New Prison

It’s been a while since I have actually spent time writing on the blog; both last week and this week were especially maddening. In addition to this, last Saturday, after running 14 KM I broke my leg! I could not even walk for almost two days. Finally, with the help of many people I was able to recover fast. But I did many things in those two days: I attended court, organized the party on Sunday (The Pork Party), which was pending for a long time for a few of my old friends. The party, on Sunday evening, was a lot of fun. These are also other reasons I was not able to write. At times, I think it’s just an excuse I am giving you all, but the fact is that I did not sit on my ass and start writing on the comp:). One also needs energy to write (I know this is another excuse).

But today I suddenly felt I am not writing and thought, before I step in to something else, I’d better finish what is pending; so I decided to start writing

There are lots of stories I wanted to write. Since there are too many I have to choose one for now and I thought I shall share this one with you all:

This is a case which I am handling and it’s a very interesting one (it’s actually sad). It's not a big case, it’s not a political case, nor is it some ideological case. It’s a case popped up on a simple ego clash on the street. It was very funny when I wrote the summery on the case file today “traffic offence blown out of proportion”. It is indeed a traffic offence but one really blown out of proportion; the poor guy, caught in the ego battle, ended up staying far away from his family for almost one year now, and I do not know how much longer he still has to suffer.

I suddenly remember reading 'Statement of Objects and reasons for Code of Criminal Procedure 1973,' for the purpose I quote the relevant provision which is:-

3. The recommendation of the commission were examined carefully by the Government, keeping in view, among others, the following basic considerations-
   1. an accused person should get a fair trail in accordance with the accepted principles of natural justice:
   2. every effort should be made to avoid delay in investigation and trail which is harmful not only to individuals involved but also to society; and
   3. the procedure should not be complicated and should, to the utmost extent possible, ensure fair deal to the poorer sections of the community.

When this client came to me two months ago, I actually did not invest time in reading. I thought, because this person is capable of dealing with the issue and he already has a lawyer, why should I think too much about it? But the matter has been refereed by a friend of mine so I felt that I should look into the matter but still thought 'nothing urgent' because the person is out on the bail so it should be fine. He wanted to change his lawyer and he insisted for me to take up the matter and I did accept to do the matter subsequently. Later I realized that people can be out of jail but they are not actually ‘out of jail’; they are again caged in a different type of jail (which made me remember what Prof. Babaiya told me once when we did a small study on prison conditions in Karnataka, he said, “we are in a big prison but they are in small prison” ). This guy is a foreigner here on a visitor visa and his family lives abroad. He has lost his mother after he was implicated in this case. He could not go and do last rituals because the court has put a condition on his bail for him not to travel, (this condition, according to me, is not right) assuming that he gets the permission to travel he does not have money to return to India for the trial since he is not employed and he has no relatives nor friends, except a few. So, in a way, he is caged, not in the small prison but in the bigger one.

You can’t classify him as imprisoned because the condition of a prison can’t be equated to being outside? But for him, it does not matter whether he’s outside the actual prison or inside. Sure, he can go for a movie, he can go and eat in any restaurant, he can meet anyone, he can walk around, but the question remains, where does he arrange the money to see a movie, where does he arrange the money to go and eat in a restaurant? Whom can he talk to? What does he do by walking around? That’s when my thoughts went to the objective of the code of criminal procedure.

Today, I tried insisting to the judge that the case should be finished as early as possible otherwise it’s harassment for the accused. It’s been almost one year that he has been forced to stay in this country. He then suddenly showed me the long list of the file that needed immediate attention; then I told the judge that my client is on bail but for all practical purposes he is not on bail and, in effect, he will have finished a one year sentence administered by this court. What I gained from all this was a court date not one and half months away but 'just Nine Days'. I hope this is one successful step and that he will not force me to read the objective of the code of criminal procedure to him on the next date and that he understands what my client is actually going through. Maybe if I put it this way, I hope that I will be able to convince him more easily and will be able to release my client from the bigger prison that he’s confined to right now