With 30+ people dead,
350+ injured, including 50 women in serious condition, and with a civil-war
like situation on the streets, after an unpopular verdict by a court; makes us
wonder: "was it worth it?". Was it worth it?
Everyone knew including
the court and govt of course, that an unfavorable verdict towards the cult
leader would lead to this situation. It appears govt and police tried their
best to avoid it and yet it turned out to be exactly the way everyone feared it
would turn out to be. Only, we are not sure if the court and govt
"feared" at all.
I tried to search
internet to get some particulars about the case. In April 2002, an accusation
was made in an anonymous letter that a woman including several others were
sexually exploited by the cult leader for "3 years". Although there
was no case filed by the victim, High Court ordered an inquiry in this case and
after sometime HC handed over the inquiry to CBI. The ordeal went on for 15
years; during the time the victims were married to other men and were reluctant
to share details. But somehow CBI was able to take statements of two women and
other parties. None of the media reports, at least during my internet search,
reveal about what proofs CBI collected, apart from of course the
"statements" of the victims and some others.
After the ongoing case
for 15 years, all of a sudden last month in July, as if due to a divine
intervention, the court ordered "daily hearings" in the case. After
daily hearings, arguments were closed and the cult leader was pronounced guilty
yesterday. None of the media reports reveal particulars of the case like what
proofs and evidences were presented, what were challenged, etc. In the era of
20-20 Cricket, we are now seeing "snap judgments". If justice delayed
is justice denied, I wonder what "justice hustled" should be called.
What could have been
done differently? First, there should not have been daily hearings given the
sensitivity of the case. Rushed emergency-like proceedings were expected to
"shock" the cult members, leading to social unrest and wide spread
speculations. Taking it slowly over at least 6 months would have kept the
tempers under control. Secondly, the proceedings of the case should have been
briefed to the media, so that people would be aware of and in-line with gravity
of the case, fairness of the proceedings and would not get shocked with what
was to finally come out. Third, if cult leader was pronounced guilty, verdict
on punishment should have been made on the same day, instead of giving 3 days
to the chaos and if there was a possibility for the accused to get a bail, his
bail application should have been processed on the same day. That would have
pacified his agitating and grieving supporters while still keeping the records
right.
As we know, this is a
CBI court and the cult leader can still go to a higher court to get bail and
challenge its verdict. So, was it worth it to let an impression be created as
if this was the last straw and that there was no road ahead for the cult
leader; leading to mass protests and violence?
Coming to media; while
I read news report, I read how the cult leader worked extensively against
social evils like drug addiction, helped families financially during daughters'
weddings, worked a lot for women empowerment, etc. That does not help build a
public opinion against the accused. And media reports which are totally lacking
the particulars of the case proceedings, add to the chaos of anxious
supporters.
To me, this whole
episode appears to be a man-made disaster. While trying to uphold the
"justice", the court rushed to decision resulting in shocked
reactions of supporters. And worse - this is a trend. Centuries old practice of
"triple talaq" was abolished abruptly after the court said it would
do "daily hearings". I wonder what has gotten over the judiciary that
it is rushing to give most shocking verdicts in most unexpected hurried manner.
Next in line can be Ayodhya case which can go the "daily hearing"
mode. Are the courts comforted by a strong national government at the center?
No matter what the source of this "over confidence" is, it is a
recipe of disaster.
Not the verdict
themselves, but the manner in which these verdicts are being rushed to, needs
review of the judiciary. Given the law and order situation in our country,
communal harmony has always been the top agenda of our governments. But all
these recent court orders which are being rushed to are linked with communal
and religious faiths.
We can hail the court
verdicts as victory of justice but we can't afford to lose our men and women
like this. Justice for the sake of justice, ignoring the realities of the time,
leading to mass violence and destroying the communal harmony in our country
appears a better candidate for delaying rather than having it now and leading
to disasters.
I would prefer justice
delayed but taking public opinion along with it, rather than justice hustled to
and leading to mass violence and protests.
I don't think it was
"worth it" to have 30 lives lost and social unrest invited over the
last 24 hours.
Let peace prevail.
- Rahul
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