No place for justice in Indian courts

June 2004, Keiki Karai witnessed his son’s murder infront of his own eyes - in his own house. Three unidentified youths walked into his apartment at Dadar’s famous Parsi Colony and one of them fired a single shot from a countrymade weapon through the open door at Karai’s 21-year-old son Firoz. He was declared dead on arrival at Sion Hospital.

Within days, the police arrested the two alleged shooters, Prabhu Deva Thevar and Sandesh Ranjane, and a third accomplice Dashrath Gholap, a juvenile. Karai, being the only eyewitness in the case, identified those who had shot his son in the course of a police identification parade a month later, and subsequently again in court.

No one can even begin to imagine a father’s pain of watching his son die in his very arms, his only inspiration for living. Our Indian judiciary system instead of bringing justice to this man, has done nothing but made his life even more miserable. The Sewri sessions court recently set free the two alleged shooters on the ground of unreliable witnesses. Karai’s evidence was also discarded by the court - All of this inspite of having twenty-nine witnesses examined and those involved in the murder identified by the main eyewitness.

Acquitting the two alleged shooters, judge M C Khadke in his order observed that it was “improbable” that the persons who were familiar with Firoz’s activities of jogging and playing karate at Dadar’s Five Gardens “will choose his flat only as a place of killing”. The judge stated there were many opportunities to kill him anywhere…(instead of taking) the “risk of going to his flat”.

Judge Khadke also discarded the evidence of the father by stating that the police identification parade was delayed. “The identification parade is to be held as early as possible. Even a delay of a few days affects the memory of the identifying witness,” the order further said.

And this is not the end.

Punit Mehta, who was alleged to have been in the getaway black Santro car– along with Haroon Sheikh (who hired the alleged shooters) on the day of the murder, later confessed before the Kurla court but later turned hostile. The judge also discarded the evidence of Mehta–stating that he was “not a trustworthy or a reliable witness”.

Mehta, in his earlier confessional statement before a magistrate, had spelled out how the main accused, Haroon Sheikh, had paid him and Sandesh Ranjane Rs 35,000 as part payment for the murder of Firoz Karai. Haroon Sheikh is still absconding.

Mr. Karai was forced to leave Mumbai city after his son’s murder, as he fears for his life from the main accused.

A simple open-and-closed case turned into a mockery in the hands of our Indian courts. At one end we have judges who let go of murderers for lack of eye-witnesses. On the other hand we have judges, who don’t consider prime-eyewitnesses to be reliable sources and complain about lack of circumstantial evidence.

Where does this double standard adopted by our law-n-order system, leave a common man? Is there actually any hope - left?

• Mumbai
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