Crime against Women
COURT –
the Real and 'Kangaroo'
The media and women's rights activists have raised
eyebrows over what they call a "Kangaroo court" having let off a man
accused of molesting a woman with just an apology. As per a report in The Times
of India February 11 (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-11/india/37038653_1_police-station-kangaroo-court-molester)
a group of elders of the village held their 'court' on the premises of Hansi
police station and decided to let off a "molester" after his merely
offering an apology. Following the "Kangaroo court" verdict the
alleged accused is reported to have "touched the feet" of the victim's
grandfather "in full public view and apologized assuring that he would not
repeat his act." The matter was not reported to the police.
The critics of the decision do have a point as to
how the people could – or were allowed to – hold a 'court' within police
station premises. The settlement arrived at also holds mirror to the fact that
they have less faith in the process of investigation and ultimate justice. That
is why they preferred a verdict of the elders.
But there is hardly a ground for raising eyebrows at
the verdict of the elders, described as a "Kangaroo court" in the
light of leniency and consideration the Supreme Court (SC) has shown to a convict Mohinder Singh
guilty
of a much more heinous a crime. He had been sentenced to death by the lower
court as if felt it was the rarest of the rare cases. The history of the
conduct of the condemned man speaks for itself. He committed the crime while on
parole from jail where he was undergoing a 12-year sentence for raping his
12-year-old daughter. In January 2005, he came out on parole and killed his
wife who was a witness to the rape, and the daughter he had raped.
But on appeal by the accused the SC on January 29,
2013 ruled that the man need not be sent to the gallows "as the crime did
not fall under the rarest of rare cases". The SC further said that "his
reformation is not foreclosed in this case." ()
The verdict of the so-called "Kangaroo court" too needs to be
viewed in the same light as the "reformation" of accused before this
assembly of elders too "is not foreclosed in this case." In the light of this verdict, how can howlers
be raised for the nature of justice dispensed by the "Kangaroo court"
in the instant case?
