Imagine spending three decades behind bars… not for a heinous crime, not for violence, not for danger… but for something as trivial as a Rs 20 bribe allegation. That is not fiction. That is not hyperbole. That is Babubhai Prajapati’s life – 30 years stolen, only to be declared innocent a day before he died.
Police constable Babubhai Prajapati was posted in Ahmedabad when allegations were made against him that he took Rs 20 as bribe. The charges were made under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
In a society that often celebrates “justice served,” this story forces us to confront a bitter truth – Justice delayed is justice denied… sometimes fatally.
Prajapati’s ordeal wasn’t a one-off glitch in the system. It was a systemic collapse… a failure so deep that it swallowed an entire lifetime. A man convicted, not convicted of violence, not convicted of organised crime… but accused of accepting Rs 20. Yes, twenty rupees.
Think about that. A middle class family watching their loved one age behind bars for decades over an amount most of us wouldn’t blink at. And when the High Court finally admitted the truth… after more than 20 years of pending appeal, contradictions in testimony, and prosecutorial failure… it was too late. He walked out a free man, and the next day, he died.
That’s not a judicial victory. That is a tragic, humiliating miscarriage of justice. This isn’t about one man. This is about the millions caught in the slow grind of Indian justice, where undertrials spend years without bail, appeals take decades to be heard, and “innocent until proven guilty” becomes “Guilty until we run out of time.” And the system rewards delay with life sentences, not accountability.
For the Indian middle class… tax-paying, system-respecting, patiently hopeful citizens… this should be a moment of grave introspection. A state that cannot free an innocent man before he dies is failing the very people it claims to protect.
Justice is not measured in verdicts alone… but in lives preserved, time honoured, dignity intact. When a court admits error only after 30 years, what does that say about our courts? Our police? Our prosecutorial process?
This is not a cautionary tale. This is a wake-up call because while courts may find guilt or innocence on paper, the true verdict is delivered in the years lost… never to be reclaimed.
