Selective bulldozing of houses violates fundamental rights, says principal

Dr Rakesh Mohan Sharma, Principal of GNDU College, Sujanpur, said the immediate fallout of the criminal-politician nexus was that lawmakers become law-breakers.

He was invited by the Pathankot Senior Citizens Association after he had attended the World Conference of Criminology held in NCR, Delhi. Dr Sharma was a prominent speaker at the conference.

Points made

• Criminals get a massive boost when high-profile cases are presented for sudden closure after decades of shoddy investigations. Crime graph escalates when suo motu court interventions over parliamentary insertia are dubbed as judicial overreach.
• Crime mushrooms when corridors of power offer welcome to those whose guilt stands proved beyond reasonable doubt.

“Principles of natural justice are thrown to the dustbin when law enforcement agencies are made to act as caged parrots. Jails become nurseries of crime when gangsters start ruling the roost by airing their interviews in police custody. Travesty of justice occurs when selective bulldozing of houses tears off the fundamental right to shelter as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution,” he said.

Dr Sharma was referring to the Punjab

government’s drive of demolishing houses of alleged drug smugglers.

“Criminal mindsets are born when specific communities are targeted for punishment. Faith in judiciary gets eroded when those wrongly accused of petty misdemeanours and felony are made to languish in jails for years. Criminals get a massive boost when high-profile cases are presented for sudden closure after decades of shoddy investigations. Scales of justice stand tilted when baits of post-retirement lollipops are offered to learned lords occupying important chairs. The crime graph starts escalating when suo motu court interventions over parliamentary insertia are dubbed as attempts of judicial overreach,” he said.

Dr Rakesh Mohan claimed that criminal activities see a mushrooming growth when corridors of power offer red-carpet welcome to those whose guilt stands proved beyond reasonable doubt.

“Criminal hubs are created when public money is collected and arbitrarily spent behind closed veils and walls without any performance or financial audit. With a meagre 21 judges available per million people, the trinity of transparency, accountability and responsibility gets sullied,” concluded Dr Mohan.