India is a poor country not because it has no resources but because a large proportion of the people who are tasked with managing those resources give their jobs the short shrift despite elaborate procedure and infrastructure built over years. The result is that we fail to meet the legitimate aspirations of people in every sphere of governance, administration of criminal justice included.
Every sensible Indian would share the anguish expressed by the Allahabad high court at the tardy investigation in the Nithari serial murder cases. Acquitting the two persons sentenced to death in cases of murder and rape, the court found fault with every step of the investigation process, including collection of evidence and recording of statements. It reflects very poorly on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India’s premier agency which investigated the case.
The CBI, manned by some of the best brains in the country, owes an answer not only to the relatives of 19 women and children, but also the nation as to how it managed to bungle up in a case where skeletons were found within and outside the housing compound of the defendants.
There is a disturbing pattern all over the country where persons accused in cases which attracted public attention get maximum sentences in the lower courts but go scot free when the higher courts subject the pieces of evidence to the rigorous requirements of justice. The investigators must look into this and make amends so that the parameters of the judicial system are fulfilled.
Monumental state failures in the conduct of criminal prosecution have of late created a new section of society which cries for instant gratification; these people prefer encounter killings to a court sentence. This, too, is a dangerous trend that has the potential to undercut rule of law. The government and the investigative agencies have a responsibility to ensure that the guilty is brought to book without fail even when upholding human rights. It is indeed a tough job, but a job that must be done whatever it takes.
