{M:H:O} Ruchika's family, System|Society and Justice - Part II

Our criminal justice system has once again failed. Once again the ghost of a young girl cries out to be heard. In a country that celebrates its woman president, its woman speaker of the Lok Sabha, its woman leader of the Opposition and its woman head of the Congress party, once again this country is in danger of failing a powerless young woman. The criminal justice system has failed Ruchika Girhotra, as it once failed Bhanvari Devi, Jessica Lal and Priyadarshani Mattoo and many more unheared girls. A mere six month sentence and a Rs 1000 fine has been handed to former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore for the molestation of 14-year old Ruchika Girhotra, should make every citizen of India rise and once again knock at the doors of the courts.These days even the fine for drunken driving is Rs.2000.00. Its about all our daughters, our sisters, our grand-daughters, our nieces, our cousins, our neighbourhood kids, about every little Indian girl who believes that yes, this country belongs to her too. What is the message the case is sending out? It is sending out the message that if you are a parent of a 14 year old who is molested or sexually assaulted by a powerful person in a small town, or if you are the victim of such molestation by a powerful person, you have to just keep your mouth shut and not complain. You have to keep quiet and not say a word and instead subject yourself to even more assault perhaps. Why? Because the molestor is powerful and he could use influence to intimidate and harass you into silence. Ruchika's crime was that she lodged a complaint, that she was not meek, she and her friend Aradhana raised their voice. The prevalent Indian mindset goes something like this: Rathore-after-all-just-"had-fun"- with- a- minor-men-do- it- all- the- time-surely-its-not- a- very-serious- thing. Its- just- harmless- fun- isn't- it? When Ruchika lodged a complaint, she and her family and friends faced such a barrage of threats and intimidating actions that her family was forced to move out of Chandigarh. The CBI took over the case in 1998, but did not file any charges of abetment to suicide, nor any charges against those who had been harassing Ruchika.The court has held that Rathore's age is the reason for the light sentence, yet the fact that the case has been delayed for 19 years is because of the tactics of Rathore himself, and perhaps his advocate wife who is his defense counsel. We take pride in being an independent country but the irony is that most of our laws are still continued from the 19th century. As we all say that justice delayed is justice denied, all the cases and particularly the criminal cases should have a definite time frame and if the cases are not completed in the given time frame, the whole Justice system should be held accountable for it.The best punishment is to bring the accused in the streets and the entire public should punish him on their own wish as he tortured ruchika's family. There is no need to waste any government money and or time on cases like these. Indian Justices should be ashamed of themselves letting these type of cases linger on for so long and having a child molester Rathore just laugh at the Great Justice System of India. God knows how many other childern he has molested. We will be a nation of gutless, spineless imbeciles if we let matters remain like this. As very ordinary people, we still have a small voice; but most of ,all we have a great responsibility to collectively raise our voices. A new year is about to dawn. Let the new year begin with a new beginning for the criminal justice system too, in the form of Justice for Ruchika. Regards Shail

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