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Reject the law of the jungle

In wee hours on Friday, Telangana Police is said to have taken the four accused to the site of crime.

It's not easy to re-evaluate one's words. Today, this is my dilemma. Earlier this week, I had penned a column on this page ruing the trust deficit among Indian women when it comes to institutions that are meant to protect them. Many would now have me believe I stood corrected this Friday morning when Telangana police shot dead all four accused in rape and murder case of the 26-year-old veterinarian. The encounter has already sparked a celebration of sorts of what is being seen as justice. Its miscarriage being conveniently photoshopped.
In wee hours on Friday, Telangana Police is said to have taken the four accused to the site of crime. The police has said that it wanted to reconstruct the course of events that led to her brutal rape and death. The narrative further suggests that the accused snatched arms from the police in a bid to escape, following which they were shot dead. As I write, the widely circulated images of four bodies lying prostate in a spot not much farther from where the doctor's body was discovered a few days ago, have become a spectacle of mob justice. Why should that make us anxious? Because these 'encounters' make the law incidental to the crime.
On the morning of the incident, I spoke to journalist Patricia Mukhim (winner of the fourth highest civilian award in India), who had a dual perspective on the case. "As an onlooker, I can critique what happened as a subversion of law. But from the perspective of the rape victims' parents, I think due justice was meted out to the rape accused. Instead of blaming the police, it is important to analyse and ask why courts are dragging their feet in delivering justice." Patricia's concern about a larger judicial inaction is shared by many. At the same time, she shares the concern on the precedent that the case sets. "The dangerous precedents are instant justice, kangaroo courts, and vigilantism."
Vigilantism is to a society what fairytales are to teenagers - a romantic idea that may or may not translate well into reality. Before we conclude that the 26-year-old has been avenged, it's worth pausing and asking - what was the nature of the evidence gathered against these men? Why were they being taken to a crime scene early in the morning? Under what circumstances were they made to confess? Was the reconstruction of events taped - if so, why has it not been provided as evidence?
This is not a defence of the accused, but it is in the answers to these questions that one can truly determine if what transpired on Friday was justice or the very opposite of it. An interesting perspective on the case was provided by All India Progressive Women's Association. "This justice is counterfeit. A system that offers murder as 'justice' is a system that is telling women - we cannot ensure the streets are safe, can't investigate crimes against women to ensure there's enough evidence to prove guilt, can't protect rape survivors (one was burnt alive yesterday in north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh), can't ensure that survivors get dignity in court. All they can do is act like a lynch mob and ask us, the people, to accept lynching as the only possible justice." To us, the onlookers, the 'purge' doesn't offer anything except catharsis. It doesn't ensure either prevention or accountability.
Another problematic scene emerging from Indian television today features Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi speaking to the media and suggesting that the policemen should not be punished for what they did. Having interacted with Badrinath Singh and Asha Devi (Nirbhaya's parents) earlier, I realise that time has frozen for both after December 16, 2012. They have been relentless in their pursuit of justice for their daughter's brutal gangrape. Why must we make a family revisit its horror for a sentimental sound byte?
It says something about judiciary when due process becomes the most mocked word. The case has spotlighted how Indian courts often fail their victims. Sure, justice delayed is justice denied. But let us not mistake the might of the trigger-happy for fair play.
anamika@khaleejtimes.com