MAKING A MARK in the judicial history of India, the Tis Hazari court in Delhi last Tuesday sentenced former Union Minister and chief of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Shibu Soren along with four of his other associates for conspiracy, kidnapping and murdering his private secretary Sashinath Jha. Again, in another judgment the former cricketer turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu was sentenced to three years imprisonment for a road rage killing.

 

These kinds of judgments have helped in establishing justice, as for the first time a current Union Minister has got the second highest level of punishment after the death sentence and a high profile personality like Sidhu has also been punished. Till now there was a general belief that politicians and other high profile celebrities can get away with anything, be it corruption or even murder. But the recent results have offered a ray of hope that there is still some justice left.

 

This comes as an alarm to the politicians involved in criminal activities. There are even a number of MPs and ministers sitting in the parliament with charges like murder, attempt to murder and their alleged involvement in various scams, such as Lalu Prasad Yadav, Shahabuddin, Pappu Yadav, opposition leader Lal Krishna Advani, M.M. Joshi, etc. This must have led them to think that they are in the queue and their turn can come anytime.

 

Recent judgments by the Indian judiciary, be it the death sentence given to the son of a senior cop in the Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case or the reopening of Nitish Katara case and even the Sanjay Dutt case, can be taken as examples that show that our judicial system is doing the right thing by ignoring the status of these high profile personalities.

 

However, it’s a shame that we choose these leaders as our electoral representatives who are always busy in their personal gains and do not care about the general welfare of the people. Today, in all these cases, the role of media is important. It should constantly raise important issues and should give a platform to the common man to present his/her point. Yet, we have a long way to go, but now we can safely say that justice delayed does not mean justice denied.

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