DELAY AND DENY

   One often hears the saying, " Justice delayed is justice denied" . It is often quoted in the corridors of law depending upon who wants to use it, where and when. Irrespective of who quotes it, the underdog stands to suffer the consequences. There were times when I wondered, how delay impacts the affected and afflicted but never actually gave much importance to it.. Not till now. Not till it hit me personally. 

   I shudder at the very thought of going to a police station or court. Like all law abiding citizens, I have tried my best to be on the right side of law. Such was life till now, I didn't have to get into a civil court room ever.  I have been to departmental courts where mostly I was presiding and so ensured speedy objective disposal with scant regard to positions, personality or influences. Consequently, I was entrusted either with complicated cases that guaranteed severe personal adverse implications either from the powerful or from the accused. Once I was a witness and suffered, though truth, I still feel, was with me. That brought me to conclude, jurisprudence and truth necessarily need not be congruent or coexistent.  The more I realised it, the more I dreaded being around a court. Movies and the court scenes only helped add the distaste and fear.

   I was groomed to believe that my organisation was fair and just. I always quoted my career path as an example of my organisation's  objectivity. For a person known to be blunt and forthright, I was an example of how an organisation counted just professionalism towards promotion of its subjects. I was selected for specialised training although I never approached anybody, never gave myself to subservience and never greased palms. My subordinates openly wondered how I managed to work the way I work, when most seemed to believe that maneuvering was inevitably the key to the journey up the ladder. for most, I was nothing more than a maverick awaiting the assured fall from grace. it was only a question of time and cause. Seeing me, some were naive to start changing their ways.  It is then lightening struck. 

   I was tipped to be promoted. There were adequate vacancies. But when the list of promotable came up, my name was missing. I was shocked. Logically I was high on merit. I was among the probables and based on promotability was selected for advanced training. I was sure to be there in the list of promotees. But the list did not show my name and naturally I was shocked and surprised. Surprisingly my friends were not. I was truly amazed seeing my friends behave as if they knew that my rejection was a forgone conclusion. Didn't I have all the requisites? Yes I had. Wasn't I selected for a promotability based training? Yes I was.  Was  I attributing more to myself than I actually was worth? I started questioning my ability to judge situations and scenarios. Over the next few evenings, I heard so many "we told you" comments. I was riddled with advice to fight the system. I was adamant ant did not want to question the system that was objective and fair to me all these years. It was then that one of my colleagues who had pipped me met me. He was high on ego and commented something nasty. i am thankful to him for it was his insensitive comment stemmed from successful manipulation that prompted me to fight.

   My belief in the objectivity and fairness of my organisation soon evaporated. At each step i was stonewalled. they did not give me any response and came across frightening silence on each of my question. The stipulated time passed by and I could make out that they were ignoring me. I decided to take legal recourse. I file an application. Ever since then, I am up and down the corridors of law. I gather from my lawyer that there are distinct differences between justice and truth. Justice, often needs support of strong court craft and court craft involves floor management. I am now on the floor managing myself for the justice I look for. I have now grown used to date after date. I  assure myself that justice is just around that corner across that one "date". 

   This piece of  justice doesn't matter to my existence. think of those behind bars for no fault and think of those criminals who roam free because some smart lawyer has strong court craft to boast.  You don't need to be wise to sense the futility and frailty of the system. Faith i am losing in this labyrinth called law. Faith I refuse to leave on natural justice. but i know justice can easily be denied through delay.

  Fight? I am still on. Give up? No way.

POST SCRIPT: LATE INTO THE NEXT YEAR AND AFTER FEW 'DATES', I WON THE FIGHT.