Justice for Men

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2181224.cms

A 45-year old Armogam Munnaswami Kounder walked out of Pune’s Yerawada Jail after spending 11 years in prison on charges of raping and murdering a six-year old girl.

Although the punishment for such crimes is life imprisonment but he was a free man only after spending 11 years in jail. Why? 11 years isn’t enough for a crime like this, right? But what if he was innocent? What if he was falsely implicated and framed by the police? And that is exactly what happened with this hapless innocent man.

Kounder was an illiterate sweeper with the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation. On 1 June 1995, the police came and arrested him. The police showed him the body of the girl and took him to the lock up. Kounder, who was unfamiliar with Hindi or Marathi, made futile attempts to prove his innocence. He was brutally beaten up by the police in the lock-up. Kounder was then convicted. Human Rights Commission need to shut down their organization if they can’t ban third degree torture during interrogation.  

Fortunately, the cop who falsely implicated Kounder committed suicide and also left a suicide note in which he confessed that Kounder was framed by him at the instance of his superiors. The judges then decided to acquit Kounder.

Now Kounder roams the streets of Pune and was at a complete loss. He went back to Vellore to try to reunite with his wife and kids who never came to see him after he was falsely convicted. Talk about marriage vows taken by his wife to support her husband in all circumstances.

He lost 11 years of his life and also his family only because of the insensitive attitude of the legal system toward male gender. It goes without saying that there are hundreds of prisoners who are falsely implicated and are waiting for someone to come and prove their innocence. But maybe that someone will never arrive because the whole legal system has been engaged in pampering female gender. In order to sensitize the legal system toward female gender, the judiciary aren’t worried about innocent people been falsely convicted in the process of appeasing women groups. For women groups, this is equality and fair play.

Ask these women groups to rehabilitate Kounder and their answer would be, “That is not our concern.” Yes, their only concern is to take away basic rights of men and also deceive people by saying that it is all part of gender equality process.  

4:37 AM - Tuesday, October 17, 2006