This refers to T N Ninan’s column “Still the Wild East” (Weekend ruminations, December 3). It is not difficult to understand why human rights are so easily violated in our country. The most obvious reason is that there is no fear of punishment under the existing laws. This is particularly true if you are either in politics or know someone in the police force. In that case, you can get away with an illegal act without any repurcussions — a serious monetary loss or damage to reputation.
We have all the laws and Acts, like the Right to Information Act, in place but they are still inadequate to put an end to harassment by the police or murderous attacks by political goondas. In that sense, we are still living in a society that is far away from the reforms that social thinkers of the last century, notably Justice Ranade and Gopal Krishna Gokhale, were demanding.
Narendra M Apte, Pune
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