Part 3

The loftiest promise made to the Indians in their bulky and exhaustive Constitution was JUSTICE. As such, despite its terminological antiquity, Justice is a relatively new concept for mankind. Perusal of human political and social history,does not exhibit any civilization or society which had the right cannons of justice. On the other hand, the history of mankind repletes with instances of exploitation of the weak and the poor. At best, justice was for the rich, famous and the powerful people. Man has been subject to indescribable injustice inflicted by political leadership, guardians of religions, wealthy and socially influential people.Societies all through the recorded history, but for some exceptions, were violent and cruel in character. In the process of social evolution some nations in the world, of course, have been able to minimize this inherent violent and cruel characters of their societies. But the extraordinary burden of competition has again deprived the citizens of these counties to rank low in their happiness quotient. Then what was this grand design of Justice the creators of our Constitution had in their mind for the common, ordinary, and inconsequential citizens of this country? To my knowledge, the process of Justice in our country has three arms-- the police administration/ investigative agencies, the legal professionals and the judiciary. In today's context which one of these three arms is common man friendly with unblemished sanctity. Of late, media -- the fourth column of democracy, has apparently become responsive to human rights and justice. But in their over enthusiasm and to be ahead in the competition, some media houses overstep their jurisdiction and encroach into the areas of judiciary. Undoubtedly, their wide penetration into society has made them a formidable force to swing opinion and pass judgement before trial.This indisputably is a disturbing trend, due to the power swing which can result in rampant corruption. However, a powerful press with integrity could be a good hope for the common man. Who does not know about the corruption in our police and investigative departments. They rank at the top of the corrupt organisations in our country. Police in any civilized society plays a pivotal role in providing attributive, retributive and distributive justice to the people. Therefore, the image of a police man has to be trustworthy and upright. Does any Indian cherish such an image about our police men? Police is for the influential, for the rich and for the powerful. This seemingly incorrigible corrupt police administration in our country has made our quest for justice, a far cry. If by mistake you cross their path, they have enough arsenal to make you miserable for rest of your life. They are not unaware about inefficiency and other aspects of our judiciary. Sometimes ago I shuddered to read in the news papers about the ten most corrupt Chief Justices of India. What a shame. A man sitting on the chair of a judge is vested with the power of God to decide the course of destiny of a person and consequently the destiny of a society. Do we not often hear about the corruption in judiciary? Do we not become victims of the rich, influential and powerful people and wait indefinitely to get justice ruining our peace, happiness, financial standing and what not? And the justice may ultimately come after decades of miseries, at a cost or may not come at all. ( to be continued)