The apex court of India acquitted six convicts in Ankush Maruthi Shinde V State of Maharashtra case due to lack of evidence and facts to prove the guilt. It includes the three persons who were awaiting the death penalty. Obviously, on a quick glance, this is a laudable moment for the justice system in India which has shown the maturity to correct its errors and refine its decisions. However, while reading further, the details of the incident are known, and it throws some light upon the trauma that these people have gone through. The incident occurred in 2009, and these young men were arrested and sealed as criminals due to their association to a particular tribe which practised criminality in earlier days. For ten years they were doused into the harsh conditions of the prisons with the tag of rapists and murderers. The lower courts and High Court which has a proclivity towards the popular public opinion hammered a nail on the coffin of this Nasik dacoity case accused.
Notably, the court has ordered a probe into the erroneous investigation conducted by the Maharashtra police and compensation for the acquitted. Ironically, there is no mechanism to validate the judgemental flaw of the lower court judges. These judgements which shoved three people into the ebb of the death needs a proper investigation as well. If the Supreme Court was unable to interlink the convicts with the circumstances of the case, then how the lower court judges were able to reach a diametrically opposite conclusion?. It is evident that the Judges in India are not following a uniform procedure. The consciousness, the culture and educational backgrounds and even the mood of a Judge could impact the Judgement. Hence, the life of people is lurching on the personal thoughts and mentality of another individual and not on a universal procedure. The lower court needs to be questioned by the Higher court in such cases. While Judges play their interpretation game, the life of innocent people is getting languished on the dark holes of Indian prisons. They are isolated and marginalised from mainstream society for the rest of their lives.
Carefully following the data of NLU, Delhi makes it palpable that the number of death penalty awarded by the trial courts have skyrocketed in the recent past. Even if the Supreme Court commutes these death sentences, in India the trial itself could be a plight for the accused.
Indeed the international practices of different levels of jury trials could be accommodated to the Indian judicial system to curb the predicament of the lengthy court processes in India. A court should verify whether there is enough evidence available to go for a full flung trial in prior. The practice of grand jury exercised in the USA in which a selected group of common men could give verdict is also an excellent method. Then the judiciary which is currently the monopoly of legal luminaries would be accessible to common man as well. The judges in Indian court should also be held accountable for misinterpreting the facts and heedlessly pushing innocents towards the gallows. The power without responsibility and accountability is absolute power, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
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