Sir,
 Apropos Mr. B.G.Verghese's article "The Stench we live with"( 22 June), despite India's rhetoric of "democracy" and "neutral judiciary", the hard reality remains that extreme or harsh punishments are reserved for the poor while the influential lobby, if at all brought within the ambit of law( on most occasions due to the persuance of the media), are punished but hardly proportional to the gravity of their committed crimes.

Thus, after being callous enough to kill as many as 15274 innocent people and paralysing innumerable souls, the Union Carbide officials have been gifted mere 2 years( that too bailable) in prison, that too after 26 years of the grave offence! The ex-cop S.P.S.Rathore, who not only molested Ruchika Girhotra, but also mentally and emotionally tortured her to take suicidal step by misusing his political and administrative clout, has been served with a sentence of merely 18 months!

Rapes and murders are nothing but routine occurrences in this great land of India. But hardly do we hear about severe punishment being handed to the perpetrators of such ghastly crimes. But if the alleged "criminal" happens to be a poor sentry in Dhananjoy Chatterjee, hailing from a remote village( alleged because there were many loopholes in that case); rape and murder becomes a "rarest of rare" case overnight and we do not hesitate to hang him to death! According to an article of Malay Chaudhuri published in Setember 2004 issue of "India: Today and Tomorrow" --- "There are around 1.8 lakh under-trial prisoners( mostly poorest of the poor) in India languishing in jails for more years than the maximum possible years of punishment for the committed crime. Taking Uttar Pradesh as a representative sample for India, 82% of the under-trial prisoners are likely to be released as innocents". These accused innocents rot in prisons throughout their
lifetime just because their poverty-stricken families cannot furnish the bailable amount! What a tragedy of justice! In contrast, those who have been proved to have played the pivotal role in nipping an innocent life in the bud and flouted all safety norms, thereby killing and paralysing thousands are served softest punishment possible just because the criminals hail from moneyed, "educated", political, urban and influential background.

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay commented that law is nothing but a joke for the rich. The same reality holds absolutely true even today. Unless the poor and the rich are judged by placing them on the same pedestal and verdicts are awarded without taking into consideration the financial position of the accused and the victim, India cannot afford to call itself a civilized nation.

Thanking You,
Yours faithfully,
Kajal Chatterjee,
Kolkata-114.