Hyderabad encounter: Has justice been served?
A 27-year-old girl was brutally raped, murdered and charred to death. For no fault of hers. Four men were killed in an encounter. For a crime they committed. Has justice been served? Yes and no. There are so many stakeholders, so many vantage points, and there are no easy answers. The onus is not on you and me to wrong the right, we are helpless, mute spectators.
For her parents, her family
Novelist William Gaddis, pointed out, "You get justice in the next world. In this one you have the law." For the family of Dr. Disha, politically incorrect as it sounds, everything failed them including God. She didn't deserve to die like that, nobody does. Going by how the accused in the 2012 Nirbhaya incident still await their death sentence, law would have certainly failed them. From their vantage point, this encounter staged or otherwise, seems justified.
Her father is absolutely right
For you and me
Benjamin Franklin said, "Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are." So, for you and me, who are not directly related to Dr. Disha, the justice has been served. As fellow humans, we were outraged by what happened to her, and are disenchanted by the judicial system. Even if it is akin to a banana republic, we look for instant justice in rarest of the rare cases.
Sometimes, you see hope at the end of despair
For the police
Justice is violent to the party offending, for every man is innocent in his eyes, said writer Daniel Defoe. The Telangana Police can justify their actions. Perhaps, they did act in self defense. But, lest we forget, they are the same cops who earlier asked the victim's mother "if Disha had an affair, and later directed us to another police station citing jurisdictional issues."
Cops failed on all counts
The job of the cops was to prevent such an incident, they failed. Their job was to look for the missing victim, they failed. Their job was to let the courts decide the future of the accused, they failed.
For the politicians
Men often mistake killing and revenge for justice. They seldom have the stomach for justice. Clearly, in this case, our politicians weren't looking for justice. Otherwise, how would BJP justify welcoming the rape-accused MLA in Goa? Or the fact that it took them 2 years to expel rape-accused MLA Kuldeep Sengar? 40% of our lawmakers face criminal charges, including murder and rape. Their war cries, in this case, were a way to divert attention from their incompetence.
For the judiciary
The biggest letdown, in all of this, is our judicial system. None of us, including our politicians, have any faith in the judiciary.
Why have they not taken any action in so many cases? How many more Nirbhayas or Dishas do they want?
To MiLord from a commoner, If we you do not maintain justice, justice will not maintain us you.
