Beat Up A Man And Get Bail Immediately If You Are Politically-Backed
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-09-13 08:42:36
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
Taking the law in their own hands has become commonplace for some citizens, especially if they are backed by political parties or any other organization. These people do not care about the legal process and often mete out spot justice, much like the spot fines levied by traffic policemen. But in the latter case, at least the citizen is in the wrong for having violated the rules and the traffic sergeant is empowered to fine her or him. But in the former case, neither is the crime proved nor are the dispensers of mob justice empowered to take action.
The case of the Shiv Sena goons beating up a 65-year old ex-navyman, Madan Sharma, just because he allegedly and mindlessly forwarded a cartoon mocking Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar and Sonia Gandhi on social media which they found offensive, falls in the former category. The video shows they beat him up without provocation in what was a planned attack. It was disgusting to watch a group of 8 to 10 men go after a defenseless old man and brutalize him. It has been confirmed that group included Kamlesh Kadam and Sanjay Manjre, both of whom are Shiv Sena shakha pramukhs.
If they were offended by the cartoon, they could have filed an FIR against the accused under the IT Act as well as the IPC. But it seems that either they did not have faith in the judicial system or wanted to assert their supremacy by teaching him a lesson. The victim filed an FIR and six men were duly picked up by the police, only to be given bail in a hurry. It is obvious that the phone call from higher authorities, almost made a cliche in Hindi movies, did the trick.
The police later said that bail was granted as the Supreme Court has empowered the Officer-in-Charge of a police station to grant bail to the accused at the thana level if the maximum punishment for the alleged crime is less than seven years in jail. But what was left unsaid was that the Supreme Court had left it to the discretion of the OC to decide a fit case for grant of such bail. In the instant case, given the political nature of the crime, it was a given that if the accused were released on bail, they would hound the victim and force him to withdraw the FIR against them. Hence, the OC should not have released them. But can a mere OC of a police station go against his superiors or the political masters?
