New Delhi: The Ruchika case in which it took judiciary 19 years to punish a DGP who had molested a helpless girl has caught the attention of the media like the Jessica Lal and Priyadarshani cases earlier.

And the investigations had brought out how those in power were more interested in shielding the guilty senior official, than in getting justice to the victim of wrong doing. One lesson that those in power is yet to learn in this nation is to dispense justice without fear or favour.

And in such a situation the media becomes the watchdog with a duty to expose the unrighteousness and mala fide exercise of power and the denial of justice .Public spirited citizens must also be vigilant to misuse of powers though it might not have a direct impact on them. Neutrality or indifference might be suicidal because when unscrupulous elements gain strength in positions of power, everybody becomes victims.

We must hang our heads in shame that the sense of justice and righteousness that pulsates the heart of an average Indian is very weak. He doesn’t so much worry about a certain act being right or wrong morally but goes by extraneous considerations such as caste, social status and the like of the person who had committed the act..

The society entrusts a sacred responsibility on those who wield power of all sorts to exercise that power honestly and without prejudices. And if they fail, then democracy itself is defeated. Especially the police.

The democratic spirit which strengthens the concept that all men are created equal and that they must enjoy equal rights and protection still seem alien to middle class ethos.

The honour killings that have been going on in some of the villages of the northern states speak volumes of the oppressive hold of traditions and caste.

Our society continues to be feudalistic despite being ruled by a democratic system. Caste can be considered one of the debilitating influences which perpetuates the concept of master and slave. Stand near any traffic island even in Delhi and watch how a lowly constable wields his lathi at the lowlier rickshaw puller and you will have an idea how deep rooted the feudalistic culture is and how it governs the conduct of the high and low in our society.

Without education and without even the minimum means of livelihood, the poor are even unaware of their rights and privileges and fall victims to the machinations of those who exploit the situation. Thousands of crores are being spent on improving the lot of the poor and to provide them relief ; but officials and middlemen through whom the funds are channeled swallow up a good portion of the benefits. This is the curse which accompanies all development activities aimed at eliminating poverty in the country.

A nation’s progress should be gauged in terms of how the poor and the weak are treated It is lamentable that whoever attempts to organize the poor and the weak against exploitation soon becomes the target of vested interests. Christians who have tried to organize the tribals and the poor are maligned by the exploiting class. Lately it has found an excuse for stopping all such empowering activity by accusing the Christians of engaging in conversion.

The police have several ways of confronting those who fight of justice and who show courage to take up a cause. In the Ruchika case, there was no end to the torture her relatives were subjected to for forcing them to withdraw the case they had filed against the DGP, SPS Rathore.

The Times of India has reported another case in which policemen assaulted an associate professor of Jamia Millia Islamia just because he dared to ask the police why the thatched huts of some scheduled castes were being demolished at Amausi village in Khagaria (Bihar) on December 22. The policemen poked a gun at his neck threatened to shoot him, calling him a Naxalite. The professor dared to question the right of the police to demolish the huts of some absconding youngsters without proper authorization.

The old jungle law that ‘might is right’, an anachronism under a democracy, seems to still exert itself because the mighty and the influential are able to get away with their misdeeds. The media as well as public spirited citizens have a role to play to check such barbarism.