Bail criminals, don’t jail witnesses

Facts of bail or jail at different stages of criminal trial in India explain a painful injustice. There are some situations where answers are complex and perplexing. No bail after completing jail term: 3,000 prisoners could not come out of jail even after completion of sentences because they are unable to pay fines. 1,375 of those 3,000, 45 per cent had been in jail for less than six months after the completion of their sentences. Another 33 per cent suffer jail for six months to 2 years after completion of their sentences.

600 people suffer jail as prescribed by courts of law and in addition extended sentence for more than two years, while 240 spent over five years beyond their sentence because of silly reasons like non-payment of fine and red tape. Issue of freedom of 240 Indian undertrials does not bother other Indian citizens, media, administrators and the temples of ‘justice’. The Balance is used as symbol of justice in all countries. It swings in favour of rich and unless there is substantial weight it will not come down for the poor. If this is the story of those who completed their fixed sentences, let us see the fate of under-trials.

No bail pending trial: Times of India on May 11, 2015 gave startling “statistics”(source National Crimes Research Bureau) stating majority of undertrials in the country spend more than three months in jail (unlike super star who got bail within three hours after conviction without even stepping in prison). Around 1.75 lakh of 2.78 lakh people facing criminal charges are not getting bail before three months. More than 40 per cent, 1.1 lakh of undertrails take more than six months, while over 30,000 spend more than two years and over 64,000 spend more than a year in jail before they are released on bail.

The law in India considers the bail pending conviction as a right. Over 60 per cent are incarcerated ever after charges are filed points to the fact that only those with deep pockets to hire celebrity lawyers and fight long-drawn legal battles are able to secure bail. Years go on in jail as trials get delayed: Over 84 per cent cases are pending trial in courts. Over 60 per cent of cases take more than a year to be completed. 1.75 lakh cases take from five to ten years. This means those who cannot get bail will remain in jail without fail for longer periods.

No jail after conviction: Getting bail after conviction is after fight, not as a right, or as a chance, with costly lawyers using their valuable face for rich and powerful people to impress upon the honourable judges about need to honour freedom of celebrities like Jayas and Khans. Ex-superstar Jayalalithaa suffered a brief incarceration before the “nuances of law” prevailed. Superstar Salman gets “fast track, six-pack justice”. Even if High Court confirms conviction, his right to appeal to Supreme Court might help him to be out of jail.

No witness protection

Some astonishing aspects of the plight of complainant and eye-witness Ravindra Patil, collected from media and blog reports are: Patil deposed saying drunk Salman was at the wheel. He had recounted having asked the actor not to drink that night as he would have to drive back and it may prove dangerous while driving, but Salman did not pay heed to his advice. Patil filed FIR after accident, and thus invited troubles.

Crime branch arrested him for not appearing on five consecutive dates, and produced before holiday court in 2006. Journalist Soumyadipta Banerjee’s blog-post ‘Ravindra Patil: The death of a messenger’ (post was later deleted) says: “As the judge ordered that he be arrested and produced in court, his seniors at the police force simultaneously approved that Patil be sacked from his job because he was absent from duty. His seniors chose to ignore the fact that technically Patil was ‘missing’ and not ‘absent’ according to their own records.

Nobody was interested in knowing why he had run away from his house. Or, why the same person who was so forthcoming in lodging a complaint against a Bollywood star like Salman Khan, didn’t want to take the witness-box. Patil was never put under any witness protection programme. Patil was sent to Arthur Road jail with hardened criminals. Before hiring top lawyers at high cost, criminals surely try to corrupt investigators, witnesses, prosecutors, and even judges. Banerjee claims that Patil dreaded facing defence lawyers and fled the scene.

Patil might have been in torturous conflict between his conscience against lying and unbearable pressure to reverse deposition. For that crime of escape, he had to live with hardened criminals. After release, Patil was disowned by family and police department removed him from job. He went missing again. In 2007, he was discovered as TB patient at Sewri Municipal hospital. On October 4, 2007, he died with only one friend by him. (The post which gave details stated: The excerpts from the blog-post reproduced here were sourced from lighhouseinsights.in, who had accessed the blog through Google Cache. The original blog post has been deleted).

Rule of law demands investigation of life and death of Patil, his escape, removal, pressure of intimidation on him, etc. It is pathetic that Patil is jailed and pushed into incurable TB and death, whereas Salman or his stooge witness who gave false statements on oath that Salman was not driving, are not yet prosecuted for perjury. In 1790s, English Jurist William Blackstone propounded a ratio: “it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer” (Commentaries on the Laws of England). This essentially means that the government and the courts must err on the side of innocence.

If system does not want, let not they be prosecuted for perjury, let ten Jayalalitha’s and hundred Salmans be acquitted; but let Ravindra Patils are not jailed or killed in such dire straits, or the injured suffer without just compensation. Dushth Sikhshana, Shisth Rakshana (protection of good and punishing evil) is Raja Dharma. Is that impossible? Then why punish good persons like Ravindra Patil? Shisht Sikshana is Raja Adharma.