CORRUPTION OF INDIAN JUDICIARY

Is the Indian legal system and its interpretation of Justice losing contemporary relevance?Are the basic tenements of  Indian philosophy of justice and its execution getting weaker?At times a depressing fear engulfs me,one that of violent ramifications which might destroy all that has been in strictly maintained order over time,leaving people anarchy and chaos to lament upon,on their own.And I often "feel" a day in a not-too-distant future when the common Indian,the unknown citizen shall loose all faith in Law and Justice,and the ways of their practical implementation. And it is a face of India that frightens me,which we have perhaps consciously tried to ignore with crossed fingers that we continue to hide under thick layers of apathy and hypocrisy.

Justice seems& to be have been flawed in principle and execution in a number of high-profile cases-this is what suave advocate Mahesh Jethmalani,MP & member of a right-wing party,said a week back in a television news channel,during a political debate over the Indian judiciary.It doesn t matter whether it is his personal opinion or his party s political stand as long as the truth is being said.But the present confusion of our legal system is reaffirmed when we understand how an advocate&political activist dubs these cases.The accused are terrorists,pervert molesters of feminine dignity,and leaders of an extreme leftist outfit who preach their philosophy through the barrels of AK-47s.

I don t understand how a person can dub these cases as high profile .It is a misnomer in this context.A terrorist who shoots down 52 people in a railway station or makes an armed attack on our Parliament,a police officer who molests a young girl inside his office(the effect of which lingers on till 3 years when the girl commits suicide)are high profile people?If a responsible advocate thinks in this manner,one can well imagine the thought-profile of the Indian Judiciary.It takes 19 years to convict Rathode the molester to court,and that too when responsible sections of the media step in to highlight the case to a point when a government has to act in face of wide-spread protests from Indian citizens.It takes almost 10 years for the Indian Judiciary to finally move its stinking bottom and show some inertia about the pending death penalty for Afzal Guru,where the authorities are still dragging their feet.The chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir has recently commented, "what is special about Afzal Guru?28 people are waiting at the gallows before him"!

Mr.Omar Abdullah,We can well understand your concern for a person who is from your state and is of the same religion as you,and it is perhaps your unflinching love and care for the people of your state,that has put you in the Chief Minister s chair.But unfortunately we cannot appreciate your fraternal love.Afzal Guru is Special because he attacked the Indian Parliament 10 years back.As an Indian citizen,does that mean anything of interest to you? We all know you want to have a good relationship with Pakistan to the extent that you had to earnestly declare it in your first press conference after becoming the C.M.Well so do we.We do not want to hate Pakistan as a political entity.But if year after year after year Pakistani insurgents enter our country through the state you govern,hijack planes to get fellow terrorists released from jail,attack our Parliament,kill 166 people in 66 hours after putting an entire metropolitan under siege and cross the Line Of Control to conquer a piece of our nation in Kargil,we REFUSE to offer an olive branch unconditionally.And no,no one has become Green with Envy if you are seeing green letters.It's just that you.your divisive elements in Kashmir & Pakistani conspirators have got something to do with this colour.And all of you are giving a particular religion a bad name to the point people misunderstand the philosophy of the religion.

Certain sections of the media have definitely become proactive.It is a good sign.Practically speaking, it was the unbiased,passionate campaigning of the media that forced the Judiciary to re-vise the case of Ruchika,the victim of Rathore's molestation,after 19 long years.At the same time,it reflects upon the functioning of the Indian Judiciary.Again,it was after Kasab s conviction that the legal system started moving as the public started to highlight Afzal Guru s death penalty which has been lying locked inside  dusty files for 8 years.Shamefully still,the matter has already become a shuttle cock between the Supreme Court and the Delhi government.The alleged truth is that the government is afraid to face and handle possible violent repercussions in Kashmir if local boy Afzal Guru is hanged.This is shocking.The only people who shall be protesting against Afzal s death shall be people like Afzal only-terrorists who train their guns against their own country as co-conspirators with a neighbouring country. No other Indian will protest against a terrorist being given capital punishment.So are we supposed to accept the fact that our government does not dare to handle violent protests by terrorists?

Apparently yes-political experts say.One can well ascertain the effect of this legal tamasha on a common man who has got a grudge.It is possible that he won't acknowledge the power of law and shall take up law in his own hands(something which cannot be justified by any means yet it leaves the scope for the potential law-breaking offender to say-I don t have faith in this coward law of the land,politicized and corrupt.And he shall just give 2 examples-Afzal Guru and Rathore).
As the world around us is fast changing into a cosmopolitan global village with a rapidly advancing telecommunication technology,events and news are fanning out to an ever-broadening audience-base,reaching out to more and more people who live in places that were considered remote even 3 years back.More and more people are becoming actively conscious of their surroundings.Literate or lliterate,educated or uneducated,they are strongly feeling an urge to take up newer responsibilities,to preserve themselves better and more through,in an increasingly complicated and violent world.At the same time,the gap between the predominantly rural and the minor urban population in terms of what is crudely called "social status" is decreasing gradually but consistently too.

One might question the relevance of crudely discussing urban and rural populations if Indian codes of Law are being commented upon here.Yes,there is a connection-a strong one,but not readily visible,lying camouflaged under the wrangles of our famous Indian Unity in Diversity(Diversity has always been there but the element of Unity is becoming thinner and thinner.) 

The long arm of the media starts from the posh sea-facing apartments in Mumbai to the remote corners of Rajasthan and Haryana,where colour TVs,satellite dishes and cell-phones have reached but yet they continue to remain in the dark shadow of ignorance,refusing to sever the bindings of traditional ethnicity,some of which might be
nauseating for city-grown person of urban culture.Sociologists have often avoided a deeper study into this aspect of rural traditionalism even though they stand as rocky impediments in the path of social and individual evolution.They forget that after generations of ethnic fiefdom,and now half-enlightened by telecommunication technology,it is a community defiance that the rural population throws across the urbane face of sociology.One of the prominent ramifications is that the relative interpretations of The Good and The Bad,The Right and The Wrong particularly where social values and ideas,customs and practices,and the relevance of Tradition itself assume circumstantial significance.

It is the underlying defiance of the rural population and a pathological apathy of the urban class towards its rural counterpart that has slowly eroded the strength of and accountability before law of the land. Increasing acts of law breaking & violence points to a grim situation ahead,where people have lost faith in Law altogether.Divisive vote-bank politics,corruption in the avoidable corridors of courts,session to the supreme,and criminalisation of parliamentary memberships has resulted in lakhs of incomplete litigations to such an extent that executive authorities of Law have lost their own confidence.People are no longer afraid to break rules and twist and turn the book of Law.It takes years and decades of snail-paced trial to come to convicting the wrong-doers, the procedures are complicated,anciently rigid and wholly submerged in red-tapism.

While validating the foot-dragging of the Supreme Court,a political activist recently said in the same TV debate that there are certain protocols and clauses that the law Has to follow.Another audacious opinion.Is the law there to render justice to citizens or the citizens Have to go by the law no matter how severe an illegal act can be, just because the law says so?The laws of the Indian Penal Code had been written to deliver timely and proper justice(at least that is what I shall be assuming with positive expectation).If any clause comes in the way of justice,the law Has to pondered upon seriously and re-written.(My general knowledge compels to assume with hope once again that this is what Amendments are all about).

I would hate to see the future that gives me occasional nightmares and the frequency is increasing by the week.I have only got a pen.And so have got all other unknown citizens.One pen can be silenced by a sword-a weapon still used in certain parts of the world for delivering justice in its most barbaric form-Beheading.But what has been written shall remain somewhere.I appeal to all those in power of governance and justice.Don't tempt the pen.