An eye for an eye: Why we need justice and restoration to reform us as a society.

Afterthoughts from the verdict on the murder of Uthra: the case that shook the collective conscience of a State.

Earlier this week, I heard the verdict on the Uthra murder case, a case that shook the conscience of an entire state, which the court went on to define as ‘rarest of the rare’ in terms of crime. My most instinctive emotions were similar to that of Uthra’s mother as I awaited retributive justice to be served with the verdict. Like most of the twitter-verse, I too hoped for capital punishment which in this country is ‘death by hanging’, but somewhere deep inside I recognized a bloodthirsty desire for justice may not serve the greater purpose.

After waiting for the verdict for well over a year, during which I was shocked into accepting many cases of femicides in my home state of Kerala, this was a moment of reckoning. And like many a verdict in this country, this one too was disappointing to many who anticipated harsher sentencing.

This brought me to the question, why are we so inherently inclined to desire a certain form of justice?

In a state where murders are a dime a dozen, it made me wonder why the Uthra case received so much outrage. It is reassuring to note that as a population, we aren’t so desensitized to death, that this ‘barbaric’ murder lead to an outcry for justice which it deserved. It was also a case that had numbed the entire state in disbelief that people everywhere started asking pertinent questions. And difficult conversations on dowry-related deaths were happening in the wake of her death. But why do we yearn to see lady justice serve us a particular form of justice?

An eye for an eye: Why do we call for retributive justice?

The case details revealed that the convict got off with a lighter sentence instead of the death penalty which the prosecution had argued for, owing to his age and his lack of criminal history. This the Court offered him with the hopes that there would be a chance for his reformation.

Considering that it was such a ‘barbaric’ act, one unheard of previously in the state and therefore deserving of a harsh sentence, does it call for the death penalty? Must we always look at justice as retributive?

In the last few months of this year alone, at least four women have died in dowry-harassment-related deaths in this ‘most literate’ state. By taking out the person, will it fix a broken system? A system that allowed the convict to get to where he did, a social structure that didn’t teach him that the value of a person is not contained in the valuables they hold or bring. What about the deep-rooted issue of patriarchy behind each of these cases?

Can we examine how toxic patriarchy and its devices of oppression such as dowry are, and maybe prevent it from rearing its ugly head in our own homes?

Are we ready to look over and above our literacy rates and recognize the state of our education? Is mere literacy enough for us?

In my opinion, we need an education. In the words of the great educator Paulo Freire, “Education does not transform the World. Education changes people. People change the World.”

As a society, we need to allow education to transform us or we go ahead and take the blame for allowing this patriarchy to thrive. When we look at the society which failed to address the monster that it created before it cost us lives- can we acknowledge the need to promote a power balance right from the home?

Until we can, unfortunately, I echo the sentiments of the pacifist Gandhi who said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”.

Is there a need to move towards restorative justice?

While we seek justice for Uthra or any of the other women who have lost their lives in the state due to dowry-harassment, directly or indirectly; is there room for its reformative arm? As a society, can we move in the direction of restorative justice?

Maybe we can take a leaf out of the justice system of a country like Norway which practices restorative justice and in turn, experiences low rates of recidivism.

Where we choose to look, matters greatly. In this particular situation, the Court’s verdict of justice may not be acceptable to all the people but it is due process, and I choose to understand and respect that. I am not attempting to take away from the gravity of the crime and do admit that it deserves the sentence it got and maybe, more. Having said that, I am of the opinion that every human, criminal or not, should be given a chance to reform themselves and maybe contribute to society. It may be a slim chance or no chance, but while we are human, can we still have hope?