Speedy Justice Given the Boot

‘…Oh Justice, thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason…’

-William Shakespeare, from Julius Caesar

Was it justice or a matter of jest? The observant man is left pondering for answers- clues, if any that might make the recent judgements on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy comprehensible.

Approximately 20,000 lives were lost that fatal night, as an unprotected city veiled under the cover of night inhaled lethal doses of Methyl isocyanide.  The eight men “accused” of the crime were supposedly meted out a proper verdict by the honourable court – Two years in prison with a paltry sum of Rs. 25,000 to be paid as damages by each of the accused. With all the eight gentlemen coughing up the same amount, does the honouable court truly belive that the irreparable price of a human soul was approximated to Ten rupees a person?  Has the honourable court lost all moral character and decency to suggest that the next of the kin and the generations ahead could actually make a new headway with the paltry compensation of Rs. 25000 per person, which is still awaited?

Many an industrial safety law has been created, amended or removed altogether; but have the courts truly understood the gravity of this humanitarian loss? Has the Judiciary forgotten the twenty five years that have elapsed in the interim, when the court was too occupied resolving the Babr Masjid case, the Bofors Scam, the Godhra riots, the innumerable settlements within the BCCI or those between the Ambani brothers?  The Judiciary in India is an archetype and in no ways different to the Khap Panchayats prevalent in the northern hinterlands of the country.

Where was the Judiciary when Warren Anderson was at his prime? What sense does it remain in extraditing an aged criminal – absorbed in the ills of old age – when the crores from the exchequer in doing so could be paid to the victims as their rightful compensation? Shivraj Singh Chauhan, the hounourable Chief Minister of Bhopal had recently vowed to take up the fight in the Supreme Court. Where was this gentleman and his party- the BJP- all these 25 years? Could they not have substantiated the prosecution’s claims in court then?

The Indian Judiciary has yet again exemplified how the prima donnas can go scot free, leaving the common man scratching his head. I allude to  Juluis Caesar  yet again –‘Men at Some times are masters of their fates. The Fault dear Brutus is not in our Stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings. ‘

Was it the crime of the Indian Commoner to be left at the wrong side of Justice- as he was only a commoner? The United States of America could pool up its resources and demand British Petroleum to cough up damages for the massive oil-spill in its waters- the administration taking little less than half a year in doing so. Our Judiciary on the other hand spends its valuable time in deliberating whether Dinakaran should be judge in the Supreme Court – the matter being resolved in little over a year.

One of the most unpardonable crimes of the last century was apparently very conveniently ignored by the powers at be. Have they actually ever wondered as to who actually paid for the two-square meals each day or who took care of the enormous hospital bills these 25 years at Bhopal? All hail the Indian Judiciary – the finest example of a clever chameleon conveniently veiled by unknowing ignorance.