“Be you never so high, the law is above you.” — Dr Thomas Fuller wrote in 1733.
My column this week is prompted by two front-page items in one of the most widely circulated German newspapers.
Appallingly, both the news items on India were there for wrong reasons — the Taliban-like diktat of a khap panchayat in Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh and the reprehensible incident of a teenage girl being sexually molested, in full public view, by a group of 20 men in Guwahati. The news item said that, on the one hand, political leadership and the police force were not interested in curbing the power of these vigilante courts. On the other hand, the newspaper attributed the growing malaise of vigilante courts to the clear breakdown of the ‘rule of law’ in India. Europeans are shocked by the despicable attacks on women.
The newspaper said, “Indian society seems jam-packed of men bereft of graciousness, full of indifference, stumpy on morals and, spilling over on testosterone. Indians get away with impunity, anyplace, anytime”.
It is clear that the main reason we have low convictions in India is that the police, law enforcement machinery and the majority of Indian males do not think sexual harassment is a serious problem. The root of violence, crime and an unsafe environment in India is the loss of basic moral and ethical values that prevailed before Independence. Our education system lays little emphasis on ethical and moral education, all in name of ‘secularism’.
NO RULE OF LAW
Stories that make headlines evoke outrage and public outcry but very little changes. A popular society weekly in Germany wrote recently: “ Indian laws do not frighten the people anymore. Indeed, the so called ‘rule of law’ has become codswallop and gibberish, in India.” In all of Europe, it is only fear of punishment that deters unscrupulous anti-socials from perpetuating crimes, not glib talk of the rule of law.
That is precisely the reason that, when immigrants from Asia including India and Africa, come to live in Europe, they suddenly become good law-abiding citizens. Europeans believe that, where due process and rule of law are debased, only social Darwinism can prevail.
It is hardly in doubt that India is currently in the midst of a serious social crisis. Regrettably, our own ‘Neros’ are content with fiddling, while the country burns. My father who is a lawyer of 60 years says “Just as air is essential to man”, “rule of law is the life of a constitution and where it ends, begins the rule of man”. And therefore, we have khap panchayats.
WHITHER INDEPENDENCE?
In the final analysis, the destiny of the country is ours to make or mar. In exactly three weeks from today, Wednesday, 15 August 2012, the 65th Indian Independence Day will be celebrated. There isn’t much to show for our ability to take charge of our affairs or, improve the existential condition of the vast majority of the population.
(The author is former Europe Director, CII, and lives in Cologne, Germany. blfeedback@thehindu.co.in)
Comments:
It's very shameful incidence like the two mentioned in the write keep happening in India...and foreigners are laughing at India on its pathetic record of implementing rule of law especially to secure safety of women. I don't know where we heading by saying that women invite trouble to wearing revelaing clothes or what was that women doing there at such hours...
This is all the result of our distorted view of independence. We don't care for others while exercising our freedom to do "anything".
Add to this, societies urge to pull everything down to the most ordinary level. We don't promote independent, efficient and eligible people in politics, judiciary, and administration. The more incompetent and corrupt they are, the easier it is for others to deal with them.
Our politicians are either uneducated literates or educated but inefficient to bring change and devoid of leadership skills. It is the latter who has brought the former who in turn brought in the criminals. End result is the politicization of the criminals and the criminalization of the politicians and the seamless binding paved the way for a retrograde Indian civilization.
Despite Viswanathan Anand. Despite Silicon Valley genius engineers, Despite Homi Bhabha. Despite J.C. Bose and C. V. Raman. Despite we are the land of Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Ramakrishna, Sankaracharya, and the Vedas. Never mind the nostalgia from having invented zero. Make no mistake about it. We are a nation of very slow evolving baboons. There’s no dearth of evidence that in the ladder of evolution, the Indian mindset is at its lowest rung! Congrats, Mr.Murti on what I can call a 65 Independence Day insight!
As usual, Mr.Murti in his article makes some valid points but frankly, it has become “fashionable” for Europeans to criticize “bad” Indian things. Agreed, we display an ample amount of stupidity but so do other nations.
Well written. A gender-sensitive approach to justice is particularly important to understand women’s and men’s different
experience of abuse.
We must, as a nation, ensure that crimes committed against women do not go unpunished. We must engage women, women’s groups, and women’s interests in justice mechanisms.
We cannot hide behind the issues by blaming the west for not glorifying
the shining India example. While agreeing that the Europeans may have an
ulterior motive, the solution is still not found.
We are talking about civil liberties and birth rights of citizens being
taken away by these so called khaps. Instead of showing the might of the
state on poor adivasis whose only demand to the government is to let
them live, these khaps should be taken to task.
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