Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'All are equal before the Law?' that was published in Newsband

All are equal before the Law?

What happens when a celebrity with power and wealth is tried in the court? The judges have to be careful and not seen as favouring him or her. The slow criminal justice system is always skewed in favour of celebrities like it happened with Salman Khan. Only an occasional verdict brings down a famous personality like in the case of Sanjay Dutt.

Mumbai sessions judge D.W. Deshpande had handed down a five-year prison sentence to Bollywood star Salman Khan in a hit-and-run case. But the actor was given bail. Next, a clean acquittal was recorded in the Bombay High Court. The judge ruled that it was not proved either that Khan was driving the car or that he was drunk.

A judicial verdict is not necessarily reliable. The judicial system involves a number of agencies. First there are one or more judges. Next there are one or more investigating agencies. Then there are forensic experts. After that there are advocates. It is hard to believe that every one of these agencies work efficiently, sincerely, and that it cannot be influenced by agencies external to the judicial system. The most vulnerable of these are the witnesses who can be enticed or intimidated. Judges also often differ from each other in interpreting the findings as happened in Salman case.

In a society suffering from rampant corruption the reliability of all those playing roles in the system is likely to be much below 100%. The message to the pavement dwellers sent out by Mumbai High court verdict in Salman khan's hit and run case: Please go to the highest court of God and pray.

One case and two entirely opposite decisions. In this era where every professional is liable for his mistakes, what about the judges. Because it is clear that one of the judges is wrong. Who will be responsible?

The status of the criminal should not be a deciding factor in delivering the judgement. Verdicts should be purely on merits of records.

Whenever celebrities are involved even the judges who are more upright has to cave in and the witness turning hostile after accepting money is a common phenomenon. These things are known to common man and he is least bothered about these judgements and most of the common people obey the law out of fear.

Another recent instance even for serving a summon from the court to Gandhis one can see the hue and cry made by them and the party. Do you think the judge is going to punish them? I Even if sentenced by going to higher courts may prolong the final judgement for 2 or 3 decades, or if they become a ruling party it will move with snail speed then its importance is of no use.

Whatever may be the law and whoever may be the victim, it’s said that all are equal before the law. But it seems to be only in books, nothing seems that effective in real life scenario that common man and celebrities are equal.