Delayed Justice

In response to the post 'Fair Trial', Mahesh uncle wrote in saying that "... A delayed judgement, based on fact, procedures and wisdom is of little consequence to the victim... " (Link below)

http://meghna-perspectives.blogspot.com/2009/01/fair-trial.html#comments

Another example of delayed justice can be seen in the Bombay High Court’s judgement lifting the ban on the film ‘Deshdrohi’ which was banned in Maharshtra for 60 days on November 12, 2008, based on a report submitted by DIG Rashmi Shukla which said that film would lead to further tension in the state which was at the time witnessing riots against north-indians.

The court lifted the ban saying that the State cannot transgress the fundamental rights of citizens because of its inability to control situations. One of the judges also stated that it is important in a time, when we are vulnerable to violence from outside the nation, to reaffirm commitment to our core values.

This is wonderful and I’m glad that at least the judiciary is displaying a sense of right and wrong and is taking steps to correct the wrong being enforced. The same judiciary, however, lets the person who is at the root cause of all the tension, roam free… and that too based on the language of the speech which is worded such that it can’t be held against him. Maybe I’m dense, but what is so obvious to the whole world cannot be dismissed. It doesn’t matter what language is used; what matters is the purpose and the outcome. It’s high time we stop allowing injustice to go unpunished based on technicalities.

Anyway, coming back to the point of delayed justice, it is interesting to note that the ban was imposed on November 12, 2008 for 60 days and the judgement for lifting the ban has been delivered on January 9, 2009; exactly 58 days from the date of the ban.

- Is the judgement even relevant now considering that the ban was for 60 days to begin with?
- Does it take that long to see a movie and decide if it will lead to tension or not? The DIG saw it once and decided against it.
- I don’t know but perhaps the judiciary shares the views of the state and decided that it would be safer to play out the time frame in giving the judgement and then claim to uphold the rights of the citizens.

In any case, as the bench itself noted, the film was released in other states and the DVDs of the film have been available all over without a single incident having occurred. So it is most certainly not a question of people being incited; it’s more a question of political parties staging such incidents to gain political mileage (which they won’t.. but..). It’s time the judiciary and the security forces get their act together and ensure a safe, secure, peaceful and fair living environment to the citizens.

I’m not a fan of the actor-director of ‘Deshdrohi’ nor am I going to watch the movie. I do believe, however, that as a citizen his rights have been curtailed and that we must all realise that tomorrow it could be one of us.. and soon it may be all of us.