Many states in India are now going to the polls to elect local state governments. Not a day passes without news of some political murder, or crime or intimidation or whatever. This apart from the normal crime news covering petty and big time criminals.
The latter class of criminals however seem to eventually get caught and pay the price for the crimes commited. The former however, do not either seem to get prosecuted at all or manage, one way or another to pervert the investigations and justice mechanisms to escape.
Many Indians consider that this is a peculiar Indian phenomenon and the Western countries do not have such blatant misuse of position and power. While that may indeed be true, though with the recent revelations about various shenanigans in many Western countries, there are some issues which catch the imagination of people all over the world.
One such story is about the single mother setting fire to her car and killing herself and her daughter in Britain. We have many similar stories in India, if not exactly for the same reason, for others such as loss of face due to rape, or blackmail or harassment or whatever. In most cases, the police here too treat the matter exactly the same way that the British police has in the case cited.
The degree to which the power of law is used seems to differ from indifferece to active involvement depending on the status of the complainant. Many instances of police stations not registering complaints, come to light after some tragedy takes place and I cannot help but agree with Dr. Dalrymple that “The rule of law is fast evaporating in Britain; we are coming to live in a land of men, not of laws.” I would just add that it is so in just about all parts of the free world and not peculiar to Britain. Where men are concerned and the laws are not being implemented, obviously justice is not delivered and that is a shame.
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