(Hong Kong, January 26, 2007) Five Indian men are facing charges of murder despite the “dead” man having appeared in court and told the judge that the case was fabricated, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) revealed on Friday.
The five–Bal Govind, Kashinath, Rajnath, Ramesh and Harishchand–were arrested in 2004 and detained for about a month before being released on bail over the alleged murder of Mohanlal Patel in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
However, the case is still proceeding in the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court of Jaunpur despite the fact that Patel was produced in court after his identity was confirmed in April 2006.
“The supposedly dead man told the court that several persons had conspired to implicate the five accused and had him move to a faraway place so that a case could be registered for murder against them,” Basil Fernando, executive director of the Hong Kong-based regional group, said.
Patel had been living with his son in Pune, Maharastra.
“Remarkably, despite this testimony and a submission by the lawyer appearing for the accused that there is no case since the allegedly murdered person has returned alive and given a statement to the court, the court has failed to take any steps to discharge the accused,” Fernando said.
“We are scandalised by this complete miscarriage of justice and failure of the Indian criminal justice system that even after a supposedly dead man has appeared alive in court and testified that his murder was a fabrication to frame innocent persons, not only are those persons still facing the same charges but no action whatsoever has been taken against the police officers who filed the false charge sheet and the complainants,” he said.
“We are aware that when a similar incident was uncovered in China during recent years, the government there initiated a thorough overhaul of the criminal justice system,” Fernando noted.
“The government of India should follow this example, and recognise that the country’s judicial system is at a breaking point,” he insisted.
“The policing, prosecution and judicial systems in the country need to be completely revamped,” Fernando added.
“There are many thousands of other similar, although perhaps slightly less-outrageous cases pending throughout the country, and they–together with the institutions responsible for them–demand nothing less than total and permanent reform,” he concluded.
The AHRC on Thursday called for “drastic” measures to address the breakdown of the country’s justice system.
In a statement marking Republic Day, the group said that paralysis in the courts was having adverse effects on all parts of society.
“While public consciousness of rights has grown enormously, the justice system obstructs popular aspirations,” the AHRC said.
India’s “obsolete” justice system does “not stand to reason when compared to the sophistication achieved in other sectors”, it said.
“The struggle to modernise remains confined to technological advances among small parts of its society, most of whom are already affluent,” the AHRC added.
“Overall, the country remains completely feudal and primitive,” the group noted.
It warned that some persons were still using public dissatisfaction with the courts and other justice agencies to call for changes that would in fact “dismantle the justice system altogether”.
“It is the ending of impunity and injustice that will bring true meaning to the struggle for freedom, liberty and equality in India, and at last make its democracy something of substance, rather than mere appearance,” the AHRC concluded.
