By Mahesh Vijapurkar
The mood in Badlapur is so grim that the area’s lawyers’ association has announced that the suspect, Akshay Shinde, would not be defended by any of them. Lawyers from “outside” should also stay away. The heinousness of the crime – sexual assault on two 4-year-olds – did not deserve any defence, so runs their arguments.
This underscores their view that it was a dead open-and-shut case and it would be enough if the police – or the State prosecuted him. That can be interpreted as favouring kangaroo courts, much like the lawyers’ fora had said in the case of Ajmal Kasab, the lone Pakistani terrorist who was tried and executed in Mumbai.
But legal requirements and natural justice were not ignored and Amin Solkar and Farhana Shah, two lawyers, were tasked to defend him. The Maharashtra State Legal Services had to step in to defend Kasab in the worst terrorist attack. Justice had to be seen to be done to ensure credibility of the criminal justice system.
It is quite likely going to be a redux in this case too, but other people have taken the law into their hands apart from going on a rampage on Tuesday. The suspect’s house was vandalized, and it was fortunate that Shinde by then was in police custody. Who knows, he may have been lynched. The lawyers have now announced that over 400 persons against whom FIRs have been registered for the rampage would be defended pro bono.
The sanctity of investigation and trial was underlined yesterday, when in an unrelated case, Bombay High Court Justices Ajay Gadkari and Neela Gokhale “lacunae in investigation could ultimately benefit (an) accused. From which, we can conclude that both defence and prosecution must be alert in ensuring justice. Refusing to defend an accused negates the concept of justice.
The Times of India reporting the proceedings cited them saying, “We are regularly observing lacunae/ deficiency in investigation of similar types of offences against women (of disrobing). If that is the case, an appointment of a proficient Ujwal Nikam as a prosecutor, who had secured the death penalty for Ajmal Kasab, calls for a good defence too. The lawyers have failed to realise their duty by saying they will not defend him.
The suspect may well be guilty but he has to be proven to be so and a credible outcome is possible with only a good defence. But the mindset of the lawyers which is so full of anger is reprehensible and one likes to believe that what they said only flourishes in keeping with the public mood. The judicial system would not leave Shinde undefended.
The appointment of Ujwal Nikam as a special prosecutor has also run into the realm of politics. He had contested on behalf of the BJP from Mumbai for a seat in the Lok Sabha and the objection was that he was a BJP man. The school where the assault took place is run by persons who are affiliated to the party. The school has now been placed under an administrator.
The school has made it clear that Shinde was not an employee but from an agency to which some work was outsourced. But that does not take away the responsibility of the school in protecting the children’s safety. Now the government has come out with a standard operating system: CCTV coverage, regular monitoring of footage and appointment of staff to monitor children under six in the schools, complaint boxes etc. But all this after the horse has bolted.
Mahesh Vijapurkar is a senior journalist. He has extensively reported on a variety of developments in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
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