Don’t Make an Ass of the Law
‘Don’t make an ass of the law,’ the Supreme Court recently told the police. The immediate provocation for the reproach was the failure of the police to arrest and put behind bars a person who had been convicted for throwing acid on several persons four months ago. His conviction by the trial court had been confirmed by the High Court, but the accused was roaming free.
The number of such cases may be small, but there are a large number of people in this country, who succeed in getting away free after committing crime. This happens not because our norms of justice are very high but because our standards of enforcement and delivery of justice are very low. In some cases, FIRs are not registered; in others, investigations are not done properly and then there are a large number of cases, which keep on languishing in courts, finally ending in acquittals. Conviction rate in any case has been consistently declining.
The police of course deserve the admonition, as there have been many cases, even if not of the type mentioned above, where they have made an ass not only of the law but also of themselves. The biased, dishonest and incompetent enforcement of the law by the police has often dented their image badly in the country.
The police, however, are not the only ones who have not played the game with professional competence. So many others are equally or probably more guilty
Of the three main pillars, the judiciary enjoys the highest prestige even now; but can they escape the blame in this regard? The courts are enormously slow in deciding cases. Consequently, the pendency of cases under trial has become alarmingly huge. The judiciary may not be solely responsible for this problem, but they have not often shown enough concern for the fact that justice delayed makes as much an ass of the law as justice denied. No case has made a bigger ass of the law as the Bhopal gas tragedy and the judiciary is as much to be blamed for this as other institutions and authorities.
Two days after the Supreme Court rapped the police knuckles for letting the accused remain free even after conviction, they found to their dismay that High Courts in the country had stayed proceedings even in many heinous crimes, like, murder, rape, kidnapping and dacoity. Of the 2280 such cases stayed by them,1021 were those of murder, 492 of rape, 550 of kidnapping and 207 of dacoity. As many as 41% of the total number had been pending for 2 to 6 years and 8 % for more than 8 years. Of a total of 178 cases pending for more than 6 years, 91 were those of murder. Once the cases are stayed by the high courts, they remain in limbo for long, allowing the accused in many cases to remain at large on bail
The most dominant group that has brazenly and shamelessly broken the law with impunity is that of politicians. In power, they have succeeded in manipulating the system to serve their partisan and selfish interests in complete disregard of the law of the land. They have made an ass of the law even when they are out of power. This is the time when the police become efficient and arrest them. The response is immediate. They proclaim their innocence loudly, claiming themselves to be martyrs or victims of political witch hunt. Because of the poor image of the police, the public sometimes tend to accept their protestations as true.
It is not merely the entry of people with criminal backgrounds into politics that has been responsible for frequent violations of law. It is the way the political culture has evolved in this country, resulting in devaluation of political and administrative institutions and dismantling of value based politics that has promoted a climate in which it becomes easier to make an ass of the law and get away with it.
Failure of law to bring its violators to account is seen more in cases of crimes or law and order disturbances that are mass based. The anti Sikh riots of 1984, the communal bloodbath in Gujarat in 2002 and the Bombay riots of 1902-03 are some examples that immediately come to mind. Charges against Sajjan Kumar are yet to be framed 26 years after the carnage on Delhi roads.
The bureaucrats have not been far behind in treating the law as an ass. Rathore’s is not the only case of its kind; one can cite numerous other instances from recent history. Besides their proximity to politicians in power, there are at least three main provisions in law that have come very handy to bureaucrats to beat the law. The Central Vigilance Commission’s website shows a large number of officers who were found guilty after inquiry or investigation but who remained unscathed because the government did not accord sanction to prosecute them. Forget about prosecution; the Single Directive does not even allow the CBI to register cases against officers of the rank of Joint Secretary and above without government’s permission. Even when inquiry is done and prosecution sanction is given, there is a provision that allows the state to withdraw a case from the court. The central as well as the state governments have often used this provision of law to bail out their loved ones, the most recent example being that of Satish Sharma.
Thus many individuals, parties and agencies in this country have worked to defeat the law of the land. We have probably not yet realized that whenever we make an ass of the law, we damage our own image and esteem as a people.
