The rape and murder of a 19-year-old girl in the Chawla area of Delhi in 2012 and the recent acquittal of the assailants on procedural issues by the Supreme Court is a sad commentary on the justice system of India. The High Court had while sentencing the rapists to death described the case as 'rarest of the rare' considering the cruelty and bestiality exhibited. The Supreme Court though admitting that the assailants had committed a heinous act decided to let them off on counts of shoddy investigation by the Delhi Police. This one thinks is an error on the part of the Supreme Court since it sends out the wrong message to society particularly to future rapists who will try to buy out the system and go scot free. What the Supreme Court could have done is either referred the case back to the High Court and instructed it to order a re-investigation so that proper punishment could be meted out to the assailants. The disturbing part of this judgment by the 3-judge bench was that it comprised the earlier Chief Justice of India, Justice Lalit.
