At the dawn of a Thursday morning, the Nation woke up to the horrific news of the heinous rape and murder committed on the 26-year-old Veterinary Doctor at Hyderabad. The happenings of the unfortunate night were a major crux on the principles of our society. But what happened aftermath, in response to this was nothing less of the crime itself and was in fact a major failure of the Nation as a whole. The four presumed to be guilty, I repeat, “presumed to be guilty” were shot dead by the policemen while the entire Nation celebrated the same.

The masses celebrated this act of Telangana state policemen by categorizing it as a ‘Speedy Justice’. It was indeed speedy, but was it really Justice that was served? Two Fundamental Human Rights have been breached and by whom? The arm of the judiciary, the executive itself. Article 20 clearly states that “No person shall be convicted of any offence except for violation of a law in force at the time of the commission of the act charged as an offence, nor be subjected to a penalty greater than that which might have been inflicted under the law in force at the time of the commission of the offence.” While article 21 states that “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.” Four lives were unjustly snatched and the entire nation celebrates.

Would the victim’s soul really ‘Rest in Peace’ if these four Accused were the victims of some sort of jeopardy and the real culprits are still roaming around free? There was no legitimate proof that the accused were the actual culprits. The case was still under investigation and charges had not been filed, trial had not begun and court was yet to hear the accused and prosecution. On constitutional grounds, before punishing a criminal, a scientific and civilized system has the responsibility to look into all the factors that are involved in the crime under the Indian Penal code and the Criminal Procedure Code. Only after a magisterial inquiry, a stand can be taken and the perpetrators are to be punished under the due process in the court of law. It is a case of extra-judicial killing that ought to come clean by passing the SC guidelines to restore people’s faith in the rule of law that declares right to life is fundamental and asserts a life can be taken by the State only in accordance with law. If the executive itself showcases such absolute lack of faith in the functioning of the law, then how will we, the citizens, ever bank on a system like this? Or do we have to give up on Justice itself?

What happened on that night will now forever stay a mystery. We would never know that if these Accused were shot to cover up someone “Influential” and were killed because it was easier to do so. Instead of fixing their inept, the police department succumbed to the pressure of the masses and took a stride to cover themselves in glory.

Such merrymaking of an outrageous act by the public is the sign of a dysfunctional society. Some want instant killing and other propose lynching. The Representatives of the Parliament too took stand of public and emotionally demanding castration. The civil society is rattled at the cruelty of the Accused against the Veterinarian’s case. Whenever such ghastly crime is committed, the society feels hurt and reacts emotionally to demand severe punishment to the culprit. Those who generally opposed to death penalty of the Accused are hated, trolled and abused in an uncivilized manner. But can romanticizing lynching be a solution to what we need?

If we shed some light on the backgrounds of the four Accused, they were all lorry workers aged between 20 and 24 years, a proof enough that the four presumed to be guilty were of the lower tier of the social hierarchy. They were brought up to live a life of hand-to-mouth existence. We hardly know if any of them has ever been to a school. Ethics, Social Etiquettes, Human Rights, Judiciary System and Patriarchy are all aliens to these souls. Of course, all of this cannot be a justification for the gruesome act that they’ve committed but before we give them the tag of ‘animals’, we need to analyze the root cause of the ideology that they’ve nurtured. Before the four Accused failed as individuals, there is a failure of a lot of institutions that led them to a path like this. India is at the brink of poverty and is home to a myriad of broken families that failed to be good role models to their prodigies. Prodigies, who in return were put in the hustle to fill their stomachs and that of the family’s and could never encounter opportunities to build personalities or ideologies of their own. Behind such broken families is a failed society that made people of lesser economic status, the victims of social hierarchy. And behind a society like this is a failed Nation that speaks about progress and education every day but yet could not to instill something as basic as homogeneity and eliminate patriarchy in the society.

Isn’t the whole point of a judiciary system to fix a society like this? Aren’t they supposed to eradicate the crime and not avenge the criminal? What happened in the 26 year old Veterinarian’s case is just a hush up of our loopholes and a stride to calm down the masses. The root causes of such barbarous crimes and callous ideolgies still linger in the society. Romanticizing lynching is sheer postponement of such change and not the solution itself.

They say ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’ but dint they also say ‘Justice hurried is justice buried?’ These Four Accused shot dead by the policemen, are indeed the Victims of a Dysfunctional society, Incompetent Political System and an Unmindful Nation.