Living in fear...

I fail to understand the justice system in India. How come several poor people spend their entire lives in jail as under trials and the actual crooks who are like cancer spreading in the society manage to get away?
To begin with the media favorite terrorist Kasab. Why was the sham of a trial conducted for over 2 years when he had been caught in action? And when it finally ended he is still biding his time going to higher courts and challenge his sentence. The tax money we pay through our noses is going in keeping him comfortable. Ironically some of the money which went into building a fortress for him might have come from the pockets of those he killed.
Maybe if these funds were diverted to intelligence team they would have figured out the many terrorist attacks that happen on Mumbai before.
Then there are our scam happy ministers who are being ‘quizzed by CBI’ on daily basis but nothing seem to be happen. Why is it that they are allowed out on bail in the comfort of their homes even when there are cases registered against them which are still undergoing trial? Are there different set of rules for the poor and downtrodden. Is the equality of all citizens, nothing but a line in our constitution?
The so called ‘Honor Killings’ in which its glaringly clear as to who committed the heinous crime remains in the dubious ‘unsolved’ category. And the perpetrators of the crime remain out on bail.
It’s sad that it takes public outcry for glaringly obvious cases to get solved – Example – Jessica Lall murder case.
Also our police are yet to learn how to handle a crime scene. Mistakes from their end sometimes helps the criminal get away with murder – literally. No one till date knows what happened to Aarushi.
And there are scores of rapes, murders, harassments which do not get media attention and hence remain in shadows and die a slow painful death in the long court battles.
Till death Scarlett (Keeling’s ) mother is fighting to get the her daughter’s murderer behind bars but to no avail. The powerful drug lord is out there, maybe preying on other innocent girls.
There was a time when we dreamed of a fearless India, a place where women, children and senior citizens were safe. They were free to move and live their own lives. But today there is darkness all around. Monsters lurk in every corner. Sometimes the protectors turn tormentors. And when injustice is done, then our legal system takes a long time to help the victims, sometimes even that does not happen.
How long will we keep existing like this, fearing for ourselves and our loved ones, trying to hide from internal and external terrorists……living in fear…..

Mumbai hit again!

Yes! It has happened again. Another set of innocent people have died. The media has gone into overdrive, covering the blood and gore and the ministers have done their number.
What next? Nothing. Like always we will shake our heads over the ‘unfortunate incident’, mumble condolences and walk on hoping that the next time it’s not us.
For most of us the headlines screaming ’21 dead’ is just a statistic but for some of us it’s our people. Our very own who died and it’s changed the course of life for all those attached to that one life. Every time after such terror attacks its heart rendering to read the stories of those who lost their sons, fathers, brothers, husbands, mothers. wives, daughters.
The cold and dark hand of terror touches lives in many ways. A tea vendor who was the only earning member of his family, A young boy engaged few months back, a middle aged man who had gone to get a bite to eat. Regular people. Like me and you. Going about their daily business to earn a living. Minding their own business. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But how do we know what is the wrong place. Is there any place left which is right??
It has become a drill. An attack happens, panic grips the city, networks get jammed making the panic spiral as you can’t reach your loved ones, media shows gory images of blood sending a cold chill down your spine, the somber looking politician come and mouth the same old lines (they probably have a speech ready for such times), police promise they will catch the culprit and within hours life is back to normal at least for those who were lucky enough to escape.
If anything the lives of normal citizens become difficult as there are check nakas on rad slowing down traffic, double checking in malls slowing down parking and tempers are frayed due to high stress levels.
It is sad that we have become immune to terror, immune to death, immune to suffering. Does it not make us wonder if maybe our humane side is dead?
True, you can’t get affected every time, you can’t get bogged down, but we can put up a fight. It’s worthless to expect anything from our politician or police. They have never cared and they never will. They did their bit by appearing in front of media and looked somber. They have announced the worth of life by giving compensations to victims family (it may/ may not reach the families), they have strongly condemned the terrorist actions and now will go back to their useless bickering and power plays.
It is upon us to defend ourselves. To keep an eye around us. To be on constant alert, to double check around us when we travel in trains and buses.
We have to look out for us, because nobody else is.