Stop culture of impunity

In recent times, several criminal cases have caught attention of the public because they reek of a culture of impunity that relies heavily on the power of money, fame or politics. Court rulings in many such cases indicate a positive trend that upholds justice and deters violence. However, there are also many cases which call for introspection with regards to the underlying thought processes that are responsible for cultivating an utter disregard for law. Just as the crimes need to be investigated and dealt with legally, the mindsets which further such crimes must also be identified and curbed at the right time to prevent such unfortunate and infuriating situations in future.
For way too long, a seat of power given to an individual has immediately translated into an automatic assumption of power by those related to them. Nepotism-laced bullying done by those who consider themselves above the law because of their "connections" is at the heart of most of our social-economic struggles today. Those with connections seem to keep climbing the ladder with opportunities laid out on a platter and those without often get caught into a vicious red tape of apathy. The powerful also have usually found their way out of criminal loopholes because of alleged police connections, but that has not been the case in some recent cases.
Take for example, the road-rage incident involving a politician's son in Bihar. On Wednesday, a Gaya court convicted Rakesh Kumar Ranjan, who prefers to go by Rocky Yadav, and two others for killing 19-year-old Aditya Sachdeva in May 7, 2016 when Sachdeva overtook Rocky's SUV, leaving him "enraged." Rocky is said to have followed Aditya's car and shot at it; one bullet went through the rear window and hit Aditya, killing him on the spot. The crime, in broad daylight, exemplified the infamous culture of mindless power gloating, especially in political circles. Rocky is the son of suspended JD(U) MLA Manorama Devi. Rocky was sentenced to life imprisonment while his father, Bindeswari Prasad aka Bindi, a businessman with alleged political clout and muscle power was given five years' jail time for sheltering his son who was on the run after the killing. Two others given life imprisonment in the case were Rajesh Yadav, Manorama Devi's bodyguard and Rocky's cousin Teni Yadav. All three were reportedly in the car when the Rocky fired the bullet and have been convicted under various sections of IPC leading to the rigorous sentence.
This is a case of swift police action, without political interference, that reached to conclusion comparatively sooner than many other court cases gathering dust and dejection. According to news reports, on October 19, 2016, Rocky was granted bail by the Patna HC but when the state government challenged it in the Supreme Court on October 28, he was sent back to jail. Later, on November 21, the trial court framed charges. During the trial, friends of Aditya, who were accompanying him on that day, turned hostile, but key evidence gathered by the police helped nail Rocky and others.
Last month, Vikas Barala, son of Haryana BJP president Subhash Barala, was arrested after Varnika Kundoo, daughter of an IAS officer called the police and complained that she was being chased around the city by Vikas and a friend of his. Vikas and his friend allegedly refused (question is - did they have a choice anyway!) to give blood and urine samples when they were detained. The inability to follow official protocol casts doubt on the efficacy of the police system. Subash Barala and state BJP is denying accusations of trying to hinder the investigation and allegedly watering down the FIR.
Jog memory a little bit. Manu Sharma, son of former Union Minister Venod Sharma (Congress), was awarded life imprisonment in December 2006 for killing Jessica Lall in 1999. The trial court had acquitted him, but the Delhi High Court had reversed the judgement and the Supreme Court had upheld the life sentence in April 2010. Lall was shot dead by Sharma after she had refused to serve him liquor at the Tamarind Court restaurant owned by socialite Bina Ramani at Qutub Colonnade in South Delhi's Mehrauli area on the night of April 30, 1999. Last week, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by Vikas Yadav for a review of its decision to sentence him to 25 years' imprisonment for the murder of business executive Nitish Katara in 2002, carried out in a bid to end Katara's relationship with the sister of Vikas Yadav, Bharati. The court had deemed the crime as an "honour killing" and had also taken into account Vikas's criminal antecedents including involvement in the Jessica Lall case. Yadav is Manu Sharma's cousin.
Former Dera Saccha Sauda's leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim's 20-year jail sentence for raping two women is also a ray of hope for those who are cynical about police and judicial systems. However, the riots that broke out after his followers couldn't reconcile with the verdict, killing 38 people in police firing, also highlighted an extremely dangerous form of impunity which likely arose from blind belief in a particular form of preaching or ideology. Most of those killed in the rioting have been acknowledged as Ram Rahim's ardent followers.