On November 29, 2019, four people accused of raping and murdering a veterinary doctor in Hyderabad were arrested by the Hyderabad Police. Mohammed Arif, Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen, and Chintakunta Chennakesavulu allegedly gang-raped Disha (a pseudonym name) and later murdered her on November 27 of the same year. The four accused had reportedly confessed their crimes during the police investigation. On December 6th, 2019, the four suspects were reported dead in an alleged ‘encounter’ when they were taken to reconstruct the crime scene by the police. The people across India celebrated this ‘instant justice’ done by the police and applauded them.
However, a panel led by retired Supreme Court Justice V.S. Sirpurkar was formed by the apex court to inquire about the alleged encounter. In its report running around 400 pages, the Justice Sirpurkar panel declared the encounter ‘staged’ and found out that all four accused were murdered. The extra-judicial killing of four men was vastly celebrated across India as people believed that rapists were brought to justice and justice was served.
However, the response from the commoners towards the incident of ‘instant justice’ could not be termed ‘exaggerated’. India’s tedious, lethargic, and delayed justice system has been diminishing people’s belief in the court proceedings and its verdicts. Such encounters and incidents of instant justice where the police authorities get public approval have been on a sharp rise as people believe that the law of the land would take years to deliver any justice. ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’.
In his all-time classic novel ‘Crime and Punishment’, Fyodor Dostoevsky portrays a criminal psyche through the novel’s main character, Rodion Raskolnikov. The novel describes that a criminal is not just a cursed creature who deserves exemplary punishment and explains the rationale of society to punish such a criminal.
Not only the whole behind instant justice is a violation of the ‘rule of the law’, but it also deprives the accused from the fundamental right of a ‘fair trial’. A person who is accused of a crime has the right to self-defense. Natural justice operates under the fundamental tenet of “innocent until proven guilty.” Not because he (she) may not necessarily be guilty of the crime they’re accused of convicting, but to be in a position to share their side of the tale. “To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.”
In cases where instant justice is served, it undermines some important facts. In such cases, the bureaucracy and police administration don the role of investigator, judge, and hangman. ‘No appeal, no vakeel and no daleel’. It also disregards the authorities’ and the police’s roles in carrying out an impartial investigation. Given the highly politicized nature and power granted to the Indian Police, the possibility of unfair conduct in an investigation or failure to actually convict the real culprit can never be ruled out.
In the Hyderabad rape case, the police investigation was under many questions as police covered up many facts in their investigation reports just to deliver what they believed instant justice. There are many examples in the past where the police or authorities have misused their power to either protect someone or make someone else a scapegoat.
In light of the recently brutal and heinous crime in Calcutta against a resident doctor performing her night duty at her workplace, the public outrage yet again demands instant justice. Given the horrifying nature of the crime and details emerging from the post-mortem report, the public outrage, especially from the medical fraternity is completely justified. The initial actions from the hospital, state authorities and the Kolkata police also make suspicion grow deeper. However, the Calcutta High court has now handed over the case to the CBI to investigate while criticizing the insensitive way of handling the case by everyone involved in investigation from the state authorities.
Only on Tuesday, rape convicts Ram Rahim and Asaram were granted parole by the authorities. Such instances create mistrust among the public. India does not need instance justice, but an efficient and fast-track system that makes sure that justice is never delayed and amounts to fair investigation and punishment of a crime as horrible as any rape or crime against women that occurs.
