Reading the morning newspaper is a daily reminder of what a “Sh*t show in f**k factory” the state of things in this nation is. When you zoom out and see the entire picture, when you put it all in one canvas you will see what a Kafkasque dystopia it is. And morons who cannot see the sh*t at one end of the canvas write eulogies for the glitter on the other.

Let me explain what sh*t I am talking about. 11 out of 24 men convicted and sentenced to lifetime imprisonment in the Gulberg society massacre during the 2002 Gujarat riots are out on bail pending appeals in Guj High Court. Gulberg society massacre was where Ehsan Jafri, an ex Congress MP and 69 other Muslims, were killed by a violent mob, presumably Hindus. Trial Court verdict came in as late as 2016 which found them guilty. But they filed appeal in Guj High Court, pending that appeal HC granted bail. This is, must be, a fun way to avoid conviction and jail. First it took 14 yrs to get a conviction at lower court, then a quick appeal and quick bail.

As a nation India should be ashamed of this illogical rudderless Bail law where convicted rioters, mob lynchers get bail while millions of undertrials rot in jail. This is the second time I am hearing that convicted people get bail so easily. First was when in 2018 eight out of the 11 gau rakshaks or cow vigilantes (including the four main accused) convicted of mob lynching of Alimuddin alias Asgar Ansari and sentenced to life imprisonment were granted bail by Jharkhand High Court pending appeal.

This is the second time I am hearing that convicted people get bail so easily. First was when in 2018 eight out of the 11 gau rakshaks or cow vigilantes (including the four main accused) convicted of mob lynching of Alimuddin alias Asgar Ansari were granted bail by Jharkhand High Court pending appeal. A Fast Track Court had found them guilty and and sentenced to lifetime imprisonment. It also happens to be the only case out of the dozens of mob lynching by cow vigilantes in last 7 years which reached verdict. They convicts appealed to High Court with help from BJP. Jayant Sinha, a BJP Minister at that time, confirmed that BJP members, including himself, had paid for the legal expanses of the accused in the case. of the accused in the case. When these convicted murderers came out on bail, Jayant Sinha, a BJP Minister no less, gave them a heroes welcome with garlands and sweets.

These are the Disgusting and barbaric standards of judiciary in India. From international standards of justice, liberty, human rights, rule of law these make India a disastrous lawless country where anti Muslim hate crimes by majoritarian forces either never reach any conviction, if at all they do it takes 20-30 years at lower court, then convicts quickly get bail in High Court. Meanwhile activists/ academics rot in jail for years without trial. A shocking 70% of Indian prisoners are undertrial inmates which means they are in jail without their crime proven according to Prison Statistics of India Report 2019 (PSI 2019). In USA this number is a mere 23.03%. And convicts get bail.

Nobody understood why Aryan Khan had to be arrested and incarcerated. Why do hundreds of human rights activists, students and academics continue to languish in jail for years without a trial and their repeated bail applications denied? Activist Father Stan Swamy died in jail. Activist Sudha Bharadwaj have been in jail for over three years without trial. Dr Kafeel Khan, pediatrician at Gorakhpur Hospital, journalist Mandeep Punia, comedian Munawar Faroqui all had to spend time in jail for months to year on flimsy grounds without a chargesheet or trial only to be released since there were never any evidence against them in the first place. A JNU PhD scholar Umar Khalid, Journalist Siddique Kappan, Kashmiri journalist Asif Sultan and thousand others are still in jail for things that were never supposed to be crime, like giving a speech, visiting a town for reporting, publishing a news article etc. Nobody knows what evidence does the Police have against them? Why their trial don’t start? Why they don’t get bail. At the same time how come Arnab Goswami’s bail hearing comes up before the top court in just one day and he gets quick relief?

Nobody understands anything about how the law works except that cases after cases, for last seven years, we have seen that if you are on the side of Hindutva and BJP-RSS your life is jinga-la-la. That is the only law you need to understand in India.

We don’t need some Vir Das to make fun. In Modi’s years India has become exactly the kind of 3rd world country they make fun of in Hollywood films, where a weird megalomaniac rules, anything and everything flies if you are on side of power, citizenry is dumb and coward. Laws do not mean anything they are applied in ways that nobody understands except that if you are on the side of Hindutva you are safe even after committing murder or rape and if you are a Muslim mere existence seems to be a henious crime in which bail cannot be granted.