Last week the Supreme Court granted bail to Indrani Mukerjea, allegedly the prime accused in the murder of her daughter. The reasons cited by the three learned judges are that the 6½ years that she spent in jail is too long a term and that the trial will not be completed anytime soon. This is because only 68 of the 237 witnesses cited by the prosecution have been examined to date. The lady had the wherewithal to fight for her cause by hiring a former Attorney-General for India. According to him the lady is entitled to special dispensation under Section 437 and also considering the above cited reasons he sought bail and the lady walked out free.The question is, will the SC please apply the same laws and logic and set free thousands of convicts who are rotting in jails across the country? In many cases even the witnesses might have died without being cross- examined. Hence, why keep the accused persons in jail for decades, sometimes even without an FIR? Let there be laws of natural justice for all Indians and not only for those who can afford to hire expensive lawyers.
