Telangana turmoil: Toying with the judiciary

Lack of faith in elected representatives and administrative machinery has seen people increasingly turning to judiciary to get things done. Well... faith in judiciary is good, but it doesn’t mean its understaffed machinery should be dragged into all matters — the latest row over Telangana statehood being the best example.

A Hyderabad court has directed the police to file a case against Union ministers P Chidambaram and Sushilkumar Shinde for making crucial announcements regarding the formation of Telangana, and subsequently failing to keep them.

The petitioner had moved the court saying the ministers should be booked under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for “cheating”. Now let us see what the law says.

Whoever cheats and thereby dishonestly induces the person deceived to deliver any property to any person, or to make, alter or destroy the whole or any part of a valuable security, or anything which is signed or sealed, and which is capable of being converted into a valuable security, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Hello, where does this apply in the context of Telangana?

While one can understand the emotion behind the petition, the rationality of admitting a political policy decision should be considered more carefully. If politicians, whether holding public office or not, are to be booked and punished for not keeping their promises, there would hardly be anyone who can stay out of jail.

Considering the amount of lofty promises that politicians make regarding bringing development, introducing welfare measures, providing good governance and weeding out corruption (ROFL here..), cases against political class alone will be sufficient enough to create a separate wing of judiciary.

Crores of cases are pending in our courts – some of them dragging on for decades. Tens of thousands are languishing in overcrowded jails awaiting trial. Scores of them have spent more time behind bars than what the maximum punishment for their crime would have been.

Despite the crushing workload, curiously, there is always time for trivial cases like complaints against random movie stars for ‘indecent’ performances at stage shows, ‘obscene’ posters and ‘objectionable’ opinions.

One can’t help but wonder if the legal luminaries who drafted our laws did not have the foresight to include separate laws to protect the moral fabric of the society. May be, in the ongoing process of legal reforms, we should introduce laws on soul too!

A wise man once said “there is nothing permanent except change”. In realpolitik, policies and decisions keep changing to adapt with changing circumstances. This evolution is inevitable in the course of decision-making and progress.

If change of stance is a criminal offence, there would be no scope for the politics of alliances in India. When a party switches its support, it is never done with the approval of every single member and those who voted for it — therefore it would amount to fraud.

The legal system is in place to address grievances and provide justice. When it is abused for publicity and other vested interests, it is this original purpose which is being defeated. And we don’t need that... Do we?

(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on January 30, 2013.)

When state fails, vigilante rises

"Law and order exists for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress."

Martin Luther King 

Much has been the public outrage across the country in general, and the national capital in particular, after the Delhi bus rape incident. The focus has mostly been on safety of women and the flaws in the system that is supposed to protect them.
However, little has been said about the rising danger of vigilante justice — which will find many takers as the ‘system’ continues to fail them.

One such example is an incident that took place in Jharkhand recently when a village meticulously planned and executed the lynching of five men who were constantly molesting women in the locality. After the murders, a mob went to the local police station to take responsibility. 

While this can be considered as an isolated incident, one cannot ignore the rising public discontent when the justice delivery system fails their expectations.

There are tens of thousands of cases every year when people are forced to suffer heavy-handed measures of the state that is supposed to protect them from oppressors. Many ‘development’ projects that are launched with fanfare involve land acquisitions and rarely is this done ensuring adequate compensation to the landowners.

Since many contracts are ‘won’ by benamis of politicians, their methods of coaxing the landowners through threat of violence and, of course, real violence, are invisible to the guardians of law. Considering  there is little difference between the treatment meted out to them by the goons and the police, it is only natural that organisations such as the Maoists are never short of fresh blood.

While the salaried class is squeezed dry through every possible tax and surcharges, the corrupt officials and politicians are having a field day. The rags-to-riches success story of the Indian political class who turn rupee billionaires after spending barely a decade in modestly-paid public offices should put financial moghuls to shame.

The Central government cites constraints of international agreements and refuses to divulge the names of those who have bled the country white and stashed their illicit wealth abroad.

So, while a clerk caught taking a Rs 500-bribe loses his job and spends time in jail, those who siphoned off enough money to feed an entire generation continue to rub shoulders with national leaders and star as outspoken stalwarts of industry.

Even in cases communal violence, response of the state machinery has always been late and on many occasions — complicit. The best example would be 2002 Gujarat riots. While small-fry and thugs have been convicted, the masterminds of the mass murders — executed with meticulous planning and clinical precision — remain untouched. When caste kangaroo courts make a mockery of judiciary and police and continue their reign of unfettered bloodshed, the victims have nowhere to run.

With all institutional mechanism failing to provide justice or protect from injustice and oppression, majority of our population (without the ‘protection’ of a politician or a criminal – now don’t ask me what’s the difference) has been rendered helpless, hopeless, powerless and cornered.

Great minds have made observations such ‘man is a political animal’ and ‘man is a social animal’ — basically an animal with many intellectual facets. And guess what happens when an animal is cornered without any possibility of escape...

(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on December 26, 2012.)