Ayaz Ansari, 32, was recently arrested in Mumbai. He was
apprehended as a suspect for molesting 13 minor school-going girls (aged
between 7 and 15) across the Western and Central suburbs of the city. Ansari
quickly turned from “suspect” to a confirmed criminal by his own admission – he
had molested not 13 but 25 minor girls in the past 12 months. He felt no guilt
or remorse for what he had done and allegedly even said that he would do it
again. It has been reported that he has been booked for rape. The Sessions
Court remanded him to police custody till April 25th and then he had
to be produced back in court. In the interim period, investigators conducted a
mental check-up of Ansari to ensure that the defence would not claim mental
illness for his many crimes. He also stole cell phones from children and
teenagers to support a drug and alcohol habit. A crime that he had been jailed
for in the past. Ansari was reportedly homeless and slept on footpaths and in
mosques.
So this means that the average taxpayer of the country has
by now spent money on Ansari to house and feed him during his previous
incarceration, and is now paying to give him shelter (in a prison) instead of
his previous homeless state, to transport him to and from his place of stay
(the jail) to the court with armed guards and for psychiatrist analysis. This
is just the start. The case will go on for a long time with hearings,
judgements, re-appeals, more hearings etc. etc.
Honestly, it is unfathomable to me that a person like this
can even have some sort of defence. What argument can justify what Ansari has
done? Or what the animals in the bus in Delhi did on the night of 16 December
2012? Or what the pack of wolves hunting in a herd repeatedly did to numerous
girls in Mumbai’s Shakti Mills compound? Or for the filth in Bengal’s panchayat (see https://www.google.co.in/#q=bengal+panchayat+gang+rape)?
Or for Ajmal Kasab?
As a taxpayer, if I was ever consulted about how my money
should be utilized, spending on Ayaz Ansari would definitely not be my choice –
why, it wouldn’t even be an option that I would consider. Take a moment to ask
yourself and answer this question: Would you rather spend your money on such
criminals or on alleviating poverty and hunger, on health, on education and
infrastructure and on internal security? Your answer would probably be the same
as mine.
Yet, collectively we have taken care of the Nirbhaya
monsters since December 2012/January 2013 and also of the Shakti Mills rapists
(one of the rapists had actually boasted to a victim that they, the gang, had
done this numerous times) since August/September 2013 (this case has really
moved fast as per the Indian standards). These are just two of the innumerable such
pending cases which we know about because the media diligently gives updates on
them. Most cases find a small mention in the papers and there is no follow-up
on them so they slip out of the collective consciousness and then a President
like Prathibha Patil comes along and grants Presidential pardon to rapists and
murderers (see https://www.google.co.in/#q=Pratibha+Patil+presidential+pardons).
Cases like this beg serious questions:
- Do perpetrators of reprehensible crimes deserve State-appointed defence lawyer – at the cost of taxpayers?
- Should the State spend massive amounts of taxpayer money in form of food, shelter (jail), clothing, transport (to and from courts), security (policemen) and the cost of defence lawyers on criminals who have either admitted to their crimes or have been caught red-handed?
- A serial molester (Ansari), a gang of serial rapists (Shakti Mills rapists), a brainwashed terrorist (Kasab) – all people who have no will to reform – do they deserve to be members of the society in any form even in jail?
Doubtlessly most people will say a resounding “no” to all
these questions. Clearly India needs fast track courts that give judgement
within days or hours; or maybe even no
courts and long-drawn out proceeding in such cases. They are literally
open-and-shut affairs that warrant no more than immediate and fit punishment
for their crime without the option of re-appeals or Presidential pardon.
Self-styled “humanists” will raise a hue and cry about these
questions – but can these humanists face the victims and drum up some of the
same humane-ness for them – or is the trauma of a 7-year old victim of sexual
abuse at the hands of a habitual abuser of not worthy of compassion, sympathy
and outrage?
More about Ayaz Ansari, the serial molester across the
media: https://www.google.co.in/#q=ayaz+ansari+mumbai+serial+molester
How much did India spend on Kasab? Minimum estimate = Rs. 26 crores | Maximum = $
108 million https://www.google.co.in/#q=how+much+did+india+spend+in+kasab