Needed: Constitutional amendments and judicial reforms

The Indian constitution and the judicial system can often make any sane person laugh. It takes forever to hang a terrorist and render punishment to a rapist, murderer, or a robber even after they confesses their crime. Cases continue through generations. Some people forget what were they fighting for in the first place while others die of old age. Yet, the saga continues.

It's no rocket science and can be easily perceived at the very first sight that the system is seriously flawed. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that crime is encouraged and engendered as a ramification of such flaws.

The rapid and unbridled escalation in crime against women remains a prime concern of people especially belonging to the middle class families. The macabre and gruesome incident of Delhi bus rape shook the whole country. Numerous protest exploded in different parts of India. Other parts demonstrated peaceful protests, suppressing their rage within themselves. Yet, the government remains indifferent to this day. The apathy shown by the government is not only appalling and bewildering but extremely outrageous. The culprits have been nabbed. But their case seems to perpetuate indefinitely and who knows they might even elude any sort of punishment. Moreover,  it's surprising to see that despite having committed an act that would have shamed the whole of humanity, it's raining lawyers for them who are using their good old flim-flam to "lawyer" the victim and assist their client escape any kind of punishment. One of the lawyers who is defending the rapist was asked why he was doing so, and he replied - because my mother asked me to do so. Well , none of us is oblivious of the fact that rhetoric is the hall-mark of lawyers. Kudos to you Mr. lawyer!

The masses of our country have been rightly demanding for death sentence for the culprits. I guess that's the least that must be done. As always, the government set up a committee  - Justice Verma committee - to probe into the matter and decide what punishment must be rendered to rapists. The committee came out with it's report yesterday. Not surprising to the aam aadmi, who are almost always disappointed and have learnt to live in dismay, it did not consent to death penalty or chemical castration for the rapists. The most probable reason being the abuse of this law. Honestly, this reason sounds lame to me. We do have provision of punishment for rapists - however ludicrous they may seem to the victim but they are there. How often do we hear about the abuse of this existing law? That's sheer jibber jabber concocted as a good excuse to prevent any harsh law being framed which is not in the interest of the elite or the closest of their kin.

Committees are set up, laws are made, "reforms" are brought about, but nevertheless, the culprits escape punishment with ease.  The roots of corruption have entangled not only the bureaucrats but also the judiciary. India Against Corruption leader Arvind kejrival has proclaimed that their next target would be the Indian judiciary who is responsible for delaying the case for many years without any decisive outcome.

Rampant corruption , loopholes in the constitution and ground-hugging levels of convictions in cases of crime encourage more such crimes. An instance of exploitation of such loopholes can be readily seen in the way "juveniles" are treated by court. The most brutal of the culprits of the Delhi gang rape case pleaded that he is a juvenile and should be convicted by the juvenile court. Really? I believe convicting him under a juvenile court would be the most preposterous decision that can be taken in such a case. It would be a lachrymose demise of justice in our society and an indelible blemish on our judiciary system. The decision taken by a juvenile court can leave many shocked. Rapists, murderers and other culprits of the most grisly crime may be sent to counselling for a few months,or maybe sent to do some social work, plant trees or any other sort of stuff. Why? because they are only 17 years and 11 months old. In such a flawed system, one can hear the rapists and murderers sniggering while the family of the deceased weep helplessly and cry their eyes out for they have no one to resort to.