Thirteen long years

Finally, after thirteen long years, a verdict. But let's not start celebrating just yet. At his present rate of eight a day, it'll take the judge a few weeks just to deliver his verdicts. That's the easy part. Then comes the sentencing. The lawyers of those convicted will speak at great length (yawn) extolling their clients' many virtues, portraying them as being more sinned against than sinners. In turn, the prosecutors will demand the maximum penalty leviable. Finally the judge will decide and hand down the sentences. The bad guys will be hauled off to jail to pay for their crimes. End of ( a rather long-winded ) story.

Wrong!! Only a foreigner or a retard would believe in that rather naive ending. Haven't you heard of the 'Great Indian Appeal Circus'? All those convicted will appeal to the higher courts protesting their innocence, and the prosecution will appeal against all acquitals. That process should, at a conservative estimate, take the best part of five years. All through this enthralling spectacle there will be entertaining side -shows about bail, permission to leave the country for work, etc. [After all, poor Sanju baba has all those films to shoot! Did I hear mutterings about thousands of undertrials rotting in jail waiting for their day in court, even their appeals for bail awaiting a first hearing? Hey, this is India. We don't believe in all that Western tommy-rot about the law being the same for all. A film star with a film star-politician father and a politician sister and with connections to the Dynasty! How can you equate him with those people? ]

"Satyamev jayate" - Truth alone triumphs - is the motto of the Indian judicial system. Like most mottos these days, it sounds more like a forlorn expression of hope than anything else.Two famous quotations spring to mind

1. "Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small.'
2. " Justice delayed is justice denied."

It doesn't need an Einstein to figure out which is applicable, does it? So, don't open that champagne just yet.

P.S.
For those of you who can read Marathi, here's my Marathi take on the issue : अधीर