Skimming through the
television, completely oblivious of the world outside, I arrived at a news
channel with “Breaking News” flashing at the bottom of the screen. A policeman
returning home on a motorcycle gets hacked by five goons, but he wasn’t the
intended target. In a case of mistaken identity, the goons left him to die in
the middle of the road. A few moments later a troop of government vehicles
passed by and stopped before the wounded officer. A politician and a bunch of
his police bodyguards got out of their vehicles, not to help but only gaze at
the stream of blood flowing from his body. The scene was far more gruesome than
even a Quentin Tarantino film. Time was ticking; the onlookers didn’t budge
while the helpless soul cried in agony. Gradually, one of the bodyguards
stepped up to help his ‘Brother in arms’, but it was too little too late as the
officer died on the way to the hospital.
This is a sad but true
story, which goes to show that people would rather watch such a grim spectacle
than do anything about it, even when it comes to a politician who has 24 hour
security mainly comprising of policemen but wouldn’t bother returning the
favour. These are the kind of people that tarnish the image of our nation,
these are the people we trust with our money, our security, our laws and hence
our lives.
Let’s face it, getting
justice in this country is rare even though how strong and independent the jury
may be. Conviction rates are extremely low and procedures overshadow the
objectives. Cases are ‘open and shut’ which take ages with shifting theories,
but then again there are relatively simple cases that never get solved and no
one is ever held responsible. According to the RTI, there are nearly 30 million
cases pending that it is impossible for them to get concluded in one’s lifetime
and by the time the judgement is done, the damage has already been done. This
shocking reality suggests that we’d rather not have any judicial system in
place. Justice must prevail rapidly, be definite and not forgotten like most cases
in our country.
Though the judges are being let off because of lack of
"prosecutable evidence", the findings of the probe could jolt those
who play down the growing instance of irregularities in judiciary, saying the
phenomenon is limited to lower rungs. ( Mahapatra 1 )
The above citation is
quite ironic as the judges themselves are being tried and let off due to the
lack of “prosecutable evidence”. This was a case where CBI probe into the
fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 6.58 crore from the provident fund accounts of
class-III and IV employees in the Ghaziabad district court, has found a former
Supreme Court judge along with 23 other sitting and retired judges of Allahabad
high court and lower courts guilty of misdemeanour. Had our judicial system
been concrete, politicians, judges and ‘lastly’ criminals, wouldn’t be awarded
with such impunity.
Law enforcers quite fit
the bill too for an unjust society in our nation. Majorly known for taking
bribes, these ‘protectors of the law’ neither know the laws nor are empowered
to fine or arrest. Their major chunk of livelihood comes from ‘donations’ from
citizens like us. They often treat crime scenes as a joke, where hordes of
onlookers and dozens of cops look around without a clue as to what to do, like
the incident I mentioned in the beginning. Effective law formulation,
enforcement and swift justice are strong foundations for a just society. It
then finally comes down to us as law abiding citizens, we bring this injustice
upon us by simply bribing and skimming our way through just so we wouldn’t have
to attend half a day in court and pay a hefty fine.
Another reason as to
why society in India remains unjust 60 years after independence is because of its
stratification. In this world of economic development, growth and competition,
where money is power and power is success, the rich seem to ‘steal’ the
limelight while leaving the poor in the shadows. The motive of profit has
formed a narrow minded society and selfishness has surpassed selflessness by
miles. The rich may dream of fabulous lives consisting of a fleet of the
world’s best cars, biggest mansions, high end designer clothes and most importantly
lavish parties accompanied by a troop of friends mainly consisting of
celebrities, but remain completely oblivious of the poverty outside their
luxurious bubble. According to statistics 75 percent of India’s population
manages to survive under $2 a day. We may be progressing when it comes to
making millionaires but regressing when it comes to eradicating poverty.
This also goes to show
that capitalism is merely an extension of feudalism as all the power and wealth
floats on the top while at the bottom, the poor obtain nothing. It seems that
society has gotten increasingly stratified post economic liberalisation in
India. An economic policy that caters only to the rich, justifies the feeling
of discontentment among the poor. It’s almost as if we’ve been thrown back to
age of the kings, landlords and discrimination on the basis of caste. Post
Independence, India is back to where it started from, to society in which the
rich shop in malls, relax in gyms and spas, while the poor live in utmost
destitute surroundings, send their children to work and can’t afford health
care. Unsurprisingly, this stratification has led to discontentment amongst the
poor.
Naxalites have emerged
as a radical group, that pose threat to the nation’s national security, simply
due to the fact that their living conditions deteriorate as they watch the
world around them flourish. Such movements we could say are a natural outcome
of an unjust society. This stratification of society has led to a ‘dog eat dog
world’ situation.
Certainly we are not
animals; we have been gifted with consciousness. Neither are we machines,
programmed and encoded, but we chose to be both. Society functions on a one
track mind on a daily bases. Most people want to get in a prestigious college
only because the college is recognized. This is the main criteria students look
for now days and not for the quality of education. This is a sheep like
attitude, as they just want to go wherever the heard goes. Then we behave like
machines with our famous quote being “this happens all the time”. Whenever we
witness social injustice in front of our eyes, the above quote is used by most
of us. We would complain all day about injustices in society rather than
finding a solution to prevent them. It is we who have to be the change we want
to see in society.
It is our duty to get
rid of these blemishes so that the world can witness India’s two thousand year
old, outstanding multicultural society.
I
tell them that if they would only read the
Mahabharata and the Ramayana
study the
Golden Ages of the
Mauryas and the Guptas and even of those Muslim chaps the Mughals, they would
realize that India is not an underdeveloped country but a highly developed one
in a state of decay. ( Tharoor
17 )
Let’s face it, everyone
wants an ideal society, but gradually we have come to realize that it is
extremely impossible have a utopian society. No one person is ever perfect,
since society is made up of individuals with different personalities, there
will be inherent imperfection. We as people are so different in our view points
and beliefs, that we tend to honour and defend what we believe in. This tends
to form groups with similar beliefs who end up arguing with groups that are
different. This eventually leads to violence. India is democratic and secular
country; it has many political parties who always end up blaming and arguing
with each other and then there are diverse religions that end up pelting stones
at each other. The reality is that most
societies are unjust whether it is China who kill their own people or India who
force their people to kill themselves, here the only difference being that
while China gets condemned, India gets pity plus charity which is extremely
ironic as the deed is the same. This goes to show that India is definitely not
a just society and what we can only do is prevent our society from social
injustices.
Works Cited
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