B D Sharma
Bawa Jitto, Data Ranapat, Mahal Dev and Pant Kaura Ram have remained the beacons of light in the Dogra land who inspired the common people for generations to fight for justice. With the passage of time this spirit did, however, get diluted. With the advent of democracy, it was thought that the common man would get justice and his condition would improve. Though lot of improvement in the living conditions of common man has taken place yet everything is not honky dory. Many leaders thrown up by the democratic process behave in such a partisan manner as may put to shame even the most despotic rulers of yore. Since the MLAs had the final word in the formulation of developmental plans some of them blocked provision of basic facilities such as drinking water and electric supply to some Basties/Mohallas because they had not cast their votes in their favour. One wonders as to where does the sense of justice of such responsible people go. Some spheres of governance and justice delivery system still need lot of improvement. Resolution of small disputes by the community elders locally is also becoming scarce. Majority of people have become selfish and self centered. Many of us tolerate injustice and indignities over ourselves or over our fellow beings in the hope of getting some favour or aggrandizement from the perpetrators of injustice. Despite this we come across many instances where the common men show courage and stand up for justice and fair play. Everyone of us comes across some incidents in our lives where we find people acting in judicious and fair manner. For them public good takes precedence over their personal interests. I am venturing to narrate some of such incidents, ( they may not be as significant as some of my friends might have themselves noticed), which came across my way.
In our childhood we noticed that one sphere where the justice delivery system in the villages came into play was the partition of property in a joint family- the distribution of land and the movable assets. Some people would sort it out within the families but in majority of the cases intervention of the elders of the village was necessitated. Many stories of village respectables euphemistically called Panchs (recognized by community and not the elected ones) delivered justice so fairly as to earn appreciation from one and all. In fact some of the Panchs had created a niche for themselves for their sense of justice. In our neighbouring village, Badorhi (Samba district) when people approached a respected elder, General Vijay Singh for resolution of their family disputes, he would invariably associate a Harijan elder of the village with him. The General had passed much of his life serving in the hilly terrains of Ladakh and Gilgit and was not well acquainted with the nitty- gritties and nuances of the problems of rural households and for taking a judicious view he depended upon the wise counsel of this Harijan elder. Though wave of social reforms by Maharaja Hari Singh and efforts by Arya Samaj had started in our State but the society was still in the grip of the scourge of casteism. Many people showed resentment against a Harijan acting as Panch over their disputes. But the reputation of the latter for justice and fair play was so high that the General never compromised and took the Harijan elder always along him whenever he had to go for resolving any dispute in his village.
There is no gainsaying in the fact that the management and resolution of conflicts at the village level by the community elders is of paramount significance to any society and must be widely promoted. Many village elders have a keen sense of justice and they are an asset to the society. Their conduct must be highlighted as it may leave a lesson or two for the young generation. One village elder who enjoyed dabbling in resolution of local disputes happened to be my friend’s father. He used to come to me for consultation regarding some issues of his land holding despite his having himself a deep knowledge of different aspects of Land laws. He had acquired this acumen from his close friend, Thakur Baldev Singh who was a leading advocate of the State and practiced law at Kathua. Thakur was one of the senior most leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party also and used to give a tough fight to Girdhari Lal Dogra in the election to the prestigious Hiranagar Assembly Constituency. Rising above caste consideration and ignoring all the benefits which could come his way from GL Dogra, an influential Minister, my friend’s father Pandit Beli Ram popularly known as Beli Lambad (for Numbardar in Dogri) always stood by the Thakur through thick and thin. Thakur saheb also showered a lot of respect and affection on Lambadji. Once when he came to discuss with me an intricate question of law, I suggested him to better talk it over with his benefactor and friend Thakur saheb. But Lambadji showed a little reluctance to go to Thakur. Surprised at this I enquired as to why such a cold response to my suggestion. He declined to divulge much in this regard and just told me that minor irritants did sometimes crop up between the friends. He substantiated further his assertion by quoting a Dogri saying that even the lifeless earthen pitchers bump and collide when placed together. From his conversation I could make out that Thakur used to get deeply involved in the affairs of his followers. So he would advise them to eschew litigation. Such clients would then request him to get their disputes resolved amicably by his intervention. Thakur in turn would ask Lambadji to get the disputes of his followers resolved as Thakur himself avoided being involved in taking sides. Thakur would even ask Lambadji to intervene in case any dispute/difference happened to arise in his own family. He and his brothers had lot of respect for Lambadji for his sense of justice.
I could sense that the strain between the two friends had occurred when Lambadji took a stand while resolving a dispute of the two followers of Thakur saheb which was not to the liking of the latter. Though Thakur himself was a man of integrity, he might have some proclivity and preference for a follower due to his political compulsions. But Lambadji had an individuality of his own, a mind of his own and would act according to the dictates of his own conscience. His son, my friend, Mukerjeet Sharma, retired Additional Principal Chief Conservator Forests, was also of the opinion that there might have been some highs and lows in their relationship, but their friendship remained lofty like the mountains, deep like the sea and sweet like honey.
I had never imagined that the two close friends could ever cross swords also. So after hearing about this temporary stress in their relationship I ventured to exhibit my sense of pragmatism and practicability. I suggested Lambadji that he could have given the decision as per the wishes of Thakur saheb. But Lambadji made me answerless when he told me that friendship had no place when one sat on the seat of justice. If he kept friendship in mind, then ends of justice might not have met. In that case his conscience would also have got pricked. I was immediately reminded of the famous story “Jumman Sheikh and Algoo Chaudhary” penned so beautifully by Munshi Prem Chand in which close friendship between the two characters couldn’t influence the course of justice. It provides lesson to the people who dispense justice that they should act in an unbiased and judicious manner while delivering justice. Such instances should act as beacon of light to persons/institutions such as the Lok Adaalats, the Panchayati Adaalats and the village/community elders.
Thakur Baldev Singh himself was a man of principles. He had a sense of ethics and high standard of morality. True worth of Thakur Baldev Singh and his commitment towards justice had come to my notice when I was posted as Tehsildar Samba. A remand case of a Sikh gentleman was being heard by me. There were only a few Sikh families residing in Samba town at that time. This Sikh gentleman had good rapport with many local people because of his being a follower of the famous communist leader
Ram Payara Saraf. The Saraf followers had close bonds of comradeship. Despite Saraf having gone in oblivion, Sardarji was still pulling on as a small time leader. He used to do some odd jobs in the sub judge court at Samba. In addition he used to cultivate some two acres of land near Samba which belonged to a temple constructed in deference to Kul Devi of residents of one Mandi of Samba. The residents of the Mandi had approached my predecessor to evict Sardarji from the temple land. My predecessor had also some grouse against the fellow Jat Sikh for speaking against him in some public meeting. He had consequently ordered his eviction. Mandir Committee immediately took possession of the land. The tenant filed an appeal before Deputy Commissioner Jammu and the order of the Tehsildar was quashed and case was remanded to me for passing fresh order. 20/25 residents of the Mandi along with an advocate from the same Mandi used to appear in the case. They would plead their case vociferously. They stressed that Sardarji was never a tenant and used to cultivate land as hired labour. Others asserted that no tenancy could be created over the temple land and made other similar assertions. Tenant always remained subdued during the hearing. None was ready to come forward to stand as witness for him and it was also difficult for him to enjoy peaceful possession of land if hostility of Mandir Committee persisted. So I thought that it would be better if some sort of compromise between the parties took place. One of the options being thought of was allowing resumption of part of land from the tenant under the Tenancy Act. Sardarji wanted to engage an advocate to plead his case. So he got a number of adjournments. But no advocate from Samba court came forward to plead his case. The local advocates didn’t want to oppose the interests of a temple /collective interests of Mandi people.
Ultimately on one of the dates of hearing an advocate appeared on his behalf. It was none other than Thakur Baldev Singh. It was a surprise also as the Thakur had left practicing law since many years. He was thick in the political activities then. He had remained President of Pradesh BJP for many years though ultimately he was sidelined by a powerful moneyed coterie in the Party, rendering him somewhat ambivalent in his political activities. As far as legal practice was concerned he used to take up cases very rarely, only such cases as involved the interests of public at large or the cases on behalf of the hapless and poor persons who were being subjected to injustice. In the process, however, he never charged even a single rupee as fee.
When Sardarji was unable to get any advocate engaged from Samba, somebody suggested him to approach Thakur saheb who readily agreed after hearing the details of his case. The other party was surprised on seeing the Thakur appearing against the collective body of Mandi residents. Actually people in Hiranagar were polarized on caste lines and it was often interpreted that Brahmins were aligned with Dogra and Rajputs were for Thakur. So the residents of the Mandi had erroneously thought that he would not come forward to appear against the interests of his own Baradari. In fact Thakur, like any other person in public life, didn’t appreciate being identified with any social group. Majority of the members in the Mandir committee were sensible and remained calm. But some of them were slowwitted and started making various remarks against Thakur when he was arguing the case. They contended as to how a Hindu could oppose the interests of a temple, why he was appearing against the interests of his own Baradari and the like. Thakur tolerated this for some time but when water started flowing over his head, he exploded against them. Was it essential, he asserted, that an advocate didn’t appear against the people of his Baradari and further told them that it was the duty of a Rajput to come to the help of a person in distress. Exchange of hot words gradually took an ugly turn and the hot tempered Thakur also reacted and even readied himself for grappling with the group single handedly.
My staff members had a tough time to quieten them. The case was got transferred from me thereafter to some other court and the parties might have arrived at some compromise after my transfer.
Such incidents provide a food for thought to all the people who are in public life that they should stand for justice like Thakur Baldev Singh instead of looking after the interests of their near and dear ones. Appearing for a person to whom no other advocate could muster courage to represent, was a commendable gesture on his part. He forgot that the person for whom he was appearing had been nourished on communist ideology, an anathema to his own party and that the people against whom he was appearing belonged to his own Baradari. He stood for justice, for his professional ethics and vociferously defended his right to appear for an aggrieved person. It goes without saying that societies run smoothly only if the people engaged in the public affairs perform their duties in a nonpartisan manner and rise above the political, communal and sectarian considerations.
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