Ruchika is below the law, Rathore above it

Juggle-Bandhi

 

Jug Suraiya Friday December 25, 2009, 01:23 PM

If you were to drink and drive on New Year’s eve – or on any other day, for that matter –  (not that you’re silly enough to drink and drive, of course) and were stopped by a cop, you’d likely face a stiff fine up to Rs 5,000 and a possible night in jail. Compare this with the case of Haryana DGP, SPS Rathore, who in 1990 sexually molested a 14-year-old girl, Ruchika, who three years after the incident committed suicide as a direct result of the psychological trauma she had suffered. Her family was persecuted by members of the Haryana police; her brother had 11 false cases made against him, and the family eventually had to leave the state. Almost 20 years later, the perpetrator of this crime gets a jail sentence of six months and a 1,000 rupee fine. He leaves the court smiling, saying he will appeal.

The reason given for this gross travesty of justice is that the 150-year-old law relating to sexual molestation, short of rape, of a minor prescribes a maximum sentence of only two years, as against 10 years for rape. This antiquated law – which takes no account of that most repugnant of crimes, that of child molestation – is in the process of being reviewed.

In the meantime, will Rathore walk virtually free?

A number of other questions arise. Why did it take almost 20 years for the sentence to be awarded? Why did the Haryana high court strike down that part of the charge against Rathore which made him culpable for his victim’s suicide, and which would have invited a far stiffer sentence for him? Why did the judge impose a sentence of only six months, when even the flawed law as it stands allows for a maximum sentence of two years?

Has there been—or will there be – any inquiry into allegations made by the victim’s family of prolonged police harassment, amounting to criminal misconduct?

An uproar has been created in the media and in Parliament by the Ruchika case. But like so many other cause celebres will this too prove to be a nine-day-horror, soon wiped out from public memory by a more topical scandal, a more recent and more gory crime?

Once again, Ruchika’s tragic case exposes the glaring anomalies and shortcomings of our outdated, overburdened and severely flawed legal system. Even when the perpetrator is belatedly brought to book – as Rathore has been, almost two decades after he committed his criminal act – the punishment rarely fits the crime. The rich or the powerful – like Rathore with his top cop connections – get off lightly; common citizens bear the full brunt of a legal system seemingly skewed against their favour.

There has been much talk of a judicial review, of making our judiciary more accessible to public scrutiny. The Ruchika case is a challenge. A challenge for all those concerned about the deep-seated malaise in our system of jurisprudence, which not only allows but promotes repeated miscarriages of justice, to seek not only a more fitting punishment for Rathore but also to raise fundamental questions regarding the many weaknesses and perversities in the laws of our land. And, indeed, in many members of our judiciary, which presides over and interprets those laws. Judges have been asked to declare their assets. And the definition of the assets they declare might be expanded to include their IQs. Otherwise, the public at large – shocked by cases like that of Ruchika – might perforce deem the law to be not only an ass but a criminally culpable one at that.

In the meanwhile, don’t drink and drive on New Year’s eve, or any other time (not that you would; you’re far too sensible and law-abiding for that) or you may face the full force and fury of the law. Unlike DGP Rathore, who seems to be above, or beyond, it.

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/jugglebandhi/entry/ruchika-is-below-the-law