Upon seeing any kind of a crime being reported in the media, we as individuals and as a society are quick to pitch for imprisonment of the accused. Doesn't matter the circumstances surrounding the alleged crime or the motivation, one shows no hesitation while stripping a man of his freedom.
Ponder a moment in which you are travelling in a train full of people and sitting smack in the middle are three policemen with 2 criminals chained to their belts. Look at the people around using their cellphones, ordering food, getting down from the train to grab a bite or just wandering in general. Then look at the two very normal looking convicts. Try to remember how twisted the justice system is in India, how delays and miscarriage of justice are all too common, how the police entraps or levels false cases against people for a variety of reasons. Nobody should have the right to deny a person his freedom, and certainly not for civil and financial cases. And in the end, imprisonment makes a criminal out of non criminals, hardening them and twisting their view of fairness in the world.
As yesterday I experienced while being challaned for the traffic cops 'vasooli', these cops have the power to book you for anything and everything, evidence be damned. Most of the cops look like people who would have been otherwise unemployable village folk, all of them talk like unemployable village folk. Are these the people who should be given the power to prosecute and hence persecute?
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