Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Instant Justice

I read this piece of news on indiatimes :

ALWAR: In one of the quickest trials ever, a fast track court in this Rajasthan city Wednesday sentenced B.H. Mohanty, son of a senior Orissa police official, to seven years' imprisonment for raping a German woman. "The court found Mohanty guilty of the crime under section 376 (of the Indian Penal Code) and has sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment and also slapped a fine of Rs.10,000 on him," a police official said. Mohanty's counsel Rajeev Bhargava said: "We are presently studying the case and would certainly file an appeal against the judgement in a higher court soon."
Mohanty, an MBA student in Delhi, had raped the 26-year-old German research student on the night of March 20. Police in Alwar arrested Mohanty on March 21 from the Khairthal railway station on a complaint by the German woman. He was produced before a local court the next day and was remanded in judicial custody for 15 days. On March 31 a medical report was presented before the court and trial began on April 1.
Last year in May, a 47-year-old German tourist was raped and robbed by two auto-rickshaw drivers in Jodhpur. The two were found guilty and given life imprisonment by a fast track court in 16 days.


Ok, so now we know it is possible to get justice in India in record time. Gee, aren't we so proud of our country?

But wait a minute. What has happened to those thousands of Indian rape victims whose files have been shoved under more files, dirty and untouched?

Yes, I'm quite pleased that the German women have got the justice they deserved. But what wrong have the Indian victims done? Maybe they should have been born German or something else.

I ask a simple question.
Why are processes delayed and justice denied when the victim is an Indian? Why do the perpetrators go scot free?

Is it because Indian women do not deserve justice? Is it because the judicial system is worried of a tarnished reputation when the victims are from another, more powerful nation?

We can only hope that Indian victims will be given equal importance as victims of other nationals.

19 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good one. I think the reason should the pressure the External Affairs ministry might have exerted on the police. Anyway, it is good for a start.

4/12/2006 9:50 AM  
Blogger dharmu said...

hey apy,
dont think too much,
just sue them...
in US, we do that all the time...
sorry....in US we do only that !!!

4/13/2006 11:01 AM  
Blogger Dev said...

@apy: thats the way the system works... nice na?

@dharmu: so u're a US citizen already? hmph.

4/13/2006 10:18 PM  
Blogger Deepak said...

The answer is simple. If the government does to the outsiders what it does to Indians, it loses a major portion of its revenue due to lesser number of tourists.

As for the case of Indians, they just don't give a damn.

4/16/2006 2:36 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

its not just about the judiciary. Here everything from the beauracracy to the legislature is corrupt.
What can u expect from a system where killing a black buck evokes a fine of 30,000 and raping a foreigner evokes a paltry 10,000 Rs fine.....
ppl who shoot women in bars get away scot free....well the more u think of it, the more frustrated u get.

4/17/2006 2:27 AM  
Blogger seeker said...

Picture this: You have this nice and velvetty table cloth of your own. A green one, with lil' white flowers on it. And then, you have this nice and velvetty pink table cloth that you borrowed from your neighbor, for a while, to please the guests who arrived this evening. A lil' rascal amongst the guests unwittingly (so he claims) pours black coffee on both of them. "Green one be damned!! Good God!! Lemme make the pink one nice and velvetty again!!"

Middle-class mentality? Maybe.

India - the land of Freedom, Opportunity and Justice. That's what "we" [Indians & NRIs] want the west to believe. And we're working on it. I guess every third world country will work on it.

@anoop: Black Buck and Raping a woman are two different scenarios. One can't compare them.

4/19/2006 2:24 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ms. Mallya,

I'm not the type to rat on others (like *cough cough* dev) but you should probably take a look at our blogs :)


Innocently yours,

M

4/19/2006 8:55 PM  
Blogger Aparna S Mallya said...

@vk
i guess it makes sense to have an internal affairs ministry then.

@ dev n dharmu
dev there u go, putting the blame on someone else, as usual ;)
dharmu, sueing in india is like waiting fr yr oldage.

@ deepak, what abt if the govt does fr the insiders what it does fr the outsiders?
indians r damned alright.

@anoop
yep, we r a frustrated lot. but the ppl up there r a contented lot.

@prasil
nice point, but u cannot compare a table cloth to a woman either, buddy.

@mel
am looking at yr blog right now ;)
was a li'l busy off late, hence cudn't read yr posts. u know, i don't wanna read yr posts in a hurry, wanna give them all the time they deserve :)

4/19/2006 9:58 PM  
Blogger Aparna S Mallya said...

@mel

hey! now i know why u asked me to read yr blog!! dev's gonna get it frm me, and how!

4/19/2006 10:08 PM  
Blogger dharmu said...

@apy- what made u address "dev & dharmu" in ur comment when we both have given different opinions ?

politics, injustice,,, i reciprocate...

@dev- well, in a few days ill get my green card ! and after that alimoney hopefully !

i am good at sueing, doing a major research on them...

4/20/2006 9:13 AM  
Blogger seeker said...

:-|

*blink*

4/20/2006 10:35 PM  
Blogger Aparna S Mallya said...

@dharmu
dunno why. plz don't sue me ;)

@ prasil
*blink* 2 u 2

4/20/2006 10:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Apy glad you stopped by :)

Incidentally, about this post - I think it's a great thing that justice is being served even if it seems to be with partiality.

... Somewhere back in some sick man's head hopefully it'll make a difference before he tries raping any woman Indian or phirang.

4/25/2006 10:51 AM  
Blogger Aparna S Mallya said...

@mel
yeah, hope so ...

4/26/2006 5:34 AM  
Blogger Mind Curry said...

you are right...cant really think of any logical answer..except pressure from the respective embassies..i mean, what value does an indian passport or life have anyway..

also i just remembered the staines case in orissa. i think it dragged on for years..indian ishtyle..

4/27/2006 10:48 AM  
Blogger Vasu the terrible said...

absolutely....

I think a bad reputation abroad spurs them into action more than justice.

Though I am glad atleast one rapist got convicted. It is certainly not enough.

We have a long way to go and hope India has a special rape courts.. which has to deliver justice within one month for any rape case.

Lets create a 1000 such courts.


vasu

5/05/2006 12:18 AM  
Blogger VIZAG - Youth For Equality said...

Justice delayed is justice denied.. but these law enforcers don't seem 2 understand it...

5/10/2006 1:23 AM  
Blogger Aparna S Mallya said...

right, @ mind curry and bharath.

vasu, that sure looks like a good solution but is it ever going to happen?

5/10/2006 1:27 AM  
Blogger Jagan said...

very much true in whatever u have mentioned.. But do u think that the indian women are gonna give a description bout whatever happ at that fateful night..?

5/10/2006 4:13 AM  

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