The sentencing of Sanjay Dutt brings an end to the saga of India’s worst terror attack. Though it took 14 long years, it is commendable that for once our system managed to punish the guilty (agreed that the main conspirators are still freely roaming, most probably in Pakistan). Whether Sanjay Dutt deserved 6 years in jail or not is also open to debate but this is the first instance where I think there are no allegations against the police or judiciary of partiality or bungling up.
Which makes one think – why can’t other high profile cases be dealt with similarly. Set an example for all. Why is justice being delivered selectively?
Remember the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the 1992 post-Babri riots and the recent 2002 Gujarat carnage? It is 23 years since the 1984 riots. Have the guilty been brought to book? No, some of them sit in parliament today. Then, there can be no denying that the 1992 Mumbai riots were the trigger for the bomb blasts. True, one wrong cannot be righted by another wrong. But both those wrongs should be punished. Only then can the system be called just. But no government has had the political will to make any progress on this. It is a politicl minefield for them and unfortunately even the judiciary seems to have been reluctant to take suo moto action in these cases. And forget about those responsible for the 2002 genocide in Gujarat being punished. If RSS has its way it would happily make that person the Prime Minister of India. So much for justice. Till the time law is applied selectively there will always be dissent amongst those who were denied justice, and I am pretty sure more terrorists will be born. So there is no need to rejoice over the sentencing in th bomb blasts case. On the other hand we need to worry about the repercussions of this 'Selective Justice'
