In the first verdict in the gang-rape of a Delhi student on a moving bus in December, a juvenile court today found the youngest accused guilty of rape and murder and sentenced him to three years at a reform centre. He was a few months short of 18 at the time of the crime and since he has already spent eight months as an under-trial he would get back on streets in just about 28 months.
I can’t even express how this infuriates me at so many different levels. As a citizen of the largest democracy in the world, I am irked by this judicial loophole and wish this constitutional pothole be repaired as soon as possible. As a father, I share the anger and sympathize with victim’s family – they definitely deserved a better closure than this verdict. As an individual, I feel disgusted just by the sheer horror of the incident and the atrocity of it and what ensued.
I didn’t voice my opinion on the incident when it surfaced in news reports. Somewhere my psyche was scarred by the details that were being printed and the way media served it to the masses. I believe the brutal details of the incident served the media well and gave them wonderful TRPs during the fortnight they played the subject and the debates that followed. There was a competition of sorts in the media to give the unnamed victim a name of their own liking. The politicos baked their own sweetmeats in the heat of the matter. Everyone came out making statements and condemning the act and what not. At the end of it all – a stricter law to address the situation is still elusive, still missing.
So, what now? Should we forget about other perpetrators, who are still awaiting trials? All of us now know that, this one particular member of their gang will be out roaming free on the streets. It is not that he is being acquitted and not held guilty of what he did. His deeds have been proven. He IS one of the culprits, one in the pack of jackals who went on rampage that fateful night when someone’s child was robbed of both life and soul.
What are the chances he will not strike again? What about the neighbors and other people in his vicinity? Must we wait for him to raise his hood again before bringing him to full justice? If the judicial system is incapable of trying this “juvenile” under a different reference frame, what are the options left?
As a sexual offender being reinstated into the society, it is the duty of the media and the judicial system to put a word of caution out to people who will be at risk of this person once he is released from juvenile home. I feel that the police should release this person’s photograph and ‘the common man’ should spread his face on the social media to such an extent that he can never go into a hiding and strike again.
But then this is just wishful thinking of sorts. Even if this was done, it wouldn’t heal the family who lost a daughter. As a young father, I know how much work it can be to raise a child. My thoughts go out to the father who would have stayed awake nights the time is daughter was unwell, to the mother who carried her in her womb and fed her and raised her. How is all that pain and labor for all those years justified by a sentence of 36 months in total?
Call it justice – I can’t.
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