Blood Money

Two murder cases in two different countries that got a lot of publicity in recent times got “sorted out” in the same way. The first was the Pakistani case where an American (supposed CIA agent) killed 2 Pakistanis in a crowded market. The second was the case of the Italian marines who killed fishermen from Kerala. The common resolution in both cases? Pay off the victims. With that, the case was over in both countries.

Is paying money to the victims such a bad thing? Forget your sense of morality for a minute and instead look at the future from the point of the fishermen’s surviving relatives (the Pakistani case is more complicated because, as per the US, the guys killed were trying to kidnap the American when they were shot).

-         Suppose India prosecuted the Italians, what were the odds we’d have convicted them any time in the next billion years? Zero, given what our case against Kasab has shown. Justice or closure (or whatever fancy term you have for it) can never be attained at the pace the great Indian judicial system works. At least not in the lifetime of the fishermen’s relatives. So why should anyone expect them to go through the waste of time of continuing with the case?

-         Does the money paid to the fishermen’s families not guarantee them a good life? It’s easy to say they should care about principles, about right and wrong and ignore the fact that they might have starved. Remember we’re not talking about well off or insured people who would have an alternate source of money.

The tale in Pakistan ended in another murder. The widow who got the compensation money was recently killed by her father. Why? Because she wanted to remarry and the father was afraid that she’d take the money with her and leave him penniless. Let’s just hope that the Kerala story has a better ending.