5. Justice and Revenge

There were two important judgements during the first week of May, 2017.

One was in the Nirbhaya case. The Supreme Court, on 5th May, 2017,  upheld the death sentence awarded to the four rapists by the Delhi High Court. For the incident that took place in 2012, the final judgement has come in about five years' time. The nationwide attention this gruesome incident received, the outrage it created among vast sections of the people and the wide coverage this incident received from the media would have contributed, at least to some extent, to the somewhat expeditious disposal of the case.

Reacting to the judgement, Nirbhaya's father said that he had lost sleep for the last five years. He added, "I will sleep peacefully tonight. My daughter will also rest in peace."

While I could understand the intensity of his mental pain and his physical strain in losing sleep during the last 5 years, I felt a little disturbed by the second part of his statement. It is good that he is getting back to normalcy and is hopeful of having a good night's sleep from now. But I am not sure how sentencing the culprit to death can end the agony of the victim's relatives. I don't think that the victim's resting in peace depends on the culprits getting hanged, either.

Well, Nirbhaya's father has gone through a period of intense pain and my full sympathies are with him. May God give him the peace he needs and deserves.

The second was a judgement delivered on 8th may, 2017, by the Bombay high Court in the Bilkis Bano case. Bilkis Bano was 19 years old and pregnant  when she was gangraped on March 3, 2002 during the post-Godhra riots that rocked Gukarar. Ms Bano was the only adult survivor and eyewitness to the massacre  of 14 members of her family including her three and a half year old daughter.

The Bombay High Court (the case was transferred to Maharashtra by the Supreme Court since  the victim could not get justice in Gujarat, then under the rule of Mr. Narendra Modi) upheld the conviction of the 11 accused and also upturned the acquittal of  7 others, thus delivering a guilty verdict on a total of 18 individuals, including 5 policemen and 2 doctors.

What is significant is the reaction of the 34 year old (Yes, it has taken 19 years for this judgement to come) Ms. Bano to the judgement.  When she was asked by reporters whether she didn't wish that the accused in this case were awarded death sentence as in the case of the Nirbhaya case, she said, "The horrors I suffered deserve the maximum punishment but I do not want anyone else to die in my name. I want justice, not revenge."

I salute this lady for her attitude!