Laws to protect the protected?

So a niece, lured by all the promises of a blissfully contended modern life by being a proud owner of an iPhone 14Pro, decided to 'not so smartly' and allegedly took her aunt's debit cards to purchase her ticket to freedom. Unfortunately, the long arms of the law had caught up with her. Her long march through the corridors of justice in handcuffs excites the journalist of the country's premier newspaper. Of course, nobody in the country will have the gravitas to question the need to handcuff a petty thief. Even someone who allegedly squandered the nation's sovereign and turned the country into an international embarrassment still cat-walked these same corridors flashing his branded suits, dressed to the nines uncuffed.

That is the thing about the law. The law and enforcements target the commoner. Paradoxically, the legal hierarchy is there to protect the high-heeled. Wealth can ease the path to procure all the lawful representation money can buy. If a person fails to obtain an acquittal, have no fear. The higher courts are at your disposal, with all the robed sharks demanding an arm or a leg to give you a clean chit. At an even higher loot, at an even higher court, if retrial should fail, experts to the experts can be summoned with much pomp and splendour to tear up the charge sheet.

A poor man can just pray for a miracle, an early discharge for good behaviour and God's grace at heaven's gate or purgatory.

With 160 criminal charges, they still
won elections and graced the august
house of democracy.

The recent triad type of killing of a gangster turned politician, Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf while under police custody in Prayagraj opened a can of worms of the politico-law enforcement- electoral machinery-mafia unholy union, at least in India. I think this web of deceit is confined to third-world countries, banana republics, and even mature democracies. Just that the mainstream media is quick to quash such bad publicity of their own nation but is super efficient in highlighting other countries as a Wild West.

Over the years, through mishaps and experience, government offices have secured a safety mechanism to ensure transparency, efficiency and accountability. Many checks and balances have been instituted towards this end. An honest leader will follow the pre-set path of prosperity, the primary aim of the nation's and citizens' well-being. Their tenure is limited, and they have to stamp their legacy in a short time. Undoubtedly, there would be backstabbers who would wait to pull their rug under your feet anytime, jealous the leader had beaten him to the post. Honey-trapping, freebies and lure to corruption would be red-carpeted for the weak-hearted to fall into. Keeping all this in mind, a leader who had gone through the rank and file would know how to protect himself. The system itself would ensure no hanky-panky is easy to carry out.

If not for opposition to bringing in foreign lawyers, bigwigs from Queen's
Counsel would be sauntering haughtily along our corridors of native justice.

With all these safety nets in place, it is challenging to unknowingly earn himself a corruption charge. Is it wrong for me to assume that a leader charged with criminal breach of people's trust is guilty unless proven otherwise? With all the dos and don'ts at their disposal, and the law feels there is a case for the leader to answer, what do you make out of all these? Small fries, sharks, and whales are surfacing with their petrifying shenanigans.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

So much for 'rule of law'!

420 IPC (Hindi; 2021)

Director: Manish Gupta

So that is how it is. Everybody claims to be adhering to the rule of law. For a simpleton like me, that sounds like sound advice. The law is there to protect the little people against the tyranny of the deep-pocketed. I was nurtured to believe that the Truth will always prevail in the end. Lady Justice is supposedly blind to coercion, they say. As I grew older, I realised that all these are just bunkum. 

The people who frequently invoke the phrases 'rule of law' and 'by the book' do not mean what they say. What they actually mean is that they have masterminded the nooks, corners and loopholes in the legal system that they can literally get away with murder. They can legitimately proclaim that they can legally needle themselves away from being caught in a comprising position. They have got all their sides, frontal and posterior, all concealed.

When and if ever they are queried, they have the fortitude to use the same law used to persecute them to shield themselves instead. No matter how hard truth tries to prevail, nothing can challenge the best brain that wealth can purchase. The way law can be interpreted as much as the defender can afford to pay. Top dollars can buy top lawyers. 

Law is written, and its execution is as good as the words and nuances it is written. Words can be manipulated. The first teachers of this art were the sophists. Greek philosophers like Socrates and Plato did not have any nice things to say about them. They were viewed as prostituting themselves by selling the art of speaking and providing wisdom to convince the impossible. They must be the first to have sold ice to the Eskimos.  

This is an engaging film about a seemingly small-scaled chartered accountant, Bansi Keswani, who is initially arrested when his client is caught for money laundering. He is discharged, but Bansi is re-arrested for stealing some cheques two months later. This time around, he has to face the whole brunt of the law. Why would an intelligent accountant do something so amateurish like stealing cheques and falsifying the issuer's signature in such a novice way? The defence digs deep into his sleeves and all roads plainly seem to lead Bansi to a lengthy jail term.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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