Lawyers will tell you that there were occasions when they were convinced that the client they were representing was guilty of the charges he or she was facing, and yet they got off the hook.

Lawyers will also admit that there were other occasions when they were sure that their client was innocent, but he or she ended up being found guilty and sent to jail.

This means that there are blameless people sitting in a rotting cell and others who are guilty roaming around in our streets, possibly planning their next crime.

It is the way the system works. If you’re guilty in the eyes of the law, even if you have committed no crime, you get punished; but if you’ve committed a murder and the system is in your favour, then you’re free.

We see it time and time again, and yet there is no fool-proof way to establish, really establish, who the guilty and innocent are. The system is built by humans, administered by humans, and like everything else which is human, it is not perfect.

We are sure that in their great majority, judges and magistrates all throughout history have performed to the best of their ability, and applied the law without fear or favour as they are bound to do. But judges and magistrates, we must remember, are also human, with their loves and hates, their biases and imperfections, and they commit mistakes too.

Then again, applying the law is one thing, and serving justice is another.

Is it justice if a murderer walks free on a technicality? Is it justice that an innocent person ends up behind bars for being in the wrong place at the wrong time?

How many times has it happened that sentences meted out were too lenient or too harsh? How many times have two different culprits found guilty of similar crimes get very different punishments? How many times has someone walked away with a light sentence for what, in our eyes, is a big crime, and then others get thrown in jail for years for something which is less offensive?

We may not know the law on our finger-tips as judges, magistrates and lawyers do, but we have our common sense and understand situations when certain cases are not handled well.

This situation is extended to even well before someone ends up before a magistrate or a judge, because the justice system starts with the police. And, as we all know too well, the police are not always seen to be doing their duty.

Again, we know that some people should be investigated and brought to book, but this does not happen. If we, as journalists, do our duty and ask, we are always told that the matter is under investigation and the police do not speak about cases they are following.

It’s a standard reply that we always get. And so some people continue to enjoy life as free men and women even though they should at least face investigators.

Conversely, the small fish is then persecuted by officers for slight misdemeanours, hauled quickly to court and dealt with unceremoniously.

Yes, then they call it justice.