Shiban Khaibri
As guardian of the constitution and the laws declared by it, the Supreme Court of India has very often to take suo motu cognizance of incidents where citizens’ interests, safety and rights are jeopardized or violated. In our country, we very proudly boast of our rich civilization and cultural background aiming at respecting the human dignity and freedom but incidents like “honour” killings executed in most brutal forms, many a time, at the diktats of some “Khaps” or Panchayats make us feel indignantly ashamed .The incident of gang rape of a 20 year old girl in a village barely 160 Kilometers far from Kolkota, West Bengal has shocked every Indian. The fault of the girl, as per reports, reveals that she was spotted with a boy of a caste other than hers. He had visited the village to propose her as the two reportedly loved each other. The girl and the boy both were tied with a tree and the Khap of the area conducted the “proceedings of the case” coming out with a judgment of a fine of Rs.50000 to be paid by the families of the two young souls. While the parents of the boy managed to cough up the amount ; that of the girl could mop up only Rs. 3000 whereupon the “judgment” was amended to the extent that the innocent girl be gang raped in the village. The girl is reportedly in a bad shape, struggling for her life.
The Supreme Court of India has taken a suo motu cognizance of spine chilling incident of this gang rape committed by 13 human beasts. Drawing an analogy with beasts would surely be doing injustice with the behaviour of the beasts. As soon as the incident made head lines shocking people across the country, the three judge bench headed by the Chief Justice P. Sathasivam assembling for the hearing on Jan24, took cognizance of the incident expressing shock and issued notices to the West Bengal government. In the report filed by the girl’s parents, they revealed that most of those who brutalized and ravaged her were her father’s age and even more. The Honb’le court directed the District judge of the area to visit the place of the incident and submit the report within a week. The question as to why the Honb’le Apex court had to intervene while it is expected that the state law machinery would act in accordance with the law and act fast.
The answer again is deeply embedded in the lack of the will of the politicians to set right those systems and forces which act illegally but are of an appreciable help to them in mopping votes and support. In the horrifying incident, the influence of the village councils, Khaps etc; over the people living in the rural areas such as the one under reference, is reported to be phenomenal and none dares go against their unlawful, arbitrary and even savage judgments. While a lot better was expected from Mamta Bannerjee to establish rule of law very strictly, it has proved otherwise as records reveal that unfortunately since TMC’s government in West Bengal, there have been comparatively more incidences of assault on women and in most of the cases the blame game only has taken place as being “managed” by the opposition mainly to defame the government. How much heart rending are the incidents in nature that only a week back, a 16 year old girl was gang raped and later burnt alive. The fact that as many as 31000 gender crimes were recorded in 2012-13 alone speaks about how much is being done in West Bengal for ensuring protection of women from violence in forms like kidnapping, rape, molestation and sexual harassment. Good and effective administration in the overall interests of the citizens without considerations of gaining or losing in elections but only to bring about the desired changes in the system, still seems to be far away and issues extraneous to the quality of administration, rules the roost and seems to take the front seat almost with all political dispensations in the country with exceptions, of course ,and that is why effective policing and high conviction rates are found wanting in the system. We have become a system of enquiries, commissions, committees, sub- committees and the like and in most of the cases are just passing the time. The highest judiciary of the country, however, safeguards the interests of the citizens by not allowing the executive or the authority going beyond or overlooking and ignoring the provisions of the law, as provided by the constitution.
Similarly, in another most important but unprecedented case in its nature, when a democratically elected Chief Minister violates section 144 (prohibitory orders) in the capital along with his entire cabinet colleagues and justifies the action, the Apex court has taken a serious cognizance of the matter and asked the Union Ministry to explain as to why the Police failed in its mob dispersing procedures when Delhi CM Kejriwal defied prohibitory orders and led a sit – in protest for two days in the capital. Giving a week’s time to the Home Ministry and the Delhi Police to explain, a bench comprising Justices R. M. Lodha and Shivakirti Singh sought details about the steps taken by Delhi Police in the matter. The Honb’le court asked Additional Solicitor General who was representing Delhi Police Commissioner as to how did they assemble when the prohibitory orders were in place. The court further observed,” Police cannot be permitted to have the law broken before their eyes, if the law is broken, they cannot be mute spectators, and we will see whether the Police was taking command from somebody and not acting.” It is interesting to note that the court sought to know whether the procedure was followed in the same way in respect of a normal man defying prohibitory orders.
It is a natural corollary in the sphere of organizing a society for law within a definite territory in the language of the science of Politics that a law maker cannot break the law and is accountable for his or her culpability in matters of obeying law. In this spirit, the learned bench of the Supreme Court acting on a PIL, observed that the constitution being supreme, every institution was a product of it and not beyond it and therefore every person holding a constitutional office is governed by the constitution. The court further observed, “Such dual personalities are not permitted, this petition raises questions of constitutional importance.” At the time of writing of these lines, reports are that an FIR has been readied by Delhi Police against the accused citing various provisions of the law having been violated. It is ludicrous to observe that an elected CM should ask the disciplined force in charge of maintenance of law and order of the capital, the Policemen, to shun their uniforms and join the protests near outside the Rail Bhawan. Equally does it look queer that one of the cabinet Ministers of Delhi in charge of the Law should attempt to do policing himself as a result of which some ladies of foreign origin were allegedly ill treated?
In one more matter of utmost importance, the Supreme Court on Jan21 in a landmark judgment held that death sentence of a condemned prisoner can be commuted into life imprisonment on the ground of delay by the government in deciding the mercy plea. Like this, life imprisonment was given to 15 death row inmates. The court also held that solitary confinement of a prisoner including death row convicts is unconstitutional and should not be allowed in the prisons. The mercy petitions need to be disposed of reasonably in time by the government.
The nature of democracy and development depend largely on how effectively the administration functions, how law is upheld, the constitution respected and the highest judiciary of the country safeguards and acts to sustain the overall socio – economic and political environment of the country. Citizens’ rights are protected, law is upheld and none is allowed to go beyond the constitution.
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