The judge validifies the harshness with 'exemplary action' as excuse.
Not fair. Why was'Exemplary action' not served on a rape convict Sunil More? Not only was his a heinous crime but he was a cop who has taken the oath of protecting citizens. Why was he let off with just 12 years? Even lesser than a life sentence!
The girl he raped was barely 17 or so. Which means that she would be 29 when he is a free man, and probably chased by him in retribution. Apart from the fact that her life has been ruined in totality.
It is a pity that the killing of a black buck finds witnesses ready to stand by their statement come hell or high water. But the murder of Jessica lall, in the presence of a 100 people fails to get a conviction for the accused supposedly for lack of witness substantiation.. How much more disgusting can this get? Having envisaged an eventuality of the kind had written about this a couple of months back.
We are therfore citizens of a country where animals are more revered than humans. Enlightening.
It seems fairly clear that while on the one hand the high profile tend to take seriousness of crime with a pinch of salt, on the other hand they are also those targetted as 'sitting ducks' often enough.
Does justice always have to mean retribution?
Will it serve in saving the black buck as an endangered species? Should not Justice mean a combination of rectifying the wrong and punishment? Solution was at hand,if only they paused to look.
Reformatory justice makes more sense . Especially in this case. The buck is a dying species..one more is dead. Salman is guilty. Would not it make more sense to punish Salman in a way that it simultaneouly furthers the cause of perpetuating the species, instead of sentencing him and the problem of the buck remains where it is. Except for the fact that at most it will be a deterrent for future killings.
Salmans good offices and finances could have been utilised for projects and schemes to create an environment to breed more of these. Now that would have been progressive and reformatory.
The Bishnois, a people who worship the black buck, need to be applauded for their unwavering stand, also need to be chided for their near sightedness in the issue.
Though they must be gloating over the judgement and feeling vindicated, It would have made more sense had they utilised this opportunity to perpetuate the species so revered..Seeing Salman serve a sentence is not going to get a buck back but had they asked the judiciary to intervene to formalise a project and made Salman responsible.. it would have served both The Buck and Justice....
The sentence as it stands today..Silly and immature. In the High Court, Salman will probably succeed in getting a stay and finally a reprieve in the sentence as well. So this transient victory will ventually be meaningless for the Bishnois, or so it seems.
Was this also an eye wash, in absence of which the Bishnois would have probably thirsted for revenge on the lawyer and judge involved?
Who knows?
Just my .002 $
Cross Linked at DesiPundit
21 comments:
Makes sense:)
Better to be an animal here..more chances for getting justice.
I must confess my inability to really understand the debate!
First off, the comparison between the Salman case and the More Rape and Jessica Lal case, is like all comparisons, completely odious! Two wrongs don’t a right make!!
The question is whether Salman was guilty?? Or Not?? Did Salman knowingly break the law?? or not?? And even ignorance of law is no excuse. Doesn’t he deserve the conviction???
You say:
“Would not it make more sense to punish Salman in a way that it simultaneouly furthers the cause of perpetuating the species, instead of sentencing him and the problem of the buck remains where it is.”
Did Salman need a judge to tell him that if he was truly remorseful. Why couldn’t he just join the cause on his own?? ?? It has been 8 years between his crime and conviction. Did Salman show any repentance in these 8 years? Did he not use all the legal loopholes to delay the judgement?? Why did he not plead guilty as charged, beg forgiveness and then presented a plan to “further the cause of perpetuating the species”?
No… I don’t understand this debate. The film frat and other celebs close ranks and condemn the decision and beat their breasts about how the judicial system is victimizing them because of their celebrity status… I’ve never seen them complain about the benefits that accrue to them because of who they are?? I’ve never seen Salman refuse to be seated in the VIP lounge while waiting for his flight while the rest of us wait in the transit lounge. We pay the same kinda money and probably work as hard for it….
No… I’m not convinced that injustice has been done!!
Okay now Ck, I suggest you take a deep breath, relax count to 10 and then read on.
How can you infer that the comparison to jessica or more or the buck is odious.
First of all it was not a comparison of the crimes in reference. They had nothing in common. What was common was the arm of the law. Justice. That was the issue .The Dispensation of it and its waywardness.Justice has to be treated as a composite whole. One expects that it would satisfy your rationale by the virtuosity of its logic. One does not expect to be rankled by dichotomy of the system as a whole.
The privy that stars enjoy by virtue of them being in the position they have gained is hardly debatable and not in the purview of this discussion. Ambanis, Gandhis, Tatas, enjoy much more. So why bother with that. Especially since I have intentionally not made any reference to his belonging to any fraternity. That was not the basis of the argument.
You say
"No… I’m not convinced that injustice has been done!!"
while my point was has Justice been done?
Why Salman did not think of doing his bit for the black buck as you put it hardly validifies why he should not be asked to do it now.
Punishment as we know it or accustomed to view it is restrictive and detrimental to the spirit of justice.
It was a radical viewpoint I had put forward and did not expect all to see it for what it is.
I would even go as far and say that a murderer who has snatched away the life of a bread winner ought to spend the rest of his life in burdening the responsibility of the family he has brought to shit street, instead of twiddling his thumbs in jail, while the family struggles to survive in the world .
Think about it.
It is not meant to be calrion call to save Salman, as I believe you are viewing it.
I am not ashamed to say that Salman Khan is a star and that is the reason so much has happened. If it had been an ordinary person the sentence would have been different.
Also there are worse crimes committed. sentence is never passed. But for the killing of a black buck, the sentence has been passed.
Puja,
Probably Yes..What you say is true .
The point I was trying to make was is justice solely retributive. If ir is then what has been accorsed to salman khan is correct.
However, considering the fact that we consider ourselves an enlightened society, atleast i do, then the connotation of Justice has to go beyond just punitive.
It has to be re-defined as accomplishing the feat of being a combination of punitive + reformative+progressive. Then it is Justice for the one harmed and the term Justice is justified.
This way atleast the wrong doer pays by more than just a jail-term which may or may not have any long term benefit, but serves no purpose accept a mental satisfaction.
Ofcourse it differs from case to case. In this case it seemed a worthwhile option.
have added a link to sachiniti to baithak - hope you won't mind :)
Enchante..T
Perhaps because animals cannot be bought off or threatened.
I started commenting here, but shifted the thot process to my blog....
Gamesmaster,
Yes ..in fact the bishnois are celebrating. About witnesses and their safety as well as retracting statements, if on is to believe the grapevine, then it will soon be a thing of the past. Confessions will be videotaped andwitnesses turned hostile will have to face hostile judgements.
Laks,
Thanks that you saw the logic behind it. In cases of rape one would expect the maximum,for exemplary action, as well as a deterrent and punitive. This case however where a larger issue was at stake of the preservation of black buck, a progressive forward thinking sentence would have killed two birds with one stone..oops..figuratively speaking.
Without wanting it to seem as defense, but the poaching by Veerappan and his gang for decades now, or pataudis case, have gone unnoticed. Salmans reputation , or rather notoriety has influenced to a large extent the verdict of the case. After all judges are as much a part of our society as any other. To believe that they cannot be affected one way or the other is erroneous. I read of posts who are thrilled at the sentence. If in the name of justice is one thing, but a mental satisfaction of having him cut to size seems the emotion behind the satisfaction.
As far as I see, the law is the same. Just that the witnesses in Salman Khan case stood by their stand and werent ready for any compromise.
Where as in other cases you have mentioned, the witnesses dont stand by truth(for reasons only known to god. Maybe money/threat ?)
We need more people like the villagers, who refused to be bribed or werent afraid!
well some1 said tht law is an ass. Haven't seen such a pronounced exemplification of the same in a long time..
The sentence meted out is way too harsh and doesn't beferfet the crime.Perhaps the judge was too conscious of his judgment being under the microscope and made this stiff decision in a pursuit of not being overwhelmed my Salman's stature.
I fully endorse the suggestion that you have brought forth.Using Salman's stature and resources would be a much better idea than to banish him to a hole.
As for the Bishnois,I m not sure how many of you are aware of the reputation they have in those parts ..
From what I know about them,their persistence for the prosecution of Salman stems from a different reason
Hi Kapil,
You have got my curiosity now way beyond recommended limits..
What is the different reason??
Btw loved your choice of fave films..I have no doubt now as to the veracity of your proficiency on the subject..LOL
Seriously, what is their reason for persecution?
I see and appreciate your point, Kaveeta but not necessarily agree with it. I also respect your stand, but I will stick to mine viz. penance cannot be enforced, it has to come from within... and it is the judiciary's moral duty to punish the guilty, irrespective of who they are and what they do. And to me, deterrence is the only form of punishment that works! Take Mr Khan's example - He's been convicted once of poaching and got away with a one year sentence, which is currently suspended on account of his plea in a higher court and there is another case of poaching registered against him in a lower court in Gujarat.
I must also compliment the judiciary on the speedy conviction in the Sunil More case (about a year) and more so in the Bitti Mohanty case which has been decided today within 9 working days from the date of the first hearing and within 3 months from the date he raped the German tourist in Alwar.
However, since I do not want to jeopardise that Roghan Josh, let is just agree to disagree on this one.
:-)
Disagree if you must..It is your prerogative.
My contention stemmed from 'out-of-the box-thinking' which we should assay at times when extrordinary situations demand extraordinary solutions.
Roghan josh is yet only a speck in the horizon.
And while I was away on work for two days, what is your excuse for not blogging.... Have so got used to your thought-provoking blogs... and even though it goes against our 'mutually agreed' view on happiness in your last post - yeh dil maange more!!
And actually the Roghan Josh is not even a speck considering I turned vegetarian a year ago and live in Delhi :-)
CK,
That was so sweet..
And not even for the Roghan josh!!
You have left me wanting more too:)
Promise to post later in the day today
First time visitor, now onwards a permanent one. read ur parents' love story .... moistened my eyes...
Thanks and welcome
Done:)
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