“When Law Breakers are given the law making responsibility, there is only one option to save the constitution- Judiciary.”
Out of 1,320 million people in India, over 1.5 million are law professionals. But cases per judge ratio is not a new thing to discuss. What needs to be brought in light is the fact that whenever we talk of justice, we only look up to the judicial system. What we tend to ignore is that justice can’t be served only by the courts.
Justice is a philosophical term. It can be served by any level of the government- be it police, a government office or even a gram panchayat for that matter. But the level of dependency on judiciary is growing at an ever faster rate, which is alarming and upsetting.
The question that arises is- who can whack this situation? Who can serve justice to the masses with their decisions and initiatives? It is the responsibility of our country’s lawmakers (MPs, MLAs and MLCs) to provide just and fair treatment to every person and issue that demands their attention. It is their job to work to build a better society.
However, in the quest of benefiting their own selves, their respective political parties, ideologies and community, the national interest fades away. The problem is not the incompetency in the them, but the lack of will, resources and opportunities.
I remember the Supreme Court’s ruling against which UPA-2 has decided to pass an ordinance to dysfunction the SC verdict about convicted lawmakers. The then President Pranab Mukherjee had summoned the Home Minister and Law Minister to Rashtrapati Bhawan to ask the legality of the ordinance. It was the conscience of the President that refused to be the rubber-stamp of the ruling government and the UPA President Sonia Gandhi and sign the ordinance as it is.
But to avoid the embarrassment and steal the credit from their own party’s nominated President, the then Vice President of All India Congress Committee, Rahul Gandhi, called up a press meeting and tore off the ordinance, creating another embarrassment for their government. Somehow, even with all the drama, the Constitution was safeguarded.
Recently, on ‘criminalisation of politics’, the SC decided to leave the judgement on the Parliamentarians. The judgement said, “It is the duty of the Parliament to keep money and muscle power at bay. Parliament should cure the malignancy and it is not incurable before it becomes fatal to democracy.” (Ironical).
Earlier this month, SC decriminalised homosexuality in India- Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code was abolished. The problem was supposedly faced by the ‘critical’ few of the society but still. However, it was never important for the Parliamentarians and was never discussed seriously. In 2013, the present Home Minister and the then BJP chief Rajnath Singh showed his support for Section 377 and said that if needed, he will call up an all-party meeting, seeking support for the law.
You might think that why do these politicians not care about such sensitive issues that affect a large part of the society. Unfortunately, there is no Vote Bank Factor (VBF) involved. And for us common people, what remains is mere headlines. Incompetency in Parliamentarians is not because of the lack of VBF because even if it will be present, they won’t do anything.
Reservation is a heated socio-political issue in the country. SC (again) ruled to exclude the creamy layer of the society, denying reservation to the elite among the two underprivileged communities (SC and STs). The court also told to consider the administrative efficiency over reservation in promotion and left it on the states to decide. It was then welcomed and criticised from various political wings as per their VBFs.
The Chief Justice of India Dipak Mishra (whose removal was tried by the opposition party recently) gave very important Judgments on Aadhar, Adultery and Ayodhya along with other justices. These 3 A’s had a very diverse effects in society- legal, moral and religious respectively. For things as basic as these, one has to go to the court to seek justice.
So the question that remains is- what is our Parliament and State Assemblies doing? Can’t they do something unanimously? Of course they can- but they choose to do it less for the society and more for themselves.
In March 2018, the Lok Sabha passed a bill that will exempt political parties from scrutiny of funds they have received from abroad since 1976. This month, the Gujarat assembly also passed a bill unanimously for the pay hike of their MLAs. So let us not doubt the competency of our law makers and their unity.
But with this observation, the trust of voters is getting hampered. I think its time that we voters just sit and pray to the almighty, seeking justice from the Supreme Court for our lives that is harmed by the government.
Till when will we consider courts as the only medium for justice? Till when will we keep electing the law breakers as law makers? When will the political parties attain the legal and moral enforcement to give tickets to non-criminal candidates? When will the executive and legislative branches take up tasks to keep the processes fair and just and make it easy for the judiciary?
These are the questions whose seeds were sown long back and it is just growing with time. But believe me, the root is us- we are the answer of all these questions.
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