Constitution makers made judiciary independent to ensure that these higher ideals were made a reality. An independent judicial system was created with the sole purpose of delivering justice to all- irrespective of their status or positions. Unfortunately, that is not the case today. Today’s Justice for all is absent and conditions are more akin to early twentieth century India, writes former IAS officer V.S.Pandey
Recently, the Supreme Court while hearing a bail petition in a money laundering matter, said that prosecutors have to be fair and just and should not be bound by directions from above. The Supreme Court’s observations are in tune with an established fact that the prosecutor has to be fair and just as he is an administrator of justice, and he ought to be a zealous advocate, and an officer of the court. The prosecutor’s office should exercise sound discretion and independent judgment in the performance of the prosecution.
Undoubtedly the primary duty of the prosecutor is to seek justice within the bounds of the law, not merely to convict. The prosecutor ought to serve the public interest and should act with integrity and balanced judgment to augment public safety both by pursuing appropriate criminal charges of requisite severity, and by exercising discretion to not pursue criminal charges in appropriate circumstances. The prosecutor should seek to protect the innocent and convict the guilty, consider the interests of victims and witnesses, and respect the constitutional and legal rights of all persons.
The courts have to be constantly vigilant to prevent injustice and should always be fair, honest and judicious in deciding cases. Stating the obvious is unnecessary. Eternal maxims like Honesty is the best policy, truth always triumphs , ever remain the guiding principles for humanity irrespective of whether the people follow them or ignore them . Our constitution’s core principle “equality before law and equal protection of law” are a corollary to humanity’s eternal principle “Live and let live” unlike the chaotic rule of the jungle where only the fittest has the right to survive. Constitution makers made judiciary independent to ensure that these higher ideals were made a reality. An independent judicial system was created with the sole purpose of delivering justice to all- irrespective of their status or positions. Unfortunately, that is not the case today. Today’s Justice for all is absent and conditions are more akin to early twentieth century India.
Gandhi ji in his writings and public speeches remained a bitter critic of Indian courts and lawyers. He resonates even today. He believed that Indian justice system rewarded the wealthy and compounded the miseries of the poor (it seems he is writing about the Indian judicial system of today). Gandhi ji kept exhorting lawyers to place “truth and service” above the perks of the profession. He was also extremely critical about the monstrous fees a lawyer charges a client- which still remains largely unregulated in India. There is a growing demand for a law to regulate hefty fees charged by the lawyers but there is no headway.
As far back as 1909, Mahatma Gandhi ji had slammed lawyers in his book, Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule, for encouraging litigations and prolonging them. He stressed that lawyers must promote reconciliation. Gandhi ji blamed lawyers for giving legitimacy to the accusation against Indians that “they love quarrels and courts, as fish love water.” He doesn’t stop here in his scathing criticism. In his book “Hind Swaraj”, he goes on to say: “Men take up that profession, not in order to help others out of their miseries, but to enrich them. It is one of the avenues of becoming wealthy and their interest exists in multiplying disputes. It is within my knowledge that they are glad when men have disputes. Petty pleaders actually manufacture them. Their touts, like many leeches, suck the blood of the poor people.”
The ethical crux of the lawyers primary duty, as our father of nation Gandhi ji defined it was that “The duty of a lawyer is always to place facts before the judges, and to help them to arrive at, the truth, never to prove the guilty as innocent. Many unconscientious lawyers are willing to go any lengths to oblige their affluent clients.” According to him –“Lawyers are men who have little to do. Lazy people, in order to indulge in luxuries, take up such professions. It is the lawyers who have discovered that theirs is an honorable profession. They frame laws as they frame their own praises. They decide what fees they will charge and they put on so much side that poor people almost consider them to be heaven-born,” Gandhiji adds.
In his weekly journal, Young India dated October , 1920, Gandhi warned that justice must not be a luxury of the rich. “Law courts are probably the most extravagantly run. I have some knowledge of the scale in England, a fair knowledge of the Indian and an intimate knowledge of the South African. I have no hesitation in saying that the Indian system is comparatively the most extravagant and bears no relation to the general economic condition of the people. There is something sinful in a system under which it is possible for a lawyer to earn lakhs of rupees per month.”
He believed that -“It is not legislation that will cure a popular evil. It is enlightened public opinion that can do: “A law can touch the body, but not the mind. The mind can be touched only by love and persuasion.”
Have people in power, now and even then , ever pondered over this appalling state of our judicial system and the rot that has set in the legal profession and amongst those manning benches ? Many nations have improved their justice delivery system to the satisfaction of their citizenry, why didn’t we? It’s not rocket science that is needed to improve the situation. Sadly our law makers and potentates are busy feathering their own nests by dividing people on caste and religious lines and reaping bumper “electoral crops”, along with total indifference and neglect of the miserable conditions of crores and crores of our citizens. Isn’t it time to resolve and give every man his due by removing the humungous obstacle and mother of all ills – this rotten immoral political system? Being silent about rampant injustices, we, the people, are complicit in this unfair extortionate system too.
(Vijay Shankar Pandey is former Secretary Government of India)
