By Debdutta Ghosh
A debate about whether any delay in delivering justice by the Indian justice system can be used as a justification for extrajudicial killings by the State is raging in India.
Sparked by two incidents separated by place and time, this social debate has not only created a sharp divide within the country but has also raised questions about the Indian justice system and the attitude of the society towards delivery of justice.
The two cases referred to here are the infamous and gruesome ‘Nirbhaya’ rape and murder case of December 2012 in New Delhi, and the Hyderabad rape and murder case of December 2019.
It had been two years since the four convicts of the infamous and gruesome ‘Nirbhaya’ rape and case, perpetrated in December of 2012, were declared to be hanged by the Supreme Court of India. Two years on, the family of the victim is yet to see the order of the highest court of the country being executed. The four convicts have allegedly used provisions in the Indian law to make several appeals to courts over the last two years, seeking to reverse the hanging order, which has inevitably delayed the execution. The parents of ‘Nirbhaya’ have alleged that the convicts and their lawyers have been intentionally utilizing the legal provisions to delay the inevitable while they await justice for their child seven years later.
And yet in another recent case of rape and murder in Hyderabad, India, the parents of a 26 year old woman doctor, who was allegedly raped and set ablaze to avoid identification, were reported to be satisfied after four of the accused in the case were killed police firing within days of the incident. Critics have claimed that the four accused were intentionally killed by the police while they were taken to the scene of crime and had allegedly tried to fire upon the accompanying policemen.
However, following the incident on December 6 last year, there was massive public appreciation of the police act. A section of the locals as well as social media teemed with praise for the police for having delivered “instant justice”- all the while referring to the current position of the ‘Nirbhaya’ case.
“Justice delayed is justice denied”, said many.
These two very similar incidents, separated by a time gap of almost exactly 7 years, but with very different outcomes in terms of justice and the mode of delivering justice, have ignited a surging and broader debate throughout the country.
The debate over should justice for exceptional criminal incidents such as these two be delivered in the manner in which the Hyderabad police had allegedly delivered or should they go through the due process of law risking the delay as has happened in the case of ‘Nirbhaya’, rages on.
On December 6, 2019, hours after the Hyderabad incident of police shooting of the rape and murder accused emerged, there were at least 12 top trending hashtags on Twitter that hailed the ‘instant justice’ meted out. Hashtags such as #HyderabadPolice, #HyderabadMurder, #HyderabadHorror, #RIPDisha, #Sajjanar were among the top-10 trending hashtags in India.
However there are contrasting voices too. Many who criticized the police action referred ot the Universal Human Right which put the ‘Right to Life’ as being the foremost human rights of any individual. It states that the State does not have the power to arbitrarily deprive someone of his or her life.
Even the Chief Justice of India, Sharad Arvind Bobde, a day after the Hyderabad incident, said justice can never become instant because then it loses its character and appears like becomes revenge.
The Indian government on its part said that there are 704 fast-track courts for heinous offences and others in the country and the process of setting up 1,123 dedicated courts for POCSO and rape offences was underway.
However, the court proceedings of the ‘Nirbhaya’ case is continued to be pointed at by supports of ‘”instant justice”, as being one of the ways of delivering justice to such victims and their families. They point out to the lax in India’s criminal justice system and how it is exploited by criminals to delay justice even after it the top court of the country having conclusively decided in favor of the victims – pointing towards the ‘Nirbhaya’ case.
The debate rages on.
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