Where Is Accountability?

We are often forced to recoil with repulsion at the infinite tolerance people seem to have developed in the past decade or so in accepting mediocrity in everything. This is tinged with a blatant misuse of power at all levels and in having a lackadaisical attitude at the horrors of drunk driving, cold-blooded murder, and lawlessness, to name a few in the long list of atrocities happening right under our noses. In India, the price of human life has become very cheap.

In the last few months we have seen that bail for the rich, famous and affluent criminals is easy-peasy. In a blink of an eye you can commit a heinous crime and walk out of jail as free as a bird.

You can pay off people, hoodwink the citizens, find your own kind of lawbreakers and walk away nonchalantly. Sadly, there are innocent people rotting in jail without having committed any offences and without a fair trial, while the guilty get away scot-free.

You can be old enough to drink like a fish, old enough to drive swanky cars but hey, not old enough to be punished for your irresponsible actions. Your heart cries out for the victims’ families and their near and dear ones.

There is a long, dark and tedious road ahead for them to get even an apology, leave alone any form of compensation or justice. The anguish and helplessness of the victim’s families is reverberating through the country. Unfortunately, their cries fall on deaf ears.

Can a probe now bring back the dead? Sadly, these horrific tragedies are not expected to change anything in India's attitude towards public safety. Therein lies the real tragedy, don’t you think?

What is mind-boggling is that the ‘minor’ in the Pune case was asked to submit a 300-word essay on ‘helping accident victims’ – Absolutely ludicrous! And it amazes me how these Richie rich spoilt brats conveniently pass the buck and blame on to the hired help/driver, who feels he must do what his master orders – all for the exchange of huge pots of money.

The local police/ state governments/ courts have naturally reflected the same old traits of apathy and looking the other way or covering up and making no efforts to ‘clean up’ the crimes happening around us. The stories that keep coming out are ghastly and get murkier by the day.

The Mumbai hit-and-run last week is another horrific accident. The powerful and rich manipulate the system yet again. Who even cares about the ordinary citizens and their rights? Tell me.

Let us also face the stark fact that human lives don’t matter anymore. They are just vote banks, plain and simple. Loss of lives is accepted with a shrug of the shoulders.

It appears that a human life has no worth. It is cheap and meaningless to others. A commoner’s life is worthless in India as there is no concept of safety measures being in place at any given point.

The security of human lives is always ignored. It is taken for granted and it is reduced to the lowest stature. It only matters when the politician needs his vote for power.

Another disturbing phenomenon: watching these guilty offspring walk around without a hint of remorse. The only positive outcome is that lately, there has been a public outcry on social media against such heinous crimes with people openly shaming the guilty parties and sharing the news widely.

Unpaid or organic media has played a great role in shaming offenders publicly, and forcing authorities to take notice and work towards an action plan.

But one needs to see the bigger picture as well – our country needs stringent laws in place and quicker crime-related resolutions and swift justice. The growing transnational dimension of crime, as well as the need to strengthen and improve cooperation against it, are priority issues for the government.

We need to build strategies for crime prevention and criminal justice systems and plug all the loopholes. Discipline and regulations will have to be brought back to the table. We have to ensure that rules are followed and offenders are severely punished.

Lately, Maharashtra is in the news for all the wrong reasons. Controversial trainee Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Puja Khedkar has joined the Washim district administration in Maharashtra on July 11 to complete her training amid demands for an in-depth probe into the circumstances of her recruitment.

As the controversy surrounding the trainee escalates, in a fresh revelation it has been revealed that Khedkar had allegedly forced Navi Mumbai's Deputy Police Commissioner Vivek Pansare to release a thief. The thief, a transporter, was arrested by the Panvel police in a case of stealing.

Khedkar shot into the limelight after reports emerged about her alleged demands for a separate office and official car and the unauthorised use of a beacon on her private car. She is under fire for seeking special privileges, faking certificates and now the objectionable behavior of her family members who by the way are all bureaucrats and politicians!

Shouldn’t criminal charges be framed against her? She should be sacked instead of being posted out to another location.

We never learn lessons from the past. How easy it is to manipulate the systems in place with the wicked having a free hand in deceiving all and sundry. Watch the news and you will notice that every news channel has found a scapegoat to pin the blame on – it differs with each channel.

They come with their theories after having conducted their own investigations to reach such conclusions. But, in my mind, the responsibility and onus clearly lies on the administration and government.

In reality, the civil administration everywhere will continue to brazenly shrug off all responsibility and display sheer callousness and apathy… as they always do.

Even though professional negligence and irresponsible behaviour are akin to committing a crime which means that the guilty should be punished but in order for that to happen, there have to be systems and strictures in place to nail the guilty. Unfortunately, there is no defined structure and hence who do you blame?

We all know that enquiries hold no meaning and yield no results. No one will probably be held guilty but something has to be done to hold people accountable… to pin them down when they let down their own people through gross negligence. Until such time we are able to define, understand and follow well laid out systems and accountability, nothing will change.