The
Pain Of Instant Justice
By Gladson Dungdung
22 October, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Though
Kerala state in India is known for total literacy, it was a horrible
experience of the ‘instant justice' for 40-year-old pregnant woman
Jyoti and her two kids, who were stripped and beaten up by a mob accusing
them of stealing a golden anklet of a child in the vicinity. The ghastly
incident took place in a busy market of Edappal in Malappuram district
of Kerala on 7th of October 2007, when a customer raised an alarm, saying
her child's golden anklets had been stolen. Soon after the incident,
Tamil-speaking vagabonds were noticed outside the shop.
Suddenly a mob gathered, Jyoti and her kids were made to undergo a forced
body search but the missing ornaments were not found on them. The angry
mob began to attacking them, Jyoti even displayed her bulging tummy
to her attackers pleading for mercy but they kicked and beat her mercilessly
for 45 minutes. The kids were also treated alike. They were left on
the road unattended for nearly an hour and a half. All three were seriously
injured. As usual the police witnessed the incident as mute spectators
and finally they took them to the police station instead of hospital
to complete their quorum. The action was not taken against the culprits.
The irony is that the government authorities opened their eyes only
after the local TV channels breaking the news. The Home Minister asked
to the Central zone Inspector-General Vijayanand to probe the case,
thereafter a high-level police team visited to the spot. Two policemen
were suspended and five persons were arrested immediately. The Kerala
State Human Rights Commission also took suo moto action on the matter
and sought an explanation from the Director-General of Police Raman
Srivastava and directed the District Superintendent of Police P. Vijayan
to appear before the Commission on October 25.
It was not only Kerala but
the entire country shocked by the cruel incident. The matter of instant
justice is not uncommon in India but one gets upset only because having
lost of faith on the Police and the judiciary, people are taking laws
in their hands instead of making the governance accountable. As a result
the series of incidents of mob attacking are reported from the different
parts of the country, where many innocent people have paid the price
of instant justice with their lives. The incident of instant justice
was highly noticed in the country when a petty cash thief was severely
beaten by a mob and dragged by cops in Bihar followed by lynching of
10 thieves (according to the investigation report, they were not thieves)
at Dhelphorwa village in Vaishali district of Bihar in September 14.
Bihar once again bagged the
medal of defamation after the Dhelphorwa incident. It seems that the
state is becoming a laboratory of instant justice. The data of last
two months (August & September) shows that in 13 incidents of mob
attacking, 30 people were targeted, 27 of them lost their lives and
rest 3 fortunate guys survived. The data of the last year also has the
same story. Coincidently, 25 people had been lynched by mobs in the
month of August and September last year. Its neighboring state Jharkhand
has also followed the path of Bihar with the lynching of 20 people in
last two months (August and September). The west Bengal also has many
old stories of mob attaching and now the Kerala has began to run on
the same track.
The system of instance justice is a big threat to the existence of the
civilized society and the system of governance. There are also incidents
of instant justice which was justified by the so called people of the
civilized society. How can one forget about the lynching of five Dalits
in Jhajhar of Hariyan on 23 of October 2002 for skinning a dead cow?
The incident was justified by the Sangh Parivar; even the Sadhus had
organized a big Rally in support of lynching of Dalits by claiming that
a cow is purer than the Dalits. The City Magistrate and the DSP had
admitted that they were present on the spot when the five persons were
lynched. But have the real culprits punished? Why have people not punished
who supported the inhuman act of lynching Dalits?
The question arises that
why people are following the path of the instant justice? Is the system
not working? Or have the people lost their faith on the governance?
The answer may be found in another heartbreaking incident of a rape
case which took place in Delhi on 26th of July 2007. 25-year-old Roopa
was allegedly raped by Pawan Tyagi who had murdered Roopa’s husband
and was in Jail. Once he out on bail, he allegedly raped Roopa Having
run from bottom to top she hasn't been able to get an FIR registered
even after the three months. The Delhi Police also did not conduct a
medical examination. In this circumstances how can one surprised if
Pawan Tyagi could have lynched by a mob? Who is responsible for the
situation created for Roopa? Whether the Police, the Judiciary or the
society as a whole?
There are many incidents
where the Police have played an indirect role in promoting the heinous
crime of instant justice. When the National Human Rights Commission,
the Media and the Human Rights Organisations began to expose the inhuman
treatment of police i.e. torture, in front of the society, the Police
sought another way to punish the criminals. The police used to ask mob
to kill the accused because now a day they can not beat or kill in fake
encounter. “Torture is necessary because criminals do not tell
us the truth” says an IPS Officer Amit Kumar. He also questions
that why the human rights organizations do not question when the human
rights violation committed by the non state agencies? In many cases
police asked for money for the filing FIR and they refused who did not
pay them. This is how the Police function. If a rape victim is denied
for filing FIR in the Police Stations how can one imagines for a big
thing for Police to do?
Inaction and inability of
police, corruption and inhuman behaviour, and the failure of governance
and judiciary are the reasons enough to flourish the incidents of instant
justice. Now people are tend to believe that they will not get the justice
in the present system of governance, which pressurize them to draw the
inspirations from the instant justice system of Naxlites. Precisely
because they have made acres of lands free from the clutches of land
lords by the instant justice system. It does not end here the police
always act in the favour of the big wigs and the poor are always at
the receiving end. Therefore the whole fight is between the haves and
haves not, pure versus impure, and the powerful versus the powerless.
After the Kerala incident the country feels shame but do the people
of law enforcement agencies join the core? The inhuman act of instant
justice can not be justified at any cost but even after that it will
continue till the law enforcement agencies realize their roles and accountability.
Gladson Dungdung
is a Human Rights Activist working against the Police Torture
in Bihar.
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