To err is human

Salman must feel the onus of truth, his karmic future blighted and his punishment, solitary social isolation, but to be held in custody is blatantly unfair. Till we know the absolute truth can any of us with a heart or a hand on a beating, pulsating human heart say I know he did it? The minute you presume to know the facts except as portrayed by a biased media, you are biased and therefore banned from sitting in on a jury that decides his culpability. We have a judicial system in place, their authority cannot be usurped by a zealous investigative agency that has in theircustody a star victim to humiliate. When in Rome do as the Romans do, Salman erred on this basic tenet. The Bishnoi tribe is world renowned for protecting and worshipping wildlife and their environment. My heart bleeds for the gentle buck and chinkara allegedly shot by the hunting party. The deer in these forests are so trusting of humans that though the buck is the fastest mammal on earth (only because the cheetah which was the fastest is extinct) it doesn’t run from man. To kill such a trusting animal is indeed barbaric. But who killed them? Truth be told, in a shikar party there are more than five or six loaded guns any of them could have hit the animals.

Why has only Salman been singled out? An accessory to the crime of poaching is as culpable as the marksman yet four of his contemporaries have got bail. Why paint one man with a tarnished brush when the others have got off the hook. The local palace Umaid Bhavan, is where the film crew were staying. Bapji Jodhpur, whom I know personally, is silent onthe issue, why? If the locals didn’t warn the boys about the pitfalls of hunting on Bishnoi land who did? They are lucky they were not caught in the forest by a Bishnoi vigilante squad God forbid! The eye for an eye, that would have surely followed is too horrendous to even contemplate. Salman, I have only met on a handful of occasions. He is shy and reticent. Only after a couple of drinks can he make even social small talk, he probably drank even on the concerned night and felt like the Maharajas of yore going on a shikar. I am not making excuses for the man but till we know, at the end of a fair trial that he was responsible, could it not be possible that one of the more experienced local marksman in the group shot the poor deer.

We have had 24 murders in the city in the past two weeks, not one suspect has been arrested. Why? A three-year-old girl was raped and sodomised, her assailant was questioned and freed on a molestation charge. Why? All those who want Salman punished should ensure these crimesare investigated with the same zeal and the culprits brought to book. When someone rich or famous errs he is crucified, a crude sacrifice to please the majority. Why? How short is public memory. Just last month when Salman gave bone marrow to save a young child suffering from cancer he was hailed a hero. He even gave interviews only on condition that a donation be made to cancer patients at the Tata Memorial Hospital. Real life heroism? Sure thing! Blatant injustice can lead to the law enforcers taking the law unto their own hands to hurt and scar their star victim.

Rajan was one such victim of the system. After three years and then some I seek justice, bleeding from every pore, emotionally, mentally, financially, with a weary tiresome syndrome of — I must fight to the end, as if I fail there will be other victims to a wretched system that faults the few who err and never seems to punish the truly guilty.I have been there so I know — no one dare challenge that — if I knew then what I know now about howRaj was tortured, beaten and finally murdered, I would have protested more vocally, and vociferously fought the system. I was told to be quiet, shut up is more appropriate — I did — I lost out on the best person that happened in my life — he was brutally finished.

Now I fight a slow system to get justice for my sons, our name. But only in the name of truth. Let Salman free, question him, register a case but till then let no man take the law into their own hand. For — to Err is Human, to Forgive divine.