The Godhra Train Carnage occured on 27th February 2002, in which 58 people returning from Ayodhya were burned alive. The verdict has come today, 22nd February 2011, in the Trial Court - a full 9 years after the incident. Now the appeal starts. First in the HC and then in the SC. This delay is what makes a mockery of our justice. During the past 9 years, the victims family members would definitely have been reliving the harrowing experience every day. Now they have to endure for another decade before there is closure in the case. Ditto for the accused. There were many who were acquitted including the prime accused. And many of them were in the jail as undertrials all these years. Is it not unfair on them too.
Recently there was a case in Kerala, where the erstwhile Electricity Minister R Balakrishna Pillai, a retired Board Chief Engineer and a Contractor were sentenced by the Supreme Court for corruption in a case that took 30 years. I know the concerned ex-minister well, for he was the bete noire of my father who is no more, but retired as an Executive Engineer in KSEB. The concerned minister had harassed my father no end, and we all knew he was corrupt to the core even then. My father died thinking there was no justice in this world, when the minister was allowed to go scot free on many a corruption scandal. The saddest part is that the ex Ministers sentence was reduced from 5 years RI to just 1 year, citing 'delay' in the case. The said ex minister is 76 now, and the retired CE could not be jailed because he is 81 and bed ridden with dementia. If only, the minister had been punished severely 15 years back, it would have sent a strong message to other ministers to not indulge in corruption, which is rampant everywhere. Any punishment is a deterrent not only for the guilty, but also for the society at large.
Compared to this, the Kasab case has moved quickly. In a couple of years he has been found guilty by the trial court and then the HC. But it will be a few years before he is finally hanged. He can appeal to the SC and then there is the question of mercy petition to the President. He will be 30 in the waiting list of mercy petitions as and when he applies, and Government has adopted a policy of 'first come, first served', only hitch being President taking a decision on the mercy petition only once in 3 years, which means a decision on Kasab will be taken only after 90 years. Even otherwise, no one expects him to be hanged for at least another 10 years. And last heard, the Government has already spent Rs 45 crores on keeping him alive!!!
Our Courts are understaffed. There is a distinct shortage of judges from SC down to the munsiff courts. This when the need of the hour is more courts, as the population has increased drastically. Our current judicial infrastructure is not a great improvement of what existed 40 years ago. More modern courts, fully staffed, computerised and time bound trial are the need of the hour.
Will someone listen?
