Pune Porsche case exposes the rot in the system

It will be grave folly not to read the signs of total degeneration of the system when it comes to looking at the Pune Porsche incident case. A yet-to-be 18 youth drives out a high-end car from a bar, knocks down two techies dead on the road and is taken to the police station.

The Juvenile Justice Board grants the youth bail within 15 hours after sweetly reprimanding him and asking him to submit a 300-word essay on hazards of drunken driving and violating the traffic regulation. Public outrage forces the Board to rescind its decision. Father is found bribing the police officers.

Grandfather is found guilty of manipulating the CCTV footage at the home of the real estate mogul from where the teen was seen driving out the car valued in several crores.

Doctors at the Government-run hospital switch samples and declare the blood to be liquor-free although the bar footage unmistakably shows the spoiled brat and his companions consuming what they and their contemporaries were prohibited from gulping.

And what better proof than the whooping Rs. 69K bill the teenager paid! More brazenly, the area MLA is found interceding behalf of the culprit and pleading the case for his release. But for the popular outrage, the case would have all been disposed off without anyone being held liable for loss of the two precious lives.

It is a classic case of officials, police, doctors and politicians acting in tandem to secure reprieve, relief and release of the teenage offender, son of an affluent father and a resident of an upscale locality.

Conclusion is not far to seek. The triad of crime, corruption and politics is seen working with remarkable efficiency. It must have been just a matter of the real estate mogul making his heavy wallet a bit leaner.

Even as victims were forgotten, crooked obfuscators of crime, manipulators of evidence and forensic examiners were working speedily within a time-frame. The police officers were more than obliging. Juvenile Justice Board officials were too willing to make light of the crime.

Family seniors felt no qualms of conscience in fudging the visual evidence of CCTV footage. In fact, nothing in the copybook of a fraudster has been spared i.e., tampering of evidence, tutoring of witnesses, deliberately neglecting proper investigation and putting up a defective charge sheet.

These are well-known tricks of the trade. It is unarguable that law and the guardians of the law have been seen on the side of the offenders and criminals in this case, thanks to an aware public who were witness to their highhandedness. And there could be least doubt that graft did not ease all those ‘hurdles and hassles of law’. It is plain that when money is the objective, norms and ideals become obstacles.

People can get away with murder. It is not certain how many turns and twists await till the case is adjudicated. But all that it makes evident is that graft and corruption infest all spheres of administration. Venality and maladministration are undermining the rule of law. A nation with such odious reputation for interplay of money with system of justice could barely lay claim to an inclusive democracy.

To seek remedy in legislation will be a futile pursuit for a nation where pelf, power and position dictate the course of justice and the supposed guardians of law lack the character and the will to implement the law. Anyone hearing?