have agreed that hooligans such as Rathore belongs to the dungeons and are not meant to roam around in normal civilian surroundings. What is also a refreshing change is the CPAC (Central Police Awards Committee) have announced that Rathore and scums like him would get stripped of their Distinguished Service Medals. But then justice for Ruchikas family comes late. This should have been done way back in 1990 which would have allowed a 14 year old to live a normal life. Instead the mounting psychological trauma led her to commit suicide. Stripping Rathore of a medal now wont do any deed to the already beaten up morale of Ruchikas family.
For that matter even Rathore isnt completely to blame. The system allowed Rathore to find loopholes and having found out such he merely twisted the case around. Rathore successfully managed to use his official position to escape from punishment. He used his connections in the political system to cover his dirty tracks and harass Ruchikas family to an extent that they had to flee to Panchkula. In some way the Taliban is better than us when it comes to serving out justice. If Rathore was to commit such an act in Afghanistan he would be promptly marched to a public place where his "Genitals" would be chopped off. I doubt he would be stoned to death a "Living Example" would create more terror. The IPC unfortunately serves up ZERO terror and MAXIMUM tolerance. "Priyadarshini Matoo" , "Jessica Lall" are all standing examples of the uselessness of the IPC to convey terror. In light of Hard Irony the "Rich and Influential" pose as perpetrators of injustice and it is their terror that kills a many precious life and shatter the generations of victims who plea for justice. The terrifying P's , Police, Politician & Public Servant nexus is so strong these days that not even the higher echelons of the judicial system dare to touch them.
Like Rathore and the System even the society is much to blame. In Ruchikas case especially the school instead of lending moral support framed false allegations of late payment of fees. The school actively plotted against Ruchika. The official reason for her expulsion was non-payment of fees. The school had actually refused to accept her fees. No notice was given to Ruchika for non-payment of fees, as is the school's normal procedure. The school's brochure stated that non-payment of fees can only lead to being disallowed to take exams. Then seeing is burden of lies toppling the school came up with another allegation of "Indiscipline". For Rathores lawyers this was a god sent gift as they very well used it to question the poor girls character. God help the students passing out of the forsaken place. For the Jessica Lall case too there were people who changed statements more number of times than a chameleon would have changed colours all its life.
There has been talks about reviewing the judicial system in order to see that repeated miscarriages of justice such as Ruchika's and Jessica Lall's does not happen again. What we really need to review is the weaknesses and perversities in the laws which govern our country. What also lacks is the will of the state and the support of the society, once that lacuna is plugged the guilty will be punished.
