IS INSTANT JUSTICE A REMEDY FOR JUSTICE DELAYED

Abstract

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered 

most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” 

      -  Haile Selassie 

As was argued by Rediff.com columnist Saisuresh Siva Swamy 'We may have the finest criminal laws, but of what use are they when it can ensure neither a quick, time-bound trial nor punishment?'  'The outcome, then, will be extra-judicial solutions’.  The delay in bringing justice, even in some horrendous crimes where the guilt is profound, created an unusual demand for delivery of instant justice.     

What should one do in the repercussion of rape and murder in a country that has continually unsuccessful to mete out justice to the victims? That the concept of retaliatory justice which inexorably leads to a malicious sequence has its tremendous faults is true, but one can’t help but ask, what is to be done when the law has been amended, fast-track courts have been brought into the practice, but the convicted rapists and murderers remain free to commit more cruelties. 

Neither the police nor the commoners should take the law into their own hands. But as Philip 

Zimbardo, professor emeritus of psychology, Stanford University, said: “Situational variables can exert powerful influences over human behaviour, more so that we recognize or acknowledge.” 

Resorting to instant justice in some parts of the country is as supported by public support as it is provoked by the failure of our grievance redressal mechanism, for which our lawmakers must take part of the culpability. May be the accountability of extra-judicial killings lies with the judiciary itself. It is the failure to befittingly punish rapists and murderers in the past that has led to the present boom of the situation. Furthermore, awe-inspiring presence of criminal elements among our legislators and executives is another reason for the public's embitterment with the justice delivery system, which fuels the desire for extra-judicial solutions and the security forces’ go amiss to notice what the public wants.