Muscle and money buy impunity

The plight of Halim, whose son's life was taken away by a bullet of ruling party goons while they were trying to occupy a polling station in Keraniganj in March last year, is not uncommon; but  in most cases such stories go unreported. Poor Halim, an auto rickshawdriver, has been forced to give in to the coercion of the killers, and a good deal of money too, to give his consent to help in the acquittal of the accused. He had no other option, because doing otherwise would perhaps have meant the same fate for him as his son's. 

This is yet another example of muscle and money power buying impunity for the criminals, with not a little bit of help from the law enforcement agencies. The truck between the law enforces and criminals prolongs the legal process, sullies the justice delivery system and exacerbates the rate of crimes by according the crooks and lawbreakers impunity. We find the statement of the CID, that the complainants are not cooperating in the case, ludicrous. How are they expected to when the poor family has no recourse to the help of the police? The police had refused to name the criminals in the murder case, because they belonged to the ruling party. It is also farcical when the accused remain elusive to the police and yet the public see them roaming around in the open. 

These travesties and aberrations must be addressed in earnest by the authorities. Political connections cannot be allowed to tamper with the rule of law. It is time for the government to address also the issue of witness protection.