In a Connaught Place shoot-out case, two businessmen were gunned down by the Delhi police on March 31, 1997. It later proved to be a fake encounter to eliminate alleged terrorists. The Delhi High Court condemned the Central Home Ministry for a "lackadaisical appraoch" in taking action against the guilty policmen for "wanton and callous killing" of the two innocent businessmen. After 14 years, the High Court ordered the two widows-Mrs Neema Goyal and Mrs Jaspal Kaur, to be paid a compensation of Rs.15 lakhs each. They had petitioned for Rs 2 crore as compensation.
Once again, we are reminded of the terrible tyranny of delayed justice that amounts, in effect, to denying justice. The governments at the Centre and the States may be castigated for their mindless insensitivity to delayed justice due to infrastructural deficiencies and systemic problems, but the end-result is that our criminal justice mechanism continues to remain ham-handed and inefficient. On its part, sadly, the judiciary has hardly covered itself in glory with its decision to pay Rs.15 lakhs as compensation to the tragedy-overwhelmed widows after 14 long years of mental and physical agony of going to the courts, and loneliness. One widow, Mrs Neema Goyal whose only child-a son-was 2-year-old when his father Pradeep Goyal was gunned down, narrated her painful and moving saga, in a TV interview last night(July 4). She outrightly rejected the sum of Rs15 lakhs as totally inadequate. She is right. In these days of unprecedented inflation, the poor lady can't even buy a small DDA flat.And what about her teen-age son's higher education? With tremendous suffering and sacrifice, she has somehow struggled to survive and bring him up as a single parent, all these years. And, this is how our heartless, cruel system treats her! No wonder, her lament was that law is blind and an ass, more so in our country.
Once again, we are reminded of the terrible tyranny of delayed justice that amounts, in effect, to denying justice. The governments at the Centre and the States may be castigated for their mindless insensitivity to delayed justice due to infrastructural deficiencies and systemic problems, but the end-result is that our criminal justice mechanism continues to remain ham-handed and inefficient. On its part, sadly, the judiciary has hardly covered itself in glory with its decision to pay Rs.15 lakhs as compensation to the tragedy-overwhelmed widows after 14 long years of mental and physical agony of going to the courts, and loneliness. One widow, Mrs Neema Goyal whose only child-a son-was 2-year-old when his father Pradeep Goyal was gunned down, narrated her painful and moving saga, in a TV interview last night(July 4). She outrightly rejected the sum of Rs15 lakhs as totally inadequate. She is right. In these days of unprecedented inflation, the poor lady can't even buy a small DDA flat.And what about her teen-age son's higher education? With tremendous suffering and sacrifice, she has somehow struggled to survive and bring him up as a single parent, all these years. And, this is how our heartless, cruel system treats her! No wonder, her lament was that law is blind and an ass, more so in our country.
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