बा-इज़्जत बरी
Someone asks बा-इज़्जत नया इश्क करने की आखरी उम्र क्या है ? That is, what is the highest honourable age for starting a new affair? I love the word बा-इज़्जत It belongs to the days of my youth in which someone or the other would always walk out of a court with a बा-इज़्जत बरी order. The person who was given the बा-इज़्जत बरी status would either be the hero or the father of the hero or some old servant of the household. This innocent person would have suffered injustice and trials and tribulations through the three hours of the movie and then, the acquittal at the end, would throw a pal of honour on his three-hour long life, thus rendering meaning to the expression बा-इज़्जत बरी.
Confusion arises because the human mind works in binaries. So, the expression “honourable acquittal” brings up the expression “dishonourable acquittal” and the question: What is the difference between the two?.
I have never seen a judge sending off the acquitted person garlanding him and putting a shawl around his shoulders. although that is the type of image "honourable acquittal" tends to bring to the mind. More often than not, acquittal is given because there was not adequate evidence to prove the guilt of the person. So, “Declared not guilty” is usually a euphemism for "Inadequate Evidence";
Honorable acquittal does not imply that the real accused has been secured, prosecuted and convicted. It only implies that the honour of the person who had been taken to be guilty has now been restored by declaring him not guilty after his prolonged ordeal. Our System of Justice renders justice to the victim-complainant when the FIR is registered, case is investigated, accused secured and case charged. Later, the System renders justice to the accused person when the court acquits him for inadequate evidence. The time gap between the two is so huge that it does not cause a moral conflict.