Random Shades Of Sri Lankan ‘Justice’
Rajapaksha Premarathna
I often see various people complain, complement or remain silence on how justice is meted out in many countries in the world. For the same outcome. I have seen the complements and also complaints. So I searched a proper definition. Here is what I saw but if the readers know better I can be educated. They are extracted from the ordinary dictionaries and the legal dictionaries
‘A concern for Justice, piece, genuine respect for people’
‘The quality of being fair and reasonable’
‘Fairness, Moral rightness, A scheme or system of law in which every person receives his/her/its due from the system including all rights both natural and legal’
How would you apply them to the following four incidents that took place recently in Sri Lanka. All four incidents have been reported in alternative media but some incidents did not appear or appeared marginally in the mainstream media
In early hours a group of youths returning from a birthday party allegedly knocked down a police officer on a duty tour on the official motor cycle. It was reported they crossed the traffic light when it was ‘Red’ and the youth were under the influence of liquor. Apparently CCTV footage shows they looked at the victim but proceeded leaving him on the road. Following day they surrendered to police. Whilst the public appeared to be disputing the identity of the real driver, the court eventually released all but the person presented as the driver of the vehicle. Among the travellers were the sons of an infamous politician and a senior police officer. The bail hearing was allegedly having been held in an unusual close hearing. The victim was last known to have been lying in a critical condition at ICU
A well-known politician of a prominent Sri Lankan political party allegedly hit a motor bicycle injuring the two female riders whilst overtaking another vehicle in a city road in the after afternoon. It is alleged the driver was under the influence of liquor but surrendered to police. The judge remanded him for 14 days
An ex-soldier cum self proclaimed mythical healer who became a member of a local governing body (politician) who practices a kind of craft to eliminate mythical demon effect on people allegedly raped a 16 year old girl (who was brought by the parents for help) several times under the guise of ridding her of the demon effect. After absconding police arrest, he surrendered later upon a complaint to the police. He has been granted bail within a few hours.
A lecturer of a leading University allegedly drove recklessly his vehicle under the influence of liquor hitting a woman who was crossing the road and knocking off a few vehicles before toppling to a nearby paddy field. The woman was pronounced dead on admission. The driver was granted bail.
At this point we may not be able to speculate the final outcome of the court findings; these are only a few illustrative samples of many random shades of the justice
Here are the questions for the readers.
How would you apply the above principles in the definitions to each of these cases or do we have to write different definitions to explain ‘ Justice’?
Have the police applied the same standard to every case? Has the court applied the same rule of law to every case? Who is responsible for the ‘Checks & Balances’ of these applications and what have they got to say about these?
