By Sushil Kutty
Question: What to make of the Supreme Court when it asked a rapist ‘are you ready to marry the girl you raped, then possibly you can walk free with the trophy bride?’Of course, the top court did not ask in so many words, but that’s about the gist of the astonishing offer. And, mind you, the criminal on escape row, if he couldn’t believe his ears, replied rather regretfully, ‘Yes, your lordships, I would marry her except that I am now regretfully a married man!’
Hell, talk about an offer going waste! The Mr. Justices who sat on that bench couldn’t have made a more scintillating demand of a confirmed rapist. And, to think that so many other rapists who went before this one did not get the getaway offered on a platter to this blasted f*@k#r from Hell. Really, what were the justices thinking of?
None of them even thought of the girl, the unfortunate victim of the rampaging lust of a man in heat, the hound of rapesville! And this was no run of the mill wayward criminal. This fellow had rape in his mind before he even got down to stalking the minor he had set his eyes and much more on. He was raping, sexually assaulting her, with every glance he had of her.
And then he had his hands on her. The list of accusations against him is a mile long. This chap’s perversity knew no bounds. And it didn’t bother him that she was minor, a schoolgirl. He just went about it, just another day in office. The trial court understood the gravity and perversity of the horrible crime; ditto the high court.
But not the Supreme Court! King Solomon would have hung his head in shame, and court jesters in a thousand and one medieval courts of kings and sultans would have jested and gestured lewdly. It’s not very often that such low-hanging blunders of justice are handed out by seemingly sane, just and intelligent judges of men and matters.
So, what’s the fallout gonna be? Simple. Rapists will go about their business in gay abandon now that the Supreme Court has gone and shone the light on the escape route. Tie the knot with the godforsaken and the Supreme Court-forsaken victim, at least offer to tie. And then if the case comes up in court, the judicial officers know what to say and do.
The precedent has been set. Wonder if the justices were having some fun or was it really a serious offer made to the “perp”, as the Americans would categorise it. The perpetrator in this case was twice-favoured. Not only was he given the chance to slip away with the crime under his belt, the top court also told the establishment he cannot be arrested till so and so date!
Hell, what was so special about this guy that he merited such generosity, something that’s so sorely lacking in him, the generosity, that is. By all means this gopher is probably the meanest person in the realm. The gall of him. He rapes a minor and then goes and marries another of marriageable age! If this pervert doesn’t get his just desserts, it’s probably because he already got it when he consummated the marriage!
More than him, it’s the ‘Your Lordships’ who should be held to scrutiny. More important, what’s coming to our justice system? Why are we being subjected to weird judgements, rulings that make no sense and those which go against the grain of justice? Earlier, not too long ago, there was the ruling that said if there’s no skin contact, it is not rape or sexual molestation by a long shot!
And, now, this one! Women folk are busting blouse buttons; they are so pissed off at the gross injustice of it all. Women from all walks of life, from actors to politicians and students – the fairer of the species are demanding their pound. Not in flesh, naturally. But in like ‘begone.’ They are demanding that CJI Sharad Arvind Bobde get off his high horse and begone! ASAP.
Is that fair? Well, after what the top court had to offer to the rapist, everything and anything is fair. And justice demands that a wrong must be righted and somebody always has to pay for a wrong done. That axe must fall on somebody who rightly said had the power in him to see to it that justice won and not the crime. A reading of Dostovoskey’s ‘Crime and Punishment’ would no doubt give a quote to go with the ruling. Positive.
So, CJI Bobde should mull over the absurd happenings of the recent past. In fact, there’s quite a big constituency of people in cities and towns and villages who think the judiciary is not what it was or ought to be, especially after 2014. Bull! But that’s how the wind’s blowing. The farmers, for instance. The rustic belief is the courts are in an unholy alliance with the Modi Government.
And then there are the climate activists like Disha Ravi and the anti-CAA crowd, the Safoora Zargars, who all believe the court-system is loaded against them. Actually, to an extent, they are even right to look down on the judiciary. True, even today, the judiciary is the one pillar that holds the edifice and the superstructure up and intact, but some of the rulings of the courts are so confounding that it breaks the public mojo!
So, over 3,500 concerned citizens, representatives of women’s movements and feminists have in an open letter to Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde demanded that he step down and issue an apology for giving a rapist a way out, asking him if he was willing to marry her! The rapist had stalked, tied up, gagged and repeatedly raped the minor school-going girl, threatened to douse her in petrol and set her on fire. The minor school-going victim attempted suicide.
“From the towering heights of the post of CJI of the Supreme Court, it sends the message to other courts, judges, police and all other law enforcing agencies that justice is not a constitutional right of women in India. This will only lead to the further silencing of girls and women. To the rapists, it sends the message that marriage is a licence to rape; and that by obtaining such a licence, the rapist can post facto decriminalise or legalise his act,” read the letter.
So, there it is, the tit for tat. The CJI is getting the same getaway offer that he generously gave to the rapist, a face-saving formula. The CJI is being told that given the chance to make amends, will he submit his papers and quit the post, resign? It mimics the offer made to the rapist, and if that offer was just and fair, according to natural justice, this one too should be. Cannot be otherwise. (IPA Service)