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What
is currently being witnessed is total defiance of the decisions/orders given by
the Supreme Court. While the Apex Court takes its own time to examine a matter
threadbare to arrive at the bottom of the problem to look for a solution and
then gives its well considered decision it is the political class that tries
its best to nullify it. They do not try to do so by taking the legal route
available to them. Instead, they try to create political opposition against it.
Rallies and demonstrations, more often than not violent, are used to neutralise
the decisions of the Apex Court. This is nothing but high-handedness of
political parties which, having failed to convince the benches of multiple
judges of the Supreme Court, decide to carry through their point of view by
sheer mobocracy and its power of muscles and vocal chords. A few illustrative cases are mentioned below.
The
judgment of the Supreme Court in respect of entry of women in the Sabarimala
shrine is a glaring example in this regard. On 28th September last a
five judge Bench of the Supreme Court lifted the ban on entry of women of
menstrual age in the shrine. While the Kerala Government refused to file a
review petition the BJP and Congress parties held rallies and demonstrations
against the judgment. While the judgment trumped the tradition, politics was
trying to nullify rationality. But then BJP’s far right is upholder of
tradition and is against all kinds of rational thinking in so far as Hindu
religion is concerned. Its fringe elements have gone and even killed
rationalists and, from all evidences, were preparing to kill some more if they
chanced upon an opportunity.
But,
the Congress party’s opposition to the judgment is somewhat inexplicable unless
it is viewed from a political perspective. It seems, BJP got a headstart in
consolidating Hindu votes by siding with the conservative Hindu opposition to
the judgment. For Congress to support the Hindu conservatism, though seemingly
retrograde, seemed to be pragmatic as otherwise BJP would run away with all the
Hindu votes. It was politics at its worst that dictated the Congress action, in
the process, trying to label the Supreme Court as the fall guy.
Strangely,
while the Congress has been blaming the BJP for the murders of rationalists it
seems to be averse to go with the cold logic and reason of the five-judge bench
of the Supreme Court. The Kerala government of the Left Democratic Front has,
however, stood firm in not submitting a review petition despite severe pressure
on it to do so. At the same time, it could not enforce the Court’s judgment as
several women aged between 10 and 50 years were forcibly prevented from getting
to the shrine. The protesters not only stopped them at the foot of the sacred
hill, they were also intimidated and threatened of bodily harm if they tried to
enter the shrine. A judgment that was rational at its core was not allowed to
be implemented by politicians.
Another
such matter was recently highlighted when as many as 23 lions of the Gir National
Park died, some of them of infection of Canine Distemper Virus (CDV). Gir of
late had been overpopulated and some of the lions had had to migrate out of the
protected area. Repeated reports were received of lions being sighted even as
far as in coastal Kathawad, for example in Diu.
The population of lions in Gir seems to have
exploded. When the Supreme Court handed down its decision in 2013 to move some
of the Asiatic lions to Kuno Palpur in Madhya Pradesh their numbers were around
450. Now some sources say that they have crossed the 600 mark. Perhaps that is
why they are moving out of the protected area and at some places are sharing
spaces with feral dogs infected with CDV.
With
the death of as many as 11 lions on account of CDV the matter relating to the translocating
some lions to Madhya Pradesh has again gained traction after five years of the
judgment of the Apex Court. One cannot deny that in this matter it is the
Gujarat Government that has been the spoilsport The court had clearly stated
that it was not a matter of lions being “members of family” in Gujarat and nor
was it a matter of Gujarat “asmita” (pride), it was pure and simple a matter of
protecting a species that was teetering at the edge of a precipice. An
infection of severe kind that once overtook the African lion could wipe out the
entire population at Gir, hence the order for moving some of the lions to Kuno
Palpur.
This
is a strange case where a state government has been stalling the implementation
of orders of the highest court. The proposition for shifting some of the lions
to Kuno was made more than two decades ago after which various environmental
norms were checked and whatever was wanting was even provided. The MP
government made the Kuno Palpur Sanctuary fit enough to receive the lions. It
shifted people from 24 villages some of whom were unhappy with the land that
they got in exchange as it was rocky and dry unlike what they had in Kuno. Yet,
all the troubles of the villagers would seem to have been for no reason as relocation
of the lions never materialized on account of the intransigence of the Gujarat
Government that was headed by Narendra Modi. Later the Central Ministry of
Environment and Climate Change soft-pedalled implementation of the Supreme
Court, presumably, under his direction as he later became the Prime Minister.
This case exemplifies how politicians play around with the orders of the Apex
Court as also the lives of the poor villagers besides having no regard for the
future of a rare species which is at the cusp of extinction. What they are
after is only votes.
There
is another vital matter in so far as our democracy is concerned which was
adjudicated upon by the Apex Court as far back as 2006 but its decision remains
unimplemented A petition filed by one Prakash Singh and others had made
submissions for Police reforms as the departments in India were being run as
political fiefdoms under the antiquated law of 1861. The result has been
running the Police by governments at the centre and in the states under a law
that was enacted by the colonial masters and had no element of democratic
traditions built into it. Prakash Singh, one of the petitioners, had as a
former director general of police experienced use of the Police Force for the
vested interests of the ruling political class. Whether it is investigations
into crime, transfers and postings of police officers or their appointments
against sensitive posts or even appointments at the very top level of the
Police administration the political class always keeps its own interests in
view. Law and order has therefore would seem to have been hijacked in favour of
those who happen to be in power
.
The much needed change needs to be ushered in
but it has to be ushered in by the politicians who have much to lose were they
to do so. Hence despite a lapse of more than a decade after the judgment and a
plethora of reports of committees and commissions at the central and state
levels the situation remains as it was when the writ petition was filed.
It
is needless to emphasise that the orders of the Apex Court need to be viewed
with respect and any consistent disregard of them would make our democracy
vulnerable to oligarchy and the professions of democratic norms in the
Constitution will remain unfulfilled. People have to remain alert and prevent
the situation from crossing the tipping point.
28th
October 2018
Photo ; from internet
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