“Justice late is equivalent to justice denied”. This happened in case of 6 Muslims men namely who have been acquitted by Rajasthan HC after the prosecution failed to provide any kind of evidence of conspiracy and any links between the main accused named, “ Abdul Hameed” in 1996 Samleti bomb blast in which 14 passengers were founded dead and left 39 injured in a bus that was travelling from Bikaner in Rajasthan to Agra.
The charge sheet was filed in 1997 but the trial was dragged for years. The trial court Bandikui in the year 2014 awarded capital punishment to main accused while life imprisonment (Punishment For No Cause) to other six people.
Out of six men, five hailed from Kashmir who were in their mid twenties when they had left the valley for selling Kashmiri handicraft while one belongs to Agra. They stepped out of jail after spending their precious 23 years in jail without getting any bail or parole. The video of one acquitted from Kashmir paying tribute to his parents grave after getting bail is quite viral on internet and the Indians are really fumed over such injustice done to them.
These six acquitted are finally happy to return to their home but are asking questions as who will gave them back their these 23 years? They have now returned to an unfamiliar family. Who is going to take accountability for such injustice done to them and who is really going to compensate for this? They lost their youth and all of them have prepared for their own death as for them there was no end to the trial.
It’s high time when our judiciary system needs a system for fast track courts and should make a transparency in system where there is end to the fake (Punishment For No Cause) encounters and so much delay in getting trials being done so that such innocent people don’t lose their previous years behind the bar.