…. and seen to be done. Manu Sharma is guilty of Jessica Lall’s Murder. There were a flurry of SMS’s last night – mostly from women friends – and for all of us, at some level, it had become personal. It was almost as though, in India, a man could kill a woman and get away with it. I was talking online with KD yesterday, and he pointed out that the conviction was a good example of media activism. I would agree with him on this. The media played a stellar role in harnessing and focusing public opinion and outrage – sending a clear message to the system that we, the poeple, want to see justice in action. But, what about all the cases where the media does not pick up the story? What about Priyanka Bhotmange? Will there be justice for her? Is she ‘glamourous’ enough a cause for the media? I really do hope so. One of the things that is fairly evident from the whole spate of verdicts that have been handed out is that justice delayed is justice denied. And there is a lot of justice being denied. The time it takes to bring a case to trial is inordinately long. And it is about time the Criminal Justice System is completely overhauled. A 100% computerisation process across the board – and a plan to clear the back log of cases is absolutely necessary. There also needs to be a better form of compensation for those who are responsible for order and law – both the police and public prosecutors are badly paid.And finally, it is also time to seriously insist on separation of powers between the Government and all the Civil Services – including the Police. And ,crack down on any politician who abuses this. While Manu Sharma has been convicted the fact remains a lower court set him free. And that powerful family connections ensured that justice is subverted. The next step would be to bring all those who subvert justice to them, and literally throw the book at them. Examples need to be made. We have had a flurry of the ‘powerful’ being found guilty. Now, it is time that those who cover up for the powerful are brought to trial. The message needs to go out very loud and clear – you break the law, you pay the price.
A PoV
Harini Calamur's Writings
The theme seems to be common – in the blogosphere at any rate.
Atanu Dey had written similarly about end goals, and the desirability of reaching them – and, now you are stating the bleeding (no pun intended) obvious – well, how are we going to get there ? I commented on that post about finding ways to get to that solution, not just keep restating the solution. Like I said, today, even the 5-year old can state the solution.
All these euphemisms about separation of powers, media causes for publicity etc… all these are great – but, not helping in moving the chains towards the solution, even one inch.
The reality is that the people who have the power/ability/means to move the chains, lawmakers/officials etc are the ones who will stand to lose the greatest. As any economist would tell you, human beings (all living things, for that matter) work on incentives.
What incentives, exactly, exist today for these lawmakers/ enforcers to change course and do the right thing – when, in fact, they stand to be the biggest losers in moving to a clean “system” ? I mean, do we have a way of punishing them ? We do (in the form of elections, booting them out etc), but we rarely exercise them. Even if we do, vested interests ensure that the message is always muddled, and the results even more so.
How else can you explain Lalu Prasad Yadav being elected so many times ? What about Jayalalitha & Karunanidhi, who are playing catch with the TN electorate ? What about the scores of others who have criminal records ? What about Shibu Soren ?
Without incentives and co-located disincentives, nothing will change, despite the millions of bleeding hearts and best of intentions. So, next time, just put your slippers on, go out and vote, and canvass others to vote too – not just any vote, but vote for change.
That is the biggest disincentive that we can give to lawmakers for not doing the right things.
The best incentive, as you stated, is to increase their salaries – even increasing their salaries by 10 times would not make that much of a dent in the budget (considering the officials/police/judiciary make up a fraction of the total Public Sector employment) – but these are politically loaded issues – and the middle class will always vote against this, thus ensuring that they continue to dig the hole that they are currently inside.