Why the crime rate is
increasing?
The crime prevention detection and prosecution process in
India is abysmally slow. This coupled with half hearted approach of the law
enforcement authorities and innumerable loopholes in the legal system ensures
that only a negligible percentage of the accused are convicted. It is
paradoxical that in a country having plethora of laws, degree of lawlessness is
also the highest. According to agency reports only six percent of the accused
are convicted in India.
This percentage will further make a nosedive considering the fact that many
crimes are not reported and many others, which are reported, are not recorded
by the law enforcement agencies. There is a popular joke that whereas American
and Scotland Yard police catch the culprit within hours of committing the
crime, Indian police is well aware of the impending crime hours before is being
committed. No wonder the crime rate whether it is robbery, dacoity, murder,
bride burning, corruption, scams, scandals or gang rape – are increasing at an
alarming rate.
There is no fear of punishment resulting that desperadoes
roaming in large numbers with total impunity. It is not the severity of
punishment but the certainty of punishment which will be a deterrent from
committing crime. Criminals know that they can escape from the clutches of law
if they are having money and muscle power. The concept of Equality before
law enchained in our Constitution has become a myth as dispensation of justice
is different between the rich and poor, haves and have-nots,
mighty and weak, seasoned criminals and ignorant unabiders of law. While
thousands of under-trials (who know how many of them are innocent?) are
languishing in various jails for years, people who committed heinous crimes and
amassed ill-gotten wealth are freely moving in the society with almost total
impunity and with black cat security. Time and again we confirm the popular
perception that law is like a cobweb where the weak and poor are trapped in and
the rich and mighty breaks it.
Our legal system is heavily tilted in favour of
criminals. Death penalty is awarded in rarest of rare cases after a multi layer
judicial process. Even after rejecting the mercy petition by the President of
India, death penalty is not executed on flimsy grounds. There are several
organizations and individuals to support and argue for the dreaded criminals
and plea for their mercy conveniently forgetting the macabre act committed by them.
However, there is nobody to argue for the hapless family members, relatives and
friends of the victims. The protagonists of abolition of death penalty argue
that death penalty is inhuman. Killing of innocent persons by the most morbid
method and massacre of masses by bombing and firing is human? Many criminals
are living a lavish life in the prisons. It was reported that a criminal who
molested and thrown a teenage girl from a running train near Shoranur in Kerala
has improved his weight and health in prison.
Some self
styled social organisations and human rights activists appears to be more
concerned about the rights of criminals rather than protecting the basic right
(right to live) of the innocent and hapless citizens. I do not understand how a
person who masterminded/committed cold blooded, barbaric, heinous, gruesome,
traumatic murder-nay- massacre deserves clemency. Very few human rights activists
appear to be concerned about the plight of undertrials languishing in various
prisons for years, many of them may be innocent. Country cannot afford to spend
crores of money for the protection of these criminals by prolonging the Death
penalty. Nobody appears to be bothered about the sorrows, sufferings and trauma
of the families of victims of these horrible crimes. A hardened criminal if
comes out of the jail after commuting his death penalty to life imprisonment
will be unacceptable to the society. In all likelihood he will create a reign
of terror and will become a perpetual hazard to the society. He may continue to commit crime in order to
return to jail instead of living in isolation and untouchable in the society.
A
national debate on death penalty may be initiated. Opinions may be obtained
from the families of all the victims killed during the last few years from the
length and breadth of the country. If majority of them suggest that death
penalty should not be abolished, a decision contrary to this will be tantamount
to adding insult to injury and rubbing salt on their wounds. After loss of near
and dear ones under the most tragic, cruel and horrible circumstances, the sole
consolation and solace for the bereaved family and the departed soul is providing
the maximum permissible punishment to the perpetrator of the crime. The need of the hour is to have a fresh
thinking on the implementation of death penalty, whether by the medieval method
of hanging or some other scientific method. Abolition of death penalty without
the concurrence and approval of the concerned and aggrieved parties will be a
travesty of justice.
Our
media and leading lawyers also play a pivotal role in increasing the crime. Many
media reports looks as if they are glorifying the crime and making the criminal
a hero. Such unwanted, unnecessary and
unjustified publicity to the hardened criminals will have far reaching
ramifications and will create indelible impression in the impregnable minds of
the youth and adolescents and will induce some of them to take crime as a
passion. Lawyers are supposed to fight
for justice or fight against injustice. Unfortunately, today we do not have
lawyers of the caliber and character of the status of Late Nani Palkhivala. Most
of the so called leading lawyers prefer to fight for corrupt politicians, terrorists,
murderers, rapists, scamsters etc because they can make huge money out of that.
How many of the leading lawyers fight for justice to the poor and under
privileged and to protect those who are wrongly implicated in some case? If the leading lawyers refrain from fighting
the case of hardened criminals, they will not be able to escape from the long
arm of law. People, who think that money is supreme, can throw the social,
moral and ethical values to the dustbin. They will be able to live an
ostentatious life, but ultimately have to pay for their sin at some or other
point of time.
I
earnestly appeal to all my fellow friends and citizens to make a society free
from crimes or at least do their mettle in order to reduce the crime
drastically. People who support and plead the case of hardened criminals are
emboldening the other potential criminals and thereby helping to create a
criminal country. The same people can also help to make an egalitarian society
free from evils and crimes. They have to decide whether their personal
preference in filling up their coffers (even a small portion of which they will
never be able to use during their life time) is more important than the greater
national interest. After all, as a responsible and patriotic citizen of the
country, everyone has a duty towards the society and country. If you cannot
help the society and country, at least desist from making incalculable harm to
the country. Those who directly or
indirectly help to perpetrate crime will prey to their own misdeeds as on many
occasions their actions boomerang. The
country which has given birth to several sages, scholars and social reformers and
was once the torch bearer of world civilization does not deserve such a
pathetic situation.
