Dignity and equality in the
courts of justice…
Today, December 10, is the Human Rights Day! It was 65
years ago the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was to
ensure that ‘all human beings are born free and equal in terms of dignity and
rights.’ It is no one’s gift, but every one’s birthright by the very fact that
we are born human. And the agency to ensure is every government worth the name.
Social action groups and movements have struggled all
along to see it a reality and of course the judiciary has accordingly asked the
concerned governments to defend and fulfill those rights, especially of the
vulnerable and marginalized.
India, all along was supportive of this great instrument,
and ensured it through its very Constitution. However, the scenario is not that
satisfactory, especially with its still colonial bureaucracy and police. But it
is glaringly poor in the very judiciary, which should have championed it. Why
at all the judiciary prefer to be more equal? The court, the salutations, the
dress code and the very conduct of the court is ‘unquestionably’ more colonial
and feudal still! [The Hindu, Opinion, ‘Making human rights a reality’ by K. G.
Balakrishnan, Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission and former Chief
Justice of India, Tuesday, December 10,
2013].
The language still remains to be that of 19th or
18th centuries’! A court officer, the lawyer can’t say that he ‘understands
the point the judge is making.’ This would be rude, if not contempt. He is
expected to ‘appreciate what falls from his lordship!’ [The Hindu, Open Page, ‘Will
the judges smile please?’, by Neerad Pandharipande, Sunday, December 8, 2013]
Who won’t be enthralled before beauty, truth and justice? It has to be natural
and not demanded for any reason whatsoever. Judicial officers seem to demand,
go to the extent of threatening or suggesting ‘contempt’! It is a clear sign
that they don’t deserve it. It is like ‘empty vessels making noise!’ Respect
has to be commanded by one’s noble behavior and wisdom rather than demanded in
the name of any office held. It is not a place of intimidation, but one of
justice, of equal justice for that matter and dignity due to every human being
which the courts of justice are bound to ensure more than any other government
machinery.
To conclude, let me quote K. G. Balakrishnan in the above
opinion, ‘The splendor of human rights has to be maintained with nobility and
glory. There cannot be any wearing down of values, deterioration of quality or
any cobwebs in the procedure.’ It is high time that judiciary ‘sheds some of
its more obsolete baggage and takes a look at its lighter side’ for the comfort
of all who come seeking justice from their vexed problems and the dispensers of
justice who are otherwise in a self-imposed cell of ‘decorum’. (panky 10th
Dec 2013).
