It is bad enough that our Judiciary system is pathetically slow, and has an abysmal rate of conviction, and that too after a couple of decades has passed. We should be thankful that the understaffed, onerously slow moving judiciary finally manages to get someone convicted.
And once that happens the tamasha starts.
Of late, people have taken a vicarious pleasure in subverting the judgments of the Courts.
Take the case of Yakub Memon, who was a mastermind of the Mumbai blasts two decades ago. He was given a fair trial, appealed, lost, appealed again, lost again, filed a review petition, lost, sought pardon from President, denied, appealed against that, lost, sought pardon from Governor, denied, appealed against that, lost, went back to President, denied, appealed..............................am sorry if your mind has started spinning by now, but that is more or less how his case went. Though many might say that he did not deserve all these chances, there is no denying that he got a fair trial, and deserved to get the Capital punishment, as long as Capital Punishment exists in this Country. One would expect all right thinking Indians to respect the judiciary, but heck no! Out came the NGOs, Social workers, Left Liberals, Media and scoundrels who made such a noise that the judiciary was made to look a tyrant, when in reality it was Yakub who was the heartless villain. One might have given a benefit of doubt to the protesters that they genuinely believe Capital Punishment is wrong, and it has to be done away with. I have no objection to that. They are entitled to their view point, just as I am entitled to mine. But they don't have the conviction of belief. If they had, they would have followed up after Yakub's hanging, and tried to have the law changed. But we haven't heard a peep from them since then!!!
Same is the case with the release of the Juvenile convict who was released yesterday after serving his sentence in the Delhi Gang Rape case. I do agree that he should have got a longer punishment morally. But we need to abide by the law of the land. As usual there was lot of noise, with street protests against his release. This is absurd. Everyone knew he cannot he held back under the current law, and even if the law were to be changed, it cannot be applied retrospectively. If the protest is for ensuring the law to be changed in the future, it is fine. But the tone and tenor of the protests do not indicate that. They wanted Supreme Court to disregard the law of the land, and pass a verdict that is illegal. This is dangerous. Of late we are witnessing lynch mob mentality amongst Indians, encouraged by the media (for selfish ends of increasing their TRP ratings and to boost their relevance which is fast eroding), and this should be addressed and rectified at the earliest.
The laws are there for a reason. It may not be perfect. But as a democracy, we need to abide by the laws that are in existence and should not give space to those who try to subvert them for their personal opinion, personal ends or even political ends. Because, then it will lead to anarchy. We can't let it happen.
