‘Cơn ác mộng suốt đời’: Tìm kiếm công lý tại các tòa án quá đông đúc ở Ấn Độ

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When the armed men (người có vũ trang) stormed into the village of lower-caste (đẳng cấp thấp hơn) Indians, fanning out (lao qua) through its dirt lanes (con đường đất) and flinging open the doors of its mud (bùn) homes, Binod Paswan jumped into a grain silo (hầm chứa ngũ cốc) and peered out (nhìn ra ngoài) in horror.

Within hours, witnesses say, upper-caste landlords (địa chủ) massacred (tàn sát) 58 Dalits, people once known as “untouchables,” most of them farmworkers in the eastern state of Bihar who had been agitating (vận động) for higher wages. Seven of them were members of Mr. Paswan’s family.

The next day, he lodged (nộp) a police complaint, and investigators soon filed (đưa ra) charges (cáo buộc). That was 26 years ago. He is still waiting — after conflicting verdicts (phán quyết) and hundreds of court hearings, with some witnesses now dead or impaired by fading eyesight (suy giảm thị lực) — for a resolution.

“A cry for justice turned into a lifelong nightmare for us,” said Mr. Paswan, 45.

In a vast nation with no shortage of intractable(khó giải quyết)  problems, it is one of the longest-running and most far-reaching: India’s staggeringly (đáng kinh ngạc) overburdened (quá tải) judicial system.

source: nytimes,