Recent judicial pronouncements in the Aman Kachroo ragging case and the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case — which encapsulated the tragic deaths of young people, and in respect of which justice might well have gone wholly astray if it weren’t for a hue and cry raised by ordinary Indians — serve to remind us that a nation growing in stature should also mean the maturing of its social order and state institutions.

The latter implies the necessity of public institutions, which underpin the state and society, keeping pace with progressive contemporary understanding of societal concerns, and linking these to global best practices. The state of the media, the shaping of laws that will support the well-being of different sections of society, the reading of laws by the courts so that the weak are not disadvantaged, and the evolving of the government into a responsive welfare-oriented entity become important indicators of the maturing of a society. We must alas infer that in these respects India is far from striving toward being a social and state system that can command respect. Here governments only think of the rate of GDP growth, and the courts of law are unmoved by the enormity of human suffering instead of interpreting existing laws creatively to benefit those without the advantage of either money or influence. Of government entities, the less said the better. In particular, the CBI has shown itself to be a club of police officers mostly out to please their political masters.
Extraordinary though it might appear, in the Aman Kachroo case the legal system was first inclined to grant bail to the four senior students who ragged Aman to death, and the college authorities had gone about behaving as though nothing abnormal had occurred, all the while proclaiming their innocence. If a public and media outcry had not erupted, led by the father of the deceased girl, these four — who would later be convicted — may have long absconded. It was under the pressure of public opinion that investigations were conducted and judgment pronounced in 20 months. But it is the quantum of the sentence pronounced by the court in Dharmshala this week that we find shocking. It is this which is now at issue. It has not been explained why the judge chose to sentence the four to four years in prison when the law provides for a maximum term of 10 years. The high court would do well to look into this aspect of the matter. Aman’s father Rajendra Kachroo has been magnanimous in holding that justice would be done in his late son’s case only when the University Grants Commission has ensured that ragging is eradicated for good in this country. He has sought to argue that this has failed to materialise because the UGC and the HRD ministry have not got their act right. This is a serious indictment.
In the Ruchika matter, the CBI shockingly closed two of the crucial files germane to the case of a 14-year-old Chandigarh schoolgirl taking her own life after being molested by the then Haryana inspector-general of police. It says there was insufficient evidence. But it did not bother to go to the girl’s family for information. Perhaps home minister P. Chidambaram needs to look into this sorry affair. To top it all, the Supreme Court — possibly relying on the CBI’s action — granted bail to the disgraced former DGP after he had served only six of his 18-month jail term awarded under public pressure. It does seem that in our country lawmakers, custodians of the law, and those who administer and interpret it become wooden and callous if the public gaze is not focused on them unremittingly.