You faced terrible things because of someone else’s bad and
unfair deeds. Maybe they had more power than you or more money or maybe they
were just reckless when they did that to you and your life. You were devastated
and you were innocent. You had nothing to do with the “deed”. You were a good
person, well, you still are. It was the other person who did stuff and you had
to face the consequences.
Consequences which were unbearable, like carrying a big rock
on your heart. Worse even, having to smile all the time to hide the pain. Moments
when you were helpless and lonely. You
had to face it. You couldn’t help. Yes, it is unfair. So now, you wait
for justice.
You wait for the time to come when that heartless person
will bear the fruits of his doings. When he will face every moment of hopelessness
and failure, loneliness too. Every moment you faced. When he will have to
tolerate the sting. Like, you did. You long for the law to be fair, for life,
for god to be fair.
But, it is not justice.
Justice is not when the doer faces difficulties and the pain
just because he made some other person face them, intentionally or
unintentionally. This is not justice.
Justice happens when the innocent person, that is you, gets
another chance. When the person ends up happy, satisfied and at peace with his
or her life despite the unfair difficulties life threw in. That is justice.
A girl gets raped. She is innocent, it was not her fault.
She demands justice. She demands death for the culprit. But she is never
treated respectfully in the society again. It is not justice. It will only be
fair to her when she can walk out, head held high, knowing she didn’t do
anything wrong or shameful. It will only be fair when she will be treated like
before. That will be justice to her and not culprit’s death. The culprit’s
death will not fetch her what she longs for.
She herself has to know and believe this. She has to realize
that she is blessed. That she is lucky enough to be able to live a normal life
again. That she is not looked down upon, she is not pitied. She has to realize
that this is justice and she received it.
On the contrary, the culprit’s death is important. Yes, it
is. It may not be justice to the girl but it is the punishment the culprit
deserves. For his own deed. For him to realize that life goes full circle.
You do bad, you get bad.
He raped, he deserves to be killed. He does deserve that. It
is the law and is highly important, but it is not justice to the girl.
A callous man does not share his late father’s property with
his younger brother. The law will not punish him. Whereas the younger brother is
heartbroken and helpless. He spends years of his existence trying to stabilize his
life, to earn enough so that he can spend his life soundly. All he desires is a
fair chance. He just wants that his brother once knows how it felt, that his
brother is somehow punished by god ten years later or fifty. He wants justice.
But again, that is not justice. His brother’s suffering is
not justice to him. It is the punishment he deserves, of course, for his doings
but it is not justice.
Justice is when that man, the younger brother, ends up happily with a family of
his own. When he gets what he longed for in his years for despair, a sound life.
Punishment should be given to someone who did evil to
someone else. This is necessary but it is not justice. The “someone else”
should get a fair chance at life later. Should end up happy, should feel
blessed. That is justice, and necessary too.
Maudita Singh.
