Law’s delay is an accepted reality. But some people do not get even delayed justice; and some unfortunate persons fail to get justice even up to their death. There was a recent case of delayed justice and justice after death.
Remember the 2006 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai trains which claimed 179 innocent lives. The police version says that 12 Pakistanis descended on Mumbai and conspired with scores of local Muslim youth, who committed the most heinous and obnoxious crime of murdering innocent citizens in Mumbai. One strange thing in the police version is that the said foreign terrorists disappeared without leaving any trace. Police does not explain what happened to those 12 Pakistanis (unkozameen kha gai yaaasmannigalgaya?).
As usual several hundred Muslim youth were rounded up. Many of them were severely tortured and forced to confess their ‘involvement’ in the crime they had never committed. Then some of them were selected as the real perpetrators.
After prolong trial the Sessions Court gave its verdict. Six accused were sentenced to death and 13 were given life term. After 19 long years in jails the Bombay High Court threw out the case, and declared that the evidence was false and set all the 19 youth free. The court declared that none of the accused was responsible for the ghastly crime. Now the question is who are the real culprits who were responsible for this heinous crime. It is for the Mumbai police to explain why it could not catch the real culprits. We are forced to conclude that the police knows who are the real culprits. It is impossible hoe the police could not reach the real perpetrators.
The cases of innocent people who are being falsely accused of crimes are steadily increasing. The legal experts and human rights activists must demand compensation for the wrongly arrested and tortured innocent victims. The investigating agencies and law enforcing officers must be held responsible for false accusations.
Reports indicate that one innocent accused, whose innocence and non-involvement was confirmed by the High Court, had died during the trial. His family members took the verdict and read it out at the grave of the exonerated accused. It appears as a joke or a sarcastic comment on the delivery of justice in India?
One more case of JNU student leader Omar Khalid and eight other co-accused is being highlighted by media. These nine young people, including two women students, are behind bars for around five years. The accepted principle of judicial system that bail is the rule and jail is exception is brazenly being flouted. In this case, even after about five years even the charge-sheet has not been filed. Eminent lawyer Kapil Sibal claims that if the case is heard sincerely, the innocence of all the accused in the conspiracy of Northeast Delhi communal riots would be proved false and they would be honourably released. Is it not a travesty of justice that in this case the Supreme Court of India postponed the hearing for bail more than at 12 times. Media takes this case as an example of prejudice against young men and women who belong to the Muslim community. It is extremely painful that our High Courts and the honourable Supreme Court are being accused of prejudice and miscarriage of justice.
What do the Home Minister Amit Shah and the police department want? The proceedings of this case have reverberations all over the world. Recently the New York Times also published a detailed article about this case. Former CJI D.Y Chandrachud, during his tenure had stressed that injustice should not be done even in the case of a single citizen. Let the judiciary and the legal community awake and do their duty to stop injustice and uphold the spirit of the Constitution and honour the highest standards of delivery of justice without delay.