THE DISTRICT Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Ahmedabad Zone II has received a complaint against officers of Sabarmati Police Station, coming under his jurisdiction. A woman, Nabhu Bhabhor has appealed to him to direct the in-charge to register a case against an 18-year-old youth in her neighbourhood, Revchand Mali, his family members and her own sister-in-law Makholia and her son Kala. Bhabhor claimed that Kala and his mother handed over custody of her 17-year-old daughter Sumitra to the Malis in lieu of Rs 25,000. When she had threatened them of a police complaint, Makholia and Kala, offered that amount to her. Bhabhor had approached the police earlier in mid-March when Sumitra had disappeared and Mali too was not traceable. But officials allegedly refused to register her complaint.
They pointed out that Mali was a minor who had been released on bail just a fortnight back by an observation home under the jurisdiction of another police station. The boy had undertaken to the authorities to not see the girl as a precondition. As such, they could not help her. In fact, the cops had promptly acted upon Bhadhor's first complaint in the beginning of January. The lovebirds had then eloped and run away to boy's ancestral village in the nearby district of Dahod. Bhabhor lodged a complaint of kidnapping and the police brought the couple back. Upon their return, the mother produced a statement from the girl that she was raped by the boy. This led the police to even initiate criminal prosecution against the boy. As his relatives produced a certificate in court stating that he had not completed 18 years of age at that time, he was sent to the observation home. It was after breaking the bail condition of this home that he had eloped again with the girl, with the help of her aunt and cousin.
The mother engaged an advocate Samshad Pathan to file an application in the city juvenile court after the boy turned 18 in the beginning of July. The court was urged to cancel Mali's bail for breach of condition. The judge accepted her plea for bail cancellation in Mid August. The advocate advised her that the police could register a criminal complaint now as he was not a juvenile on bail. It remains to be seen what action the DCP will take on her appeal.
The promptness of the criminal justice system in India, consisting of the cops, juvenile court and lawyers, appears startling in this case at first sight. But a deeper examination would show it as mindless injustice resulting obsolete mindsets. We must remember that we are in the 21st Century. Boys and girls mature at a much earlier age than the previous generations, both physically and mentally.
This is the age of youngsters like Mike Perham, the 17-year-old British boy who completed 45,000 kilometre around the world trip, sailing solo for nine months. Should the state-appointed authorities have a right to crucify love affairs, based on obsolete rules of the last generation? More importantly, these counter productive institutions are nourished at considerable expense to the commoners who shell out taxes and duties on every necessity of daily life, directly or indirectly. Most of the state-paid manpower produces nothing but papers and more papers. Couldn't the painfully slow pace of development be somewhat speeded up if resources are channelised into productive work that creates wealth to the society?
