Right from the childhood, we have been moulded to imbibe the ideal clauses of our constitution one of which boasts on equality before law i.e. every citizen of India will be equally treated by the independent judiciary but the privileged status guided by class distinctions and tied with political nexus have always bent law into their favour. This illusion of equality before law is taking too much time to become a reality as many as 66 years and has ostensibly stitched itself into a mere utopia, leaving the symbol of justice remain just an allegory into our idealistic imaginations.
The real life Munnabhai- Sanjay Dutt
The bollywood Munnabhai seems to enjoy his bossy attitude in real life too. Convicted in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blast for illegally possessing an AK-56 rifle which was from the consignment of arms smuggled into India before the blasts, Sanjay Dutt was sentenced to six years jail term. Although he was re-imprisoned in 2013 to serve his remaining sentence, we can always catch him shaking to some raunchy numbers, delivering kickass dialogues and of course partying hard in movies like Ungli, PK and Zanjeer to name a few.
It’s really vexing to witness the huge loopholes in our judicial system and untamable VIP culture. Mr. Dutt has overused the provision of parole granted as an instrument of social rehabilitation of the prisoner and brings him back into the mainstream life. Sanjay baba under the pretext of medical reasons either of his wife or him has taken undue advantage to enjoy his extravagant luxurious bollywod life by seeking parole for a total of 118 days out of forty two months in the expanse of one and a half year!
Amma in terms of power- Jayalalithaa
Enlisted as one of the most influential politicians, Jayalalithaa Jayaram has touched the stars in the male centric political arena. The AIADMK supremo and the earlier chief minister of Tamil Nadu has established strong foothold in the region smashing the ideas of Patriarchy.
In her tenure of 1991-96 as the CM, she unleashed misuse of her office and amassed properties worth Rs. 66.65 crores. The illegal assortment of valuable assets encompassed farm houses and bungalows in Chennai, agricultural land in Tamil Nadu, tea estate in Nilgiris, jewelries, cash deposits and a set of valuable cars. In a raid of her poes garden residence, accumulated accessories of 750 pairs of shoes, 10500 sarees, 91 watches and other valuables were revealed!A trial of just 18 years (some sarcasm) ended up in her conviction on 27 september, 2014 and sentenced her to four year jail term accompanied with aides Sasikala, Ilavarasi and U.N. Sudhakaran. Fined in crores, Jayalalithaa was forced to step down fron her designation and contestation in election for 10 years was held illegal.
A third time convict was granted bail in a month on 17th October, 2014 and her sentence in disproportionate asset case was suspended too by the Supreme Court. Recently she was seen boasting on the over the top performance of her party in a by-election.
Gangs of Bihar- Lalu Yadav
Sustaining the throne for three terms as the CM of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav used his entire prowess to work for his own welfare rather than of the society. What led to his conviction was the Fodder Scam which involved embezzlement of almost 90 crores for a period of ten years from the government treasury by procuring funds for fictitious livestock such as fodder, medicines etc.
With the birth of the scandal in 1996, he was ultimately proved guilty in 2013 receiving five years of imprisonment. He was forced to resign as the CM and banned from contesting elections for six years. Within a year, he was successful in bending the law and was granted a bail on medical grounds as well as on the argument that out of 44 convicts in the case, 37 were already enjoying bail.
Dabanngg Pandey- Salman Khan
The unrivalled king of Bollywood uses all his Dabanngai to subdue the authority of equality before law. Charged with severe criminal cases such as the Hit and Run mishap in which he was accused of culpable homicide for Rash driving which took a toll on one life and injured three, he did not have to pay for his deeds and was easily granted bail within a year.
In another gruesome incident of Black Buck Hunting case way back in 2006, he is free to shake his belt and enjoy his hangover because of the snail’s pace of judicial function which is giving ‘tareekh pe tareekh’ for the trial.
In the Varna (later caste) system of ancient India, the four fold division was treated unequally for similar offence where upper Varna enjoyed privileged position. Though caste system is abolished, the unequal treatment has manifested itself into class division encouraged by capitalism. The poor class suffers at the expense of these the richer section of the society. These expected philanthropists are consuming the time and resources of the judiciary which should have been used on granting justice to the lower sections. Uncountable cases of non influential victims, be it of rape, trafficking or entitlement is starving for justice while the influential and so called “leaders” drive the law into their lawns.
Zainab Rashid
