Raju Korti
It has become a stereotype to qualify anything odd or weird happening in this country as "this happens only in India." The decision of the defenders of Nirbhaya rapists to knock the doors of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), after having exhausted every possible manoeuvre to escape the gallows, for once makes justice to that cliche. I have preferred the word defenders to accused because I am sure the four accused of rape and murder have not even heard of the ICJ. Someone there is hell bent on saving their skin even if it means lampoonery of the judicial system and good conscience.
Rape and/or murder are not new in this country and their proportions have reached a stage that no one gives a damn about them except for an occasional short-lived outrage. The Nirbhaya case has plumbed a new depth in criminal mindset not because of the crime per se but the manner in which it happened. A Delhi court which heard a clutch of petitions in the rigmarole made a regulation statement that the accused were entitled to use up all available legal remedies However, none of the courts -- from the lowest to the highest of the land -- expressed any displeasure on the way the case unfolded in the last few years.
It is not my case here to say something as skewed as the lawyers and the masked faces behind them had done their legal homework well. What was manifest was a helpless judiciary which went through the motions with an insouciant calm when at other times it has demonstrated an activism beyond its brief.
The defendants of the accused must know that neither the courts of the country are answerable to the ICJ nor does the case have any international ramifications. It is only States that are eligible to appear before the court in "contentious cases" where what is contentious has not been defined. The ICJ has no jurisdiction to deal with applications from individuals, non-governmental organizations, corporations or any other private entity. The question of providing them legal respite does not arise. The ICJ charter clearly says that a State may take up the case of one of its nationals and invoke against another State the wrongs which its national claims to have suffered at the hands of the latter in which case the dispute then becomes one between States. Since the Nirbhaya case is criminal, the prosecution is the State itself. The ICJ has no jurisdiction to try crimes against humanity. It is not a criminal court and does not have a prosecutor able to initiate proceedings. The accused's case does not even hang by a thread here since the court does not even serve as the last resort for them. Finally, we all know how much importance States give to the ICJ. It has just about the same relevance as the United Nations has which is almost nothing.
I would like to interpret that taking recourse to the ICJ in this case should be treated as insubordination of the Supreme Court and therefore contempt. The Indian courts with all their loopholes and judicial shortcomings are still good enough to deal with the case. By now the canvas and the timeline of the case make it a no brainer about the people who are going all out to save the perpetrators behind their sanctimonious standing and the dilatory tactics exploiting a weak system to the hilt.
It surprises me that no attempt is being made to find out who is in such an overdrive to save the guilty and the agenda behind it even if there are no prizes for guessing. The larger picture does not pertain to the perceived mockery of the judicial system or lack of national conscience alone. It also shams the entire State and its lackadaisical approach in stopping dick lawyers from getting such weird ideas that make it difficult to take cases to their logical conclusion in a system that even otherwise leaves much to be desired. When conscience fails, arguments make out a case for Hyderabad encounters.
For all the sermonizing it makes about probity, integrity and honour of the legal profession, the Bar Council of India has preferred to be a silent witness to this farce while We The People watch in impotent rage waiting for another Nirbhaya to happen and play the same cassette again over candle-lit marches. This happens only in India.
It has become a stereotype to qualify anything odd or weird happening in this country as "this happens only in India." The decision of the defenders of Nirbhaya rapists to knock the doors of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), after having exhausted every possible manoeuvre to escape the gallows, for once makes justice to that cliche. I have preferred the word defenders to accused because I am sure the four accused of rape and murder have not even heard of the ICJ. Someone there is hell bent on saving their skin even if it means lampoonery of the judicial system and good conscience.
Rape and/or murder are not new in this country and their proportions have reached a stage that no one gives a damn about them except for an occasional short-lived outrage. The Nirbhaya case has plumbed a new depth in criminal mindset not because of the crime per se but the manner in which it happened. A Delhi court which heard a clutch of petitions in the rigmarole made a regulation statement that the accused were entitled to use up all available legal remedies However, none of the courts -- from the lowest to the highest of the land -- expressed any displeasure on the way the case unfolded in the last few years.
It is not my case here to say something as skewed as the lawyers and the masked faces behind them had done their legal homework well. What was manifest was a helpless judiciary which went through the motions with an insouciant calm when at other times it has demonstrated an activism beyond its brief.
The defendants of the accused must know that neither the courts of the country are answerable to the ICJ nor does the case have any international ramifications. It is only States that are eligible to appear before the court in "contentious cases" where what is contentious has not been defined. The ICJ has no jurisdiction to deal with applications from individuals, non-governmental organizations, corporations or any other private entity. The question of providing them legal respite does not arise. The ICJ charter clearly says that a State may take up the case of one of its nationals and invoke against another State the wrongs which its national claims to have suffered at the hands of the latter in which case the dispute then becomes one between States. Since the Nirbhaya case is criminal, the prosecution is the State itself. The ICJ has no jurisdiction to try crimes against humanity. It is not a criminal court and does not have a prosecutor able to initiate proceedings. The accused's case does not even hang by a thread here since the court does not even serve as the last resort for them. Finally, we all know how much importance States give to the ICJ. It has just about the same relevance as the United Nations has which is almost nothing.
I would like to interpret that taking recourse to the ICJ in this case should be treated as insubordination of the Supreme Court and therefore contempt. The Indian courts with all their loopholes and judicial shortcomings are still good enough to deal with the case. By now the canvas and the timeline of the case make it a no brainer about the people who are going all out to save the perpetrators behind their sanctimonious standing and the dilatory tactics exploiting a weak system to the hilt.
It surprises me that no attempt is being made to find out who is in such an overdrive to save the guilty and the agenda behind it even if there are no prizes for guessing. The larger picture does not pertain to the perceived mockery of the judicial system or lack of national conscience alone. It also shams the entire State and its lackadaisical approach in stopping dick lawyers from getting such weird ideas that make it difficult to take cases to their logical conclusion in a system that even otherwise leaves much to be desired. When conscience fails, arguments make out a case for Hyderabad encounters.
For all the sermonizing it makes about probity, integrity and honour of the legal profession, the Bar Council of India has preferred to be a silent witness to this farce while We The People watch in impotent rage waiting for another Nirbhaya to happen and play the same cassette again over candle-lit marches. This happens only in India.
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