Daily Post 1480
CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM – THE NORMATIVE!
The robustness of the normative, in fully operational mode with very little chance of discrepancy, lethargy & misuse and predictability & fairness of delivery, is the purpose for which systems are created. If it happens in this manner, trust has a organic growth and the system grows from strength to strength. Transplants don’t bloom and reckless fear driven accountability does not work. The people in the system, know how to make the best of it, given their agenda or a pushed one, where their benefit is also involved. Is this what ails the criminal justice system? How far have we come from the normative? Breaking News cases apart, how do we measure the gap between the normative and the prevalent.
Criminal cases have been hogging national limelight for quite a long time but of late it seems have found a permanent habitat in large parts of the electronic and social media. While we keep differing on the roles they play and the reasons there of, one thing is very sure, that in general perception the criminal justice system has moved away from the normative in a very perceptible manner. That a suicide can create the type of furore that it did, even in the absence of anything to the contrary, makes it clear that there is an audience in this country, that is ready to lap it all. And a large chunk of it. Channels can only fan the distrust or incompetence, which includes incapability to communicate clearly and aggressively, which gives a feeling that the normative has been totally washed out.
The normative function of the police leadership is to stall the creation of a false smokescreen. If that does not happen what is the whole purpose of it, when the most important stakeholder becomes both a bystander and a victim. In a similar vein, in another geography is a gang rape case, where the clamour is for taking it outside the state. Carrying case files to the court is not the only normative official duty, it is just mechanical. The real normative is to prove to the community that the case is in safe hands, with professionals who are legally mandated to investigate and that they have doing fair investigations on a regular basis. But that will happen only when you have been doing so. What does it speak of the investigative agency, it’s leadership or even the political leadership when the demand is to send the case outside the state on grounds of partisanship and incompetence & hence anticipated non-delivery of justice .
What happens to the credibility of the cases which are being investigated on a regular basis? Is that predicament fine with the state? Is it the normative? For the rule of law and the due process to prosper in both word and spirit, this has to change. The ground level cutting edge machinery created for this purpose, legally mandated and with original jurisdiction has to deliver. It has to be brought to its original glory, for whatever it takes. The citizens and the country deserves this comfort for themselves to carry on with their daily business of life. Elections there is a different control; para- military et al, major law and order situation a different handling and control, heinous crimes another story, intelligence has to come from outside etc. Can a fair weather law enforcement mechanism on the ground be a befitting response to the complexity and demands of today’s world?
DEFINING THE NORMATIVE HAS BECOME THE MOST COMPLEX TASK IN ITSELF.