Justice delayed is justice denied. -William Gladstone Umar Khalid, accused of being the main conspirator of the Delhi riots case was arrested on 13th September, 2020. On September 21st, 2020, he was denied permission to see his family while in police custody. Siddique Kappan, Delhi correspondent for the Azhimukham news portal, was accused of being involved with the Popular Front of India. His wife has said that her attempts to speak to him or even ask about his health were thwarted by the UP Police. Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor, activists of the Kabir Kala Manch, have not been able to get a single proper hearing before the Bombay high court.
The recently deceased G.N. Saibaba, was also denied parole, even as his mother was on her deathbed- “I was not allowed to see her before her death. I was denied parole. After her death, I was denied parole to attend her funeral.” The Nagpur Central Prison denied his parole on the basis that G.N. Saibaba was in a high-security prison cell and that an emergency parole would “not be safe.” Wheelchair-bound since he had contracted polio as a child, G.N Saibaba was also getting progressively more ill with every passing day in the cell. However, India is not rigid about offering an exit from prison. Gauri Lankesh’s murderers, for example, were formally bailed out of Bengaluru Central Jail on October 11. The recently released were greeted in their hometown, Vijayapura, not only with open arms, but also with garlands and saffron shawls. Out of the 25 people arrested in the Gauri Lankesh case, 18 have been granted bail.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the Dera Sacha Sauda chief, sentenced to 20 years of prison for the rape of two of his female disciples, and then sentenced to life-long imprisonment for a murder, has been given eight temporary releases in the last four years. While many raised an alarm over the generous amounts of parole Ram Rahim was receiving, the BJP-ruled Haryana government supported his parole, saying that he cannot be characterised as a hardcore criminal.
The rapists of Bilkis Bano were convicted in 2008, sentencing them to jail for rape and murder. They were released on India’s Independence Day in 2022. Outside the jail, they were welcomed with pomp and garlanded. This was met with a huge uproar from the people, and the courts were forced to send the convicts back to jail. The judiciary is now an extended cousin of the fascist forces. The disparity in judicial processes and treatments expose the inherent bias of the system.
