Tears for justice of an innocent soul : Is our legal system responsible?
- Imphal Times Editorial :: December 01 2017 -

“Justice delayed is justice denied.” William Ewart Gladstone the then Prime Minister of Britain wrote.

It’s over 100 years that the political thinker had written this sentence understanding the needs for rendering of justice to the victims without delay.

2017 AD, the current year, where communication technology reached its peak, where people across the globe are fighting for human values and rights, when political leaders promise justice for all, where human rights is the concerns for the world community, legal complicacies or perhaps system errors still leaves thousands in India deprive of what they deserve.

Even dead souls would have floated between heaven and hell waiting for the judgementt on where he would go.

Its over 14 years, that soulless death body of 8 years old Lungnila Ellizabeth, a student of class IV of Little Flower School, Imphal was found at Tera Sadokpam Leikai here in Imphal.

The Indian system still is yet to punish those involved in the killing of the minor till today.

The year 2003, the year at which the minor girl was found death, cry for justice by punishing the culprits filled the air of the state.

The inhuman heinous killing had shocked almost all people of the state and the thirst for blood of those child murderers joined the law enforcers in hunting them.

The kind of uprising was not because, father of Lungnila Ellizabeth was a Minister of that time, but because no people in the state ever thought that there would be animals minded human being who can kill an innocent child for money.

The poor angel was allegedly kidnapped by the bloody murderers for ransom of Rs. 10 lakhs.

She was kidnapped by the bloody murderers on November 4 of 2003 and her death body was found on November 12, 2003.

Only God knows how the innocent child was kept in custody for 7 days by the gruesome murderers.

Now 3 out of 4 accused are in judicial custody.

Of the four one accused O. Deven @ Arnold is no more.

The three accused are now in judicial custody.

May be because the then state law enforcers are not very efficient in dealing with the case, the case had been handed over to CBI on February 6, 2006.

Since then, the trial of the four accused namely Thokchom Nando, Letkhosei Haokip @ James Kuki and Ningthoujam Rome Meitei are being conducted in Special Court, CBI, here in Imphal.

By now, many of the classmates of Lunilla Ellizabeth may have been in government service or may be doing higher studies.

For sure some of them might have been in the investigating agency or some may be in the Judiciary service.

This is being said because if she survives she would be 22 years old by now.

Yesterday hearing for the trial of the case was held at Special Court, CBI and again it is scheduled on December 15.

Who knows the special court may fix another date for another hearing at another time, but 22 years has gone and the justice delivery system of the country still cannot convict the murderer of the innocent child.

Something is seriously wrong with the system, those in the judiciary need to look into the problem for it is at this point that people sometime felt that mob justice as a better instrument to punish any culprits.