It was Sunday the 15th of August 2010, the first sunrise after the Independence day celebrations for this year. A crime was committed on the Sialkot-Gujranwala road and a man was murdered as an outcome. In a few moments, a mob gathered at the scene. Two brothers were passing by that area on a motorcycle. Someone from the crowd mistakenly or deliberately identified those two as the culprits.
The result of this turned out to be one of the most brutal incidents in the history of the country. Both of them were pulled off from the motorcycle and were beaten to death as they fell on the ground. The whole mob was yelling at them and some people were beating them with iron sticks. A man also dropped a brick on the face of one of the accused. When they were near to die, the mob dragged them on the streets and finally hanged them on a steel rod. Blood and wounds had made their faces unidentifiable.
This whole action was caught on mobile camera and later broadcasted by the media in the whole country. Both of them died and the crowd was jubilant, unaware of the fact that what an example of brutality they have set for the society. Even if those brothers were the criminals, was this a justifiable act?
Let me highlight one more important point here. The police of that region has set a practice by encouraging the people to kill the criminals themselves as soon as they find one red handed. This practice of quick-justice has turned out to be fatal and erroneous. And the people who introduced this act should be punished as well.
Why this happened? In my opinion, people have lost their faith on the policing and judicial system of the country. If a criminal is held by the police, the police takes bribe and releases the offender. If this does not happen and the accused are taken to the courts, it will take too long to solve the case that it becomes weak and the criminals may take advantage of the delay. Bribing the judges or lawyers is also an option.
Immediate corrections in the law and order and judicial system is the need of time. Corruption should be brought under control as soon as possible. Governement should also work on the areas that are causing frustrations in the society.
May this incident become a reason for the improvements in the system and the society in order to make sure that events like this will never happen again, instead of just leaving its marks on the history as a tragic and painful incident. Also, the family of the innocent brothers must get justice so that their pain could be healed to some extent.
Update:
20th September 2011 is the day when this incident got justice. 7 of the convicted got death sentence while 6 of them got life imprisonment. That's something to cheer about for the Pakistani nation as this is one the rare cases where we found justice. However, we should be glad about it and we should hope for good. May be this is a new begining for justice in Pakistan. Let's hope for good!
The result of this turned out to be one of the most brutal incidents in the history of the country. Both of them were pulled off from the motorcycle and were beaten to death as they fell on the ground. The whole mob was yelling at them and some people were beating them with iron sticks. A man also dropped a brick on the face of one of the accused. When they were near to die, the mob dragged them on the streets and finally hanged them on a steel rod. Blood and wounds had made their faces unidentifiable.
This whole action was caught on mobile camera and later broadcasted by the media in the whole country. Both of them died and the crowd was jubilant, unaware of the fact that what an example of brutality they have set for the society. Even if those brothers were the criminals, was this a justifiable act?
Let me highlight one more important point here. The police of that region has set a practice by encouraging the people to kill the criminals themselves as soon as they find one red handed. This practice of quick-justice has turned out to be fatal and erroneous. And the people who introduced this act should be punished as well.
Why this happened? In my opinion, people have lost their faith on the policing and judicial system of the country. If a criminal is held by the police, the police takes bribe and releases the offender. If this does not happen and the accused are taken to the courts, it will take too long to solve the case that it becomes weak and the criminals may take advantage of the delay. Bribing the judges or lawyers is also an option.
Immediate corrections in the law and order and judicial system is the need of time. Corruption should be brought under control as soon as possible. Governement should also work on the areas that are causing frustrations in the society.
May this incident become a reason for the improvements in the system and the society in order to make sure that events like this will never happen again, instead of just leaving its marks on the history as a tragic and painful incident. Also, the family of the innocent brothers must get justice so that their pain could be healed to some extent.
Update:
20th September 2011 is the day when this incident got justice. 7 of the convicted got death sentence while 6 of them got life imprisonment. That's something to cheer about for the Pakistani nation as this is one the rare cases where we found justice. However, we should be glad about it and we should hope for good. May be this is a new begining for justice in Pakistan. Let's hope for good!
