A man was killed and four others were injured when a Toyota Land Cruiser ran over few pavement dwellers when they were deep asleep. That was in september 2002. The case was decided this wednesday on 6th of May 2015 in a sessions court in Mumbai. It took 13 long years to decide a case of rash and negligent driving. He didn't even have a driving license when this accident took place. It is a telling story of our creaky Justice system.
As if to make fun of the poors and justice system of this society, he was even granted bail interim bail for two days. Then, as it happens in most cases involving high profile people his sentence was suspended in a blink and the Dabang star walked free. It's not as if Salman is the only man getting special treatment. There's plethora of cases corresponding to sleazy crimes of Tejpal to commercial crimes related to IPL-as was being investigated, murder of Sunanda Pushkar to Pujya Asharam ji. It seems every case is being manipulated for certain political or commercial benefit. It is commodification of justice and crime in our society. There's a very high profile case related to National Herald's property transfer. But just notice the snail pace of justice in our country, every year we hear about these cases once or twice, and life goes on. Salman makes his movies garnering millions of rupees, Tejpal is free and Dr Tharoor still continues his politics! Okay, just understand it now cases related to National Herald, Robert Vadra land deals and Bofors were all politics and they are having nothing to do with any living or dead person in this world.
FIVE CATEGORIES
There are actually five categories of crime being committed in our society by five types of people. we can also classify them as class due to their inherent attribute and place in society. These crimes consists of and are committed by respectively, poors, middle-class, upper class celebrities, minor politicians,VIPs and businessmen, very powerful industrial magnets and business leaders, and de facto rulers and elites.
Poors
These are the most vulnerable and abused section of the society. All power is wielded in their name but they themselves are most powerless, weak and neglected part of our society. People who matter and who control the destiny of all of India always invoke the name of the poor to run massive programs but the poor has never been able to climb out of the deep and dark hole of poverty from time immemorial! Now, coming back to the point of justice, when these hapless people are caught in petty cases of food theft or anything that deserves not more than a reprimand are condemned to jail without bail and trial. It is not that they do not have the right to these services but simply is a matter of economics. That poor man cannot afford to pay for the bail and pay for the trial process to lawyers, police and various cogs in the system to oil them and get his way out to freedom and liberty. He simply remains condemned there till some human rights group or the SC intervenes to release them after many many years. There are many cases that can be quoted here. But, I encourage the readers to find it themselves.
The Middle class
The proverbial middle class is the backbone of any country. They are the most awakened, hardworking and upwardly mobile population of any society. They are also very clever and conserve energy for their betterment. They usually keep an arms length distance from the justice and police system of our society. They know this wisdom right from the colonial days that once you get into net of justice and police then God forbid, you will become the most unfortunate man in the whole village or town. Your hard earned money will vanish in no time. The land of your forefathers will be gone in a matter of few months. And he will be reduced to a beggar almost instantly. This does not mean that they do not commit crime. They commit crime but they know the trick of the trade to come out of the net of the system by oiling the bureaucracy and the justice system. This group remains vigilant but it is still very mobile and ambitious. Hence, they get caught in the system and fight it out till they regret they bout with the justice system of the society.
Upper class celebrities
They are sometimes part of the upwardly mobile middle class. When they are caught doing any wrong, then outrage starts in media and people discuss their cases threadbare. Some support them some loath them. That becomes part of the gossip circle and kitty party talking point in urban areas and metropolis. There's a talk of category like PLUs and PLTs. These acronym simply means "people like us/them". The outrage and talking point is actually about TRPs but they also talk about the bad condition of justice and police system in our country. Salman's case sadly falls in this category only. His victims are very very poor. They don't care about his jail or bail term. They just seek some help to carry on with their life. They don't care if he should go to jail, they just want some monetary help from the super star. The wife of the man killed just wishes some help so that she can raise her family and children. She just says, whatever has happened cannot be reverted back. JUSTICE IS DELAYED!
Politicians, VIPs and Businessmen
These are also kind of celebrities but they are more powerful and enjoy more state patronage and they hold sway over administration at local level and sub-national level. They enjoy life, liberty, freedom almost unfettered. They have connection to the upper level of powers that be and has a direct sway over the levers of power in regional and national capital and in media to have a discourse as per their interest. They usually pay for their services. The crimes committed by them are usually classic cases of impunity and brazenness. Manu sharma's case immediately comes to mind. Another is Tejpal, yet another is Sunanda's murder mystery.We all know how these cases shaped and reached their logical conclusion. Well, most of them are still in trial phases. JUSTICE IS DELAYED!
Industrial Magnets and Business leaders
Their crimes are usually white collared and financial in nature. By chance if they do get caught in such a situation they are helped by the police and administration to clear their names and erases out the event from the public domain. MEDIA do not cover these events or cases of criminality. We hear of some accident done by scion of Ambani clan just like Salman. But, everything was cleared within days and media maintained pin drop silence. In another case involving property dispute between Ambani brothers, no less than SC was involved in amicably resolving the dispute. It was hilarious as well as instructive. In other cases too, Radia case is very important with respect to lobbying and fixing the ministry to work for the Business houses. Recently, we hear of the industrial espionage conducted by some business houses against the government. These involved stealing government policy documents from the ministry. Some lower level officials have been arrested and investigation is still in the preliminary stage. We can't predict what will happen but remember we have no reasons to be positive either.
Rulers and elites
Cases involving upper echelons of ruling classes are just for political oneupmanship. They are neither jailed nor worried about these trifles of system of society.They are for the general masses, they don't worry for it. They have whole system working for them. Even if they are out of power, they have levers of power working for them almost everywhere. Here cases need not be sighted, they flash in daily news and usually scams are named after them. as if they were some government program of poverty alleviation. criminal cases are impossible to file against them. Only civil cases that can be termed political are filed and political mileage is taken out of it. A very high profile case against a scion of high profile big political party was dissmissed by SC when they were in power is an apt example. Justice can't even stand in front of these powerful people.It remains a blindfolded figurine ready to be misled by smooth talking brilliant liars. Oops! I meant LAWYERS!
CONCLUSION
Idea and ideals of Justice are totally contextual, depending upon many things including sense of entitlement, connections -social and political, and influence, not withstanding any divine constitution or law of the land. Indeed, the goddess of justice can't see which way the scale is tipping and since she can't see anything with a piece of cloth over her eyes, she can be talked into believing anything by any clever and smooth talking fella! Hence, it can be said without any hesitation that Justice is not served equally to all in our society yet its ideals remain lofty and praiseworthy.
Salman's case is just a symptom of the larger problem which clearly showcases the classic quotation-Justice delayed, is justice denied!
As if to make fun of the poors and justice system of this society, he was even granted bail interim bail for two days. Then, as it happens in most cases involving high profile people his sentence was suspended in a blink and the Dabang star walked free. It's not as if Salman is the only man getting special treatment. There's plethora of cases corresponding to sleazy crimes of Tejpal to commercial crimes related to IPL-as was being investigated, murder of Sunanda Pushkar to Pujya Asharam ji. It seems every case is being manipulated for certain political or commercial benefit. It is commodification of justice and crime in our society. There's a very high profile case related to National Herald's property transfer. But just notice the snail pace of justice in our country, every year we hear about these cases once or twice, and life goes on. Salman makes his movies garnering millions of rupees, Tejpal is free and Dr Tharoor still continues his politics! Okay, just understand it now cases related to National Herald, Robert Vadra land deals and Bofors were all politics and they are having nothing to do with any living or dead person in this world.
FIVE CATEGORIES
There are actually five categories of crime being committed in our society by five types of people. we can also classify them as class due to their inherent attribute and place in society. These crimes consists of and are committed by respectively, poors, middle-class, upper class celebrities, minor politicians,VIPs and businessmen, very powerful industrial magnets and business leaders, and de facto rulers and elites.
Poors
These are the most vulnerable and abused section of the society. All power is wielded in their name but they themselves are most powerless, weak and neglected part of our society. People who matter and who control the destiny of all of India always invoke the name of the poor to run massive programs but the poor has never been able to climb out of the deep and dark hole of poverty from time immemorial! Now, coming back to the point of justice, when these hapless people are caught in petty cases of food theft or anything that deserves not more than a reprimand are condemned to jail without bail and trial. It is not that they do not have the right to these services but simply is a matter of economics. That poor man cannot afford to pay for the bail and pay for the trial process to lawyers, police and various cogs in the system to oil them and get his way out to freedom and liberty. He simply remains condemned there till some human rights group or the SC intervenes to release them after many many years. There are many cases that can be quoted here. But, I encourage the readers to find it themselves.
The Middle class
The proverbial middle class is the backbone of any country. They are the most awakened, hardworking and upwardly mobile population of any society. They are also very clever and conserve energy for their betterment. They usually keep an arms length distance from the justice and police system of our society. They know this wisdom right from the colonial days that once you get into net of justice and police then God forbid, you will become the most unfortunate man in the whole village or town. Your hard earned money will vanish in no time. The land of your forefathers will be gone in a matter of few months. And he will be reduced to a beggar almost instantly. This does not mean that they do not commit crime. They commit crime but they know the trick of the trade to come out of the net of the system by oiling the bureaucracy and the justice system. This group remains vigilant but it is still very mobile and ambitious. Hence, they get caught in the system and fight it out till they regret they bout with the justice system of the society.
Upper class celebrities
They are sometimes part of the upwardly mobile middle class. When they are caught doing any wrong, then outrage starts in media and people discuss their cases threadbare. Some support them some loath them. That becomes part of the gossip circle and kitty party talking point in urban areas and metropolis. There's a talk of category like PLUs and PLTs. These acronym simply means "people like us/them". The outrage and talking point is actually about TRPs but they also talk about the bad condition of justice and police system in our country. Salman's case sadly falls in this category only. His victims are very very poor. They don't care about his jail or bail term. They just seek some help to carry on with their life. They don't care if he should go to jail, they just want some monetary help from the super star. The wife of the man killed just wishes some help so that she can raise her family and children. She just says, whatever has happened cannot be reverted back. JUSTICE IS DELAYED!
Politicians, VIPs and Businessmen
These are also kind of celebrities but they are more powerful and enjoy more state patronage and they hold sway over administration at local level and sub-national level. They enjoy life, liberty, freedom almost unfettered. They have connection to the upper level of powers that be and has a direct sway over the levers of power in regional and national capital and in media to have a discourse as per their interest. They usually pay for their services. The crimes committed by them are usually classic cases of impunity and brazenness. Manu sharma's case immediately comes to mind. Another is Tejpal, yet another is Sunanda's murder mystery.We all know how these cases shaped and reached their logical conclusion. Well, most of them are still in trial phases. JUSTICE IS DELAYED!
Industrial Magnets and Business leaders
Their crimes are usually white collared and financial in nature. By chance if they do get caught in such a situation they are helped by the police and administration to clear their names and erases out the event from the public domain. MEDIA do not cover these events or cases of criminality. We hear of some accident done by scion of Ambani clan just like Salman. But, everything was cleared within days and media maintained pin drop silence. In another case involving property dispute between Ambani brothers, no less than SC was involved in amicably resolving the dispute. It was hilarious as well as instructive. In other cases too, Radia case is very important with respect to lobbying and fixing the ministry to work for the Business houses. Recently, we hear of the industrial espionage conducted by some business houses against the government. These involved stealing government policy documents from the ministry. Some lower level officials have been arrested and investigation is still in the preliminary stage. We can't predict what will happen but remember we have no reasons to be positive either.
Rulers and elites
Cases involving upper echelons of ruling classes are just for political oneupmanship. They are neither jailed nor worried about these trifles of system of society.They are for the general masses, they don't worry for it. They have whole system working for them. Even if they are out of power, they have levers of power working for them almost everywhere. Here cases need not be sighted, they flash in daily news and usually scams are named after them. as if they were some government program of poverty alleviation. criminal cases are impossible to file against them. Only civil cases that can be termed political are filed and political mileage is taken out of it. A very high profile case against a scion of high profile big political party was dissmissed by SC when they were in power is an apt example. Justice can't even stand in front of these powerful people.It remains a blindfolded figurine ready to be misled by smooth talking brilliant liars. Oops! I meant LAWYERS!
CONCLUSION
Idea and ideals of Justice are totally contextual, depending upon many things including sense of entitlement, connections -social and political, and influence, not withstanding any divine constitution or law of the land. Indeed, the goddess of justice can't see which way the scale is tipping and since she can't see anything with a piece of cloth over her eyes, she can be talked into believing anything by any clever and smooth talking fella! Hence, it can be said without any hesitation that Justice is not served equally to all in our society yet its ideals remain lofty and praiseworthy.
Salman's case is just a symptom of the larger problem which clearly showcases the classic quotation-Justice delayed, is justice denied!
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