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Thursday, Sep 09, 2004

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Opinion - Editorials

SYSTEMIC LAPSES

THE LYNCHING OF Akku Yadav, the sexual predator, by an enraged mob last month points most directly to the immunity that the mafia continues to enjoy from the rule of law. The sordid episode is a telling commentary on the system of criminal justice administration. The reputation of the police in controlling crime reached its lowest point in the Kasturba Nagar basti of Nagpur. How else can one explain the fact that the trial of Akku Yadav in 24 cases of murder, extortion, assault, dacoity, and molestation never saw the light of day? Yadav and his band of predators had reportedly made a practice of breaking into houses, terrorising the men, raping the women and escaping with immunity. The desperate pleas of women in the community for protection from unending sexual assaults and other atrocities went unheeded for too long.

Nothing illustrates the loss of faith in a system more graphically than an angry mob killing Akku Yadav in a court of justice. The criminal secured bail on each of the 12 occasions he was arrested in as many years. Defying a recent externment order, Yadav was seen roaming the streets of Kasturba Nagar with impunity. This apparently pushed the women to the brink on that fateful day when patience ran out and cold fury took charge. But little seems to have changed nearly a month after the incident of August 13. The other men in Yadav's gang are still at large and have reportedly sworn to avenge his killing. Putting an end to the prolonged sense of fear and insecurity that has haunted the residents of Kasturba Nagar basti for more than 10 years should be uppermost in the minds of the police.

To be sure, the lynching, carried out under the gravest provocation, does not aid the cause of women, or of justice. But by booking cases against five women accused of the killing, the police have responded in a routine and one-sided manner to the horrendous background of terror they have been abetting for many years. The groundswell of spontaneous support and solidarity expressed by civil society organisations and advocates for these women exposes this attitude of the police. The trial in the cases against members of Yadav's mafia should be conducted expeditiously and the guilty brought at last to justice. Strict enforcement of the rule of law is of the utmost importance, not least because the credibility of the police and the lower judiciary must be restored.

The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has the onerous task of ensuring that those responsible for the obstruction of justice at various levels are held accountable. A major question is how to break the nexus involving the mafia, the police and politicians in places such as Nagpur's Kasturba Nagar. Separation of the investigative and law enforcement units of the police machinery can be one part of the answer. This crucial recommendation of the National Police Commission has not been acted upon for two decades owing to a lack of political will. The case of Yadav's murder should become a legal talisman for protecting the dignity and rights of women and to foster accountability at every level of the criminal justice administration. The lead role in that direction must begin in every State police headquarters.

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