Proved Innocent after 18 years… How do you do justice to the dead innocent accused?
How would you feel if you suddenly find yourself being drawn into a whirlpool of false accusations for a crime you could never possibly have committed! Going a step further, what would be the state of your mind if you lose your name, honour and dignity to serve the wily end of deadly combination of the media, police and judiciary ganging up against you mere for the purpose of closing a case so that one case is off their back? What will your family go through if you are given death sentence for a crime you have no idea about?
I am wondering what would have been the final thoughts in the mind of this innocent 18 year old boy who was wrongly accused of murder and rape in China when he might have been taken for the purpose of his execution. I read about this case (http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/executed-teenager-found-innocent-18-years-on-634610?pfrom=home-topstories) in which this boy who was punished with death penalty for a crime he never committed; being declared as innocent after 18 years! 18 long years! It is this post that has compelled me to write this blog for I can completely empathise with this man!
I can feel the pain, anger and dejection of this family! Imagine what his state of mind would have been! Imagine what he might have gone through while in prison. Just imagine the pain and the agony! Imagine what he might have been thinking when he would have been dragged for the purpose of his execution. A mere 18 year old lad! His life was wrongly sniffed off! He suffered a meaningless death! The judiciary did not merely kill him! By passing a wrong judgment, the judiciary killed the right to live with dignity from his family members as well! And look at how the government is now trying to compensate him! Will a compensation of 8000USD bring him back? Will this financial remuneration wipe off the pain and agony his family might have gone through for all these years? Does this compensation really help restoring the faith in the state machinery? This was just one of the cases in China. But it is worth taking note of the fact that such cases of an innocent being wrongly accused and punished is happening on a daily basis in almost every country!
I am not a legal expert! But on account of the fact that my wife is a lawyer, I am aware of certain basic principles of criminal law. The criminal jurisprudence of our country is found on this basic premise:
“It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer”,
Is it really followed in its true letter and spirit? I have my doubts! For not only in our country, but in a lot of systems of international criminal justice system, it is the innocent who pay the price! It is the innocent who is wrongly accused! It is the innocent who is tortured physically and mentally, not only by the police, but also by the media, judiciary and society in general.
And trust me, the price that an innocently and falsely accused person pays is really really high! It cannot be measured in monetary terms! No amount of monetary compensation will ever help a wrongly accused person from being liberated of the trauma and stigma that he goes through! The pain that he feels when he is shunted by his family, friends and society is something that cannot be wiped off by any state compensation!
What is then the way forward? The different players like the media, judiciary and the criminal investigation agency should be made to pay the price! There should be stringent laws to bring those specific police officers/judges/media personnel to task and be made accountable! These officials should be penalized to the maximum possible level! This is because they are responsible for destroying the very soul of the family of the person who is wrongly accused and punished!
My heart goes out to the family of this 18 year old boy! I hope his soul rests in peace… But I have my doubts about this as well!!!