Exorcising the ghost of July 23, 2009... And Justice For All
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 19, 2011 -

If freedom is the elixir of life, then justice is the prop which ensures that the freedom we are talking about here is not reduced to a shambolic term, which exists for the sake of existence alone and nothing much else.

Justice is the axis on which human existence and civilisation revolves and man's story from the Old Stone Age through the various stages of civilisation to the present 21st Century, has got a lot to do with what one perceives is justice.

It is also important not to forget that justice is dynamic and not static and what is seen and understood as justice today may seem unjustified at a later stage or even in an earlier period.

So Hamurrabi's concept of justice which stood for eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth has failed to stand the test of time and history and today this understanding of justice is interpreted as over doing things or excesses, which should be avoided without much ado.

File photos of Sanjit being accosted and a police commando brought to the Court

Along with this inseparable concept of justice, one of the greater and more tricky challenges which have faced the human race and continues to do so is the question of who will define what is justice and in whose hand should the mechanism of justice rest.

The modern state, as we see it today, has by a series of hits and misses, decided that justice should lie with an institutionalised set up and it is with this understanding that we should view the Judiciary as it exists today.

The state is all powerful, but yet at the same time there are restraining mechanisms, against which the state cannot act or step out of and it is because of the presence of such mechanisms that the free world talks about such things as human rights and extra-judicial killings or state sponsored terrorism.

It is because of the understanding of justice and the presence of an institution to dispense justice that today we see people coming out on the streets to demand their rights and why the Hosni Mubaraks have had to give up their seat of power and why there are popular uprisings in countries like Libya, Yemen, Syria etc.

No human society can exist without the concept of justice and it is not for nothing that the Judiciary is regarded as one of the four pillars of democracy, the other three being, the Legislature, the Executive and a free media.

In as much as justice is an inseparable part of human existence in the free world, it is also equally important to ensure the justice is not only delivered but also appears to have been delivered and hence there arises the need for transparency and a system which can ensure speedy justice.

The uproar over the July 23, 2009 incident at BT Road, was as much as about the demand for justice as it was about raising the voice of protest against what is increasingly seen as the excesses of the state.

Being in a conflict situation for decades, Manipur has witnessed a number of instances when people have had to take to the street to demand justice, whenever the Government short change them and trample over their rights. This is why the Emergency of 1975 continues to be a blot on the Congress and on the persona of the late Indira Gandhi.

Justice (Retd) Agarwal has already submitted the findings of his inquiry as well as his recommendations on the July 23, 2009 incident and in as much as the Judicial Inquiry was instituted to set things right or ensure that responsibilities are fixed, it is also about the deliverance of justice.

We will not say more about the Judicial Inquiry, lest we attract the provisions of the law as the matter is still considered to be subjudice, but the factor behind the probe or the Judicial Inquiry should not be lost on us and that is justice to the people who have been wronged or think they have been wronged.

On the other hand it can also be about cleansing the image of the State police force if the inquiry finds no ground to point an accusing finger against them. Much before mankind translated the concept of justice into laws and Acts and put in the form of statute books and jurisprudence, there has existed what is generally known and accepted as universal justice.

In fact it is this unwritten and not institutionalised belief and system of justice which has come to be the crux of all that is associated with the institution of the justice delivery system. Any investigation into any high profile murder or any matter that has reached the Court of law is primarily to find out the truth and thereby ensure justice to anyone found to have been wronged at some point of time.

The Jessica Lal murder case touched the raw nerve of the people because justice was deemed not to have been delivered, due to many factors and it was primarily due to the hue and cry raised by the people across the length and breadth of the country that the Jessica Lal murder case was re-opened and things taken to its logical conclusion.

Justice is yet to be delivered in some other equally blood curdling and high profile cases, such as the murder of Arushi and the family's domestic help, Hemraj and people's angst and anxiety is slowly but surely coming to the fore in connection with this case.

Lungnila Elizabeth continues to be a major heartache for quite a number of people, her class mates, her school mates and of course her parents, in no small measure due to the failure to book the killer and deliver justice.

The ghost of July 23, 2009, can be exorcised only when justice is delivered along with the measures that justice also appears to have been delivered.

Or else the lifeless body of Th Rabina lying in a pool of blood just below the BT Road flyover, the picture of a hale and hearty Ch Sanjit being pushed inside a pharmacy only to come out as a lifeless body, will continue to haunt the collective conscience of the people of Manipur.

Let justice prevail, is our prayer.