Unless you know, how can you handle

  In the intervening night between 2 and 3 December 1984 a historical industrial disaster was taken place at Bhopal of Madhya Pradesh. Since then after every anniversary we have been commemorating the day as the 'Bhopal day'. People of Bhopal used to make demonstrations while industries across India have been observing the day for venting out their feelings. Legal battle is still continuing even after a lapse of 29 years.
   On this during dead of night a chemical named Phosgene in liquid form leaked out from a mild steel tank. That chemical when got contact with carelessly left floor washing water left on the work floor got converted into methyl isocyanate(MIC) gas. That gas gradually became air-borne and started picking the wind direction. Since the gas was little heavier than air, being air-borne defused across the locality up to few kilometers distance. Persons who were asleep in that zone were seriously affected or died. Those who were travelling on road got severe eye irritation. In that incident, almost 3000 civilians died and several thousands were affected to various degrees. Steel today many people are suffering its after effects.
   All chemicals have specific properties and needs specific storage and handling techniques. With rapid technological development, thousands of new research and developed chemicals are surfacing every now and then, while most of its users are procuring and using those without knowing its physical, chemical, lethal characteristics and its antidotes, but with their technical names. Freon is one of the widely used refrigerants used in house hold refrigerators. Very few people know that if after its leak from their instrument comes in contact with electric spark, it would produce Phosgene. Unless you know, how can you handle? Hence 'Bhopal Day' is rather was an 'Ignorance day'.
   Phosgene is incompatible with water. If the workers would have been made aware of that, the sweeper or the floor supervisor would not have left water on that floor. It is common sense that, if polluted air is blowing in one direction people should take the other way. Since MIC is water soluble persons could have drenched their cloth and covering their face with a wet cloth they could have safely gone to a safer place. As per law the user has to disclose such information to the administration and to the local public. But as per common sense everybody should know these basic safety tips. Nobody did their duty with due diligence and reaped the dreaded consequence.
  At the aftermath, passing buck on others is hypocrisy. People generally take the easier path to learn by experience. The post disastrous scenario could have been minimal, had proper emergency measure taken by all concerned. No businessman will venture for any culpable homicide unless he has any criminal intent. It is not wise to call the factory owner a killer. Fault was lying with everybody. The burning example is the recent management of Phaillin scenario by the state and the general public who were educated by experience from the Super cyclone during 1999.Let us at least be educated by experience to become a Conesus citizen without accusing others.
   

  When a link is weak the chain is weak

    It is believed that the Democracy in India stands on four legs. They are 'The Legislature', 'Administration', 'The Judiciary" and the "Media’. These four legs used to complement and supplement each other. When any of the legs becomes weak it causes an imbalance in the set up. What is being observed now, all legs are becoming weak.
    The legislature is being handled by the elected representatives. Since they are pulled out from the common men they may not be experts. Hence the administration which is handled by the properly trained persons is to interpret the required legislative intentions behind legislation and accordingly enforce the same. Since administration works through a system, there may be certain deviations from the desired principles of law. The third leg, the Judiciary then comes to picture which interpret the law.
   The common men who are in the society used to bear the brunt of the administration use to franchise their right of information and right to speech through the Media. Even though the persons in Media are not paid servants of the state they are regarded as a part of the democratic system of governance and is understood as the fourth leg for keeping equilibrium in the system. There is a Press council of India which regulates this body in the country. The persons working in this noble profession are believed to be the 'vox populi" of the state and are expected to be of truthful integrity.
   Persons in the administration and legislature are likely to be corrupt due to their wielded powers in their scope of functions. But it is unfortunate to see the persons from the judiciary and the media in that ship. As far as out of the way pecuniary gains are concerned it is the duty of the state to bring them home. But when they encroach into criminality, it becomes intolerable for the society. In such cases they should be treated as malignant in the society, who ever and whatever personality they have been holding.
   Sexual harassment at work place was there in our society. But after the entry of brave and educated women into the professional fields, the scenario has changed with the promulgation of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act which brands such act as crime. Similarly after the gang rape and murder of a medico student on 16th December 2012,The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 the scope and definition of rape and also the punishments thereof have been stringent.
    The amended Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, that provide protection to women in unorganised and organised sectors including the private sector, has now a wider arm to catch more worms after The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act,2013 has come into force from April 2013.Like US system the women have been empowered to complain on past events whenever they feel proper. The Retired Supreme Court Justice A.K.Ganguli and Tehelka   Editor-in-Chief, Tarun Tejpal are the new catches under the Act after Asharam Bapu and his Son Narayan Sai.
    All the cases are similar in nature. But the time of their occurrence varies from few weeks back to years back. In all the cases the accused persons are big shots. But Tejpal is from media while the Justice is from the judiciary. Both of them are from the legs of democracy. While police handles Tejpals   case  the Justice case is being handled by no other than the Chief Justice of India. It is quite natural that the accused will always plead him innocent. But they have to prove that too. These cases are sensitive to the society. Let us wait for the judicial findings in these cases. If the accused are found to have a trace of involvement we demand the harshest punishment for them owing to their statures to be examples for our future generation.
   One should remember that the strength of a chain is equal to the strength of the weakest link in that chain. To make the chain strong the weakest links need to be discarded. Odd men in Judiciary or the media now forms the weakest links in our societal chain that are needed to be discarded from the society.
    But if the allegations are not proved then, the very amendment laws are further amended with a limitation clause depending on the severity of trauma with the victim. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 is gender sensitive. It may take the turn like the Domestic Violence Act which is in real life is no gender sensitive. Cruelty happens to the husbands. Wives are now entering syndicate crime to kill their husbands. Hence the amended acts need wide spread debate for an amicable solution.
   

Women empowering or engendering?

 In our government many plans are hyped as aimed for empowerment of women. Plethora of regulations is being made or amended every now and then for empowering women and control atrocities against them, may it be in the social or professional environment. This particular move has been inherited from our religion which is based on patriarchal school of thought.
    Our ancestors have given sermon that a woman cannot survive without a support like that of creepers or poetry. On her childhood she will depend on her father or brother, on her youth she will depend on her husband and on her old age she will depend on her son. It is ridiculous. When you arrive on this earth you were nourished on your mother`s lap who is a female. How you will turn into her support. She has cultivated you, and you are simply her crop. Where the critical point came from which you turn into a support?
     Our religion sermones the society to pay regards to the woman. Government stresses on woman empowerment. Our religion also advocates engendering the endangered ones. It means our ancestors have compared women as an endangered species like certain animals or birds. Our government and NGOs are  used to audit how much has been done for the empowerment of women as a part of their audit. This implies that our basic assumption is women are weak and need active support.
    Let me be clear at the outset. I am submitting below my personal views on this issue. Scientifically females have a pure dNa in x-x chromosomes, while the male have x-y chromosomes which is a mixed one. Therefore metabolically females are having more resistance capacity than those of males. Literally the word “male" is lapped in the word"FE-male".The word "man" is lapped in the word "WO-man”. When a man is addressed as "he" a female is addressed as "S-he”. Where from the idea came that woman is a weaker sex?
    Character-wise women are brave internally. The moment an enemy attack her loving one she would jump to fight. But the reverse is not true. The male will think to save his skin first. Hence women are not born hypocrite.
Women are strong minded, self esteemed, caring, considerate and respectful to the respected ones. They have enormous mental confidence and comparatively have more intelligence than males.
    The society as well as the parents should rise to the occasion and awake their girl child of their real prowess. Their mindset should be rebuilt from their childhood. Telling them that she is a girl and an inferior sex than her brothers or telling them that they are mothers etc. are only patriarchal sermons. Teach them about "Rani Laxmi Bai"or "Sultana Rezia",not about "Rani Sati"or"Pancha Kanya". Teach them the techniques of self-defence rather than cooking up to her adolescent days.
    Our religion says a man marries a woman for procreation."Putrarthe kriyate bharjya".Science has already proved it wrong. A child can be made to born in surrogate way. No need to have a wife for that particular purpose."Putrarthe kriyate bharjya" is no more a gospel truth. Let our sons or daughters decide their own to marry or not to marry. Free them for their self sustenance. They know how to live in their own way.
    In many societies women are treated as a sexual object. They are being  sermoned  to gratify the sexual urge of their husband as and when they desire. Some religion even allows the husbands to flog the wife if she does not cooperate in time. Even in certain societal customs women are treated as an object of business. These are negative mindsets, and retards woman empowerment.
    In many occasions girls appealing dress attract them towards opposite sex. Mind it if you indulge in that get prepared to consummate the same. If we really want to equalise females with male our first approach should be the same dress code. No exhibition of your growned up curves. Ban sarees, Salwar-Kammez etc. Loose pant and loose shirt be the common dress, barring the under garments. Secondly let there be detailed sex education classes from the upper primary level of education. Let the taboo of discussing sex with others be unveiled. Let consensual and safe sex be free from legal restraints after attaining adulthood.
   Very often cases of rape followed with murder are happening in our society. Many atrocities against women at work places owe its origin towards sexual advances to a female from a male member. Let her be Madhavi or Itishree or a Bebina.Our legal system is so orthodox that a court prima facie does not presume the accused as the convict. It is onus on the part of the victim side to prove the accused to be a convict. Again in a rape case very often the woman prefer for not to go for legal remedy for fear of facing the typical queries of the defence  lawyer, or being unable to meet the legal expenses.
    The other part is the legal process. Take the case of Madhavi and Itishree.These are cited of being burning cases. The similarity in all such cases are, first the victim would give written complain to her senior, then she will file FIR with the police, then she would go the women commission. After that some day she would be killed, the government will entrust the crime branch under them to investigate. Then the net result is known to all. Even if the victim wins the judicial procedure in this country is so lengthy that people would forget the issue. Again juveniles are now a day’s committing crimes which are generally not expected of them. Our juvenile justice system is a blessing in disguise for those delinquents. Recent Kendrapada rape and murder, Delhi`s Nirbhay case are examples, how embarrassing the juvenile justice system in our country.
      However laws are made by the people for the people. Laws made can be amended. Our judicial punishment philosophy is based on reformation. Hence it is limited to fines, simple imprisonment, rigorous imprisonment and capital punishment. If we look into the shastras of different religions punishments were made for deterrence. It should be. Days are gone when the Ratnakar became Maharshi Valmiki. Professional criminals are using our jails as their safe office to run their crime syndicate from within the bar. Time has come to debate on such issues. Jails have some sanctity where we expect the inmates to change them and make them molded to come into the main stream of our society. But now its use has been just reversed.
    After a murder after rape people emotionally demand capital punishment of the culprit. After the much hyped Delhi gang rape-cum-murder case our laws were amended for stringer punishment. Does it help the system? Laws are made to be broken. I think our country have so much laws that it has become a mess and opens way for the culprit to escape through the other route. Now time has come to consolidate our overlapping statutes. Capital punishment should only be kept for treason, anti-national activities, food and drug adulteration cases which can lead to mass killings. Mutilation punishment should be included in our penal system for deterrence. For example:
  - When  a  woman complains of rape let the court order his arrest putting onus on the accused to prove him innocent.
  - If convicted mutilate his genital and let him live in the society of being deprived of that hunger.
  -  In similar manner punishment for other crimes be devised. For white collar crimes, let heavy fines be made as is followed in China and USA.
    We strongly feel that in our present materialistic social system crime can only be controlled with such type of penalty else no improvement can be achieved. Only the number of Bebinas,Nirbhays,Madhavis or Itishrees will go on added up to the list for woes of the society.
  

 

Knowledge House

If you can fix the kid, you really should try.

          Debates have sparked on control the growing involvement of juveniles in sex related crimes across the country. Juveniles are persons within the age group of 15 to below 18 years of age. Biologically these persons are immature and easily biased to petty crimes. The judicial system prefers offenders in this age group  to bring them back into the main stream of life rather than to send them into the jail, where they may turn into hard core criminals by coming in contact with criminal inmates i. Rules are being made to send them into reform homes on being convicted in a crime. Juvenile courts are also being constituted in every district to investigate their cases.
    Many cases of rapes, rape following murder and several heinous crimes are surfacing now – a -days where in juveniles are involved where such crimes not expected of their age. On last year 16th December late evening the youngest accused in the horrific Delhi gang-rape case was found involved in the terminal act leading to the death of the 23 year old victim. But unlike his five partners in that crime, he got a 3 years sentence in reform home while death penalty was awarded to the rest. In last month on 22nd afternoon one juvenile has been found involved in a gang rape of a 23 year old paparazzi  along with other four adult partners. He is likely to come out clean after a maximum of three years.
     In another incident a 13 years old girl was allegedly gang-raped on 15th of September recently by five teenagers while she was playing near her house in Guwahati. The five accused have been caught and they all claim be minors, between 15 and 16 years of age. The police say, those teen agers allegedly dragged the girl to an abandoned house nearby and gang-raped her throughout the night.
     This incident now aroused countrywide debates on the Juvenile laws that provide for three years sentence in a correctional home as maximum punishment to a juvenile offender for any degree of crime not expected from persons of their age. Unless necessary judicial review of the present regulations is made the society is likely to come across more such events.
      According to the dictionary meaning "law" and "justice" have separate meanings. As per the Rule of Law, \'"Law is equal to all\' .But "justice" requires logical consideration in defining the quantum of punishment for an offence. The IPC also considers  several parameters  like age, antecedents, instinct, responsiveness, circumstance (self defense, provoke,) probation of offence, social status of the offender and prospect of reformation before arriving at  the quantum of punishment  for the infliction of law..Depending upon the prudence of the Judge who is a normal human being sometimes justice may likely to be miscarried. The Goddess of Law is always blind folded while the Judge looks into the parameters of justice. Hence it is called’ judicial sentencing\'.
     Let us come to the logic part. Jurisprudence always based on social customs which are commonly followed for a long time. When a juvenile make an intercourse with a woman, she will conceive in normal manner. Means the nature treat them as adults in such acts. Then why not to have a graded response for the juveniles engaged in heinous crimes? Several developed countries including UK, USA and France also adopt graded response for heinous crimes by juveniles and they are being tried like adults.
     In Florida three teenagers accused of setting a 15-year-old Michael Brewer on fire over a $40 video game debt were tried as adults in 2010. Two dozen teens across the country charged with committing extreme acts of group violence also tried as adults. All of the juveniles charged in last month\'s gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside Richmond Calif high school dance festival were charged as adults.
    Jesean  Callender, a  15 year old boy is one of the two teen ager who  was charged with delinquency of murder  of Kaewaun D. Coleman a student near Linden-MicKinley STEM Academy  on 17th January this year. On August 28, 2013 a Franklin County Juvenile Court judge ruled that he will be tried as an adult in the shooting case.
   Two teenage boys charged with the murder of an 88-year-old World War II veteran Delbert Belton in Spokane Wash. Both 16, have been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery. Both teens will be charged as adults, according to Lena England, secretary for the gang unit of the Spokane County prosecuting attorney’s office, which is handling the case. Each was being held in lieu of $2-million bail, England told the Los Angeles Times.
    In most American states, the jurisdiction of juvenile courts is automatically waived when a juvenile above a certain age, usually 13 or 15, commits a violent or other serious crime, and the case is automatically transferred to adult court. The minimum age for criminal responsibility in England and Wales is 10 years. The Crown Court can sentence children between 10 and 18 years for 14 or more years\' imprisonment as adult offenders. In UK, a person under 17 (the cut-off for juveniles there) can be tried as adult in serious offences like sexual assault, child sex offences and sexual activity with a child family member.
    In the best interest of public safety, If you can fix the kid, you really should try. The decision of the WCD ministry to propose amendment of Juvenile Justice law to try the juveniles in the age bracket of 16 to 18 years of age as adults is a welcome move. Such amendment will be a piece of judicial activism to deter smaller kids from heinous crimes.
 

The Juvenile Justice(Care and Protection of Children) Act-A suggestion

                                        NATIONAL INTEGRATION IN INDIA - A critical study

               Literally national integration is a subject of national sovereignty and integrity. In reality it is spirit of the nation, the essence of national polity and necessarily the bed rock of the country’s stand among its equals. It cannot be in black and white only. It is perceived from the national sentiment in its policies, politics, culture and status in the world community. It is natural that in a country there will be people from different religion, sect, social stigma, language political philosophy, but when some issue relates to the nation there shall be unity in spite of all diversities from within. It is also natural that all nations have their own written rule of law as regards to their internal and external policies and self governance.  It is required to be adhered to meticulously. No clandestine dealing as our neighbors follows. The internal political system should necessarily be people friendly, transparent and sustainable. The leaders and the bureaucracy are necessarily to be devoted and ready to compromise with their greed and culture determination to do something for the nation.

                   India has got the distinction of being the greatest democracy in the world with a population of more than 1.2 billion it has a federal state of governance comparable to some extent with the USA. It has well defined central and state functions. The rule of law of the country declares it as a sovereign, secular democratic republic. The citizens are enjoined with fundamental rights as regards to equality before the law, freedom of speech; education, decent living, and constitutional remedies there shall be no discrimination on the ground of religion, race, caste, sex and place of birth. There is clear cut directive principle of state policies to maintain the centre and state relationship. In this country 1652 languages and dialects are spoken. Out of those eight regional languages has received constitutional status of official languages regionally. Although Hindi language has been the lingua franca the constitution.official and court proceedings are conducted in English language. Parsi and Arabic legal terms are yet used in court proceedings. After 65 years of getting independence from the British we yet hold British Parliamentary proceedings as conclusive  proof under our Evidence Act.Our penal code till date has some antique penal provisions which our foreign rulers had framed in mid nineteenth century. Although our nation is perceived as the Hindu main land,our Muslim population is no less than any individual Muslim nation in the world community. People from all religions in the world lives in this country with equal dignity.

          Our pre-historic era has got a rich heritage both in the field of science, culture and education. As our ancients writings depict, the science of law of gravity, Astronomy, ballistic missiles, atomic theory, in vitro fertilization, use of helicopter and many things were known to our ancestors. The God has several times preferred to take incarnation in this holy country. We have the GITA which contains solutions for all worldly  issues the mankind has yet faced. Our pre-independence history describes the heroic deeds of our brave freedom fighters and the martyrs. We feel proud of our leaders who had participated in our freedom movements. Our national anthem, national emblem, patriotic songs and slogans continuously keep us remembering our past heritage for national integration. National gallantry awards for our soldiers police awards; bravery awards for the civilians are given each year to recognize the excellences in their fields while padma awards are given for cultural excellence, Ekalabya award, Rajiv Gandhi Khel-ratna awards are given for excellence in sports  and many more.. These felicitations are nothing but to energise the spirit of national integration.

                              Like other democratic nations  India has a “National integration council”  functioning since 2nd June 1962 with a mandate to resolve the issues related to the sovereignty and integrity of the nation. It has been constituted with 150 senior politicians and the Prime Minister on the chair. But it has only the advisory capacity. Till date under its recommendation the Parliament has enacted a regulation in the name and style of “The Unlawful Activities {Prevention} Act to curb the divisive forces that are down grading the integrity, peace and tranquility inside the territory.19^th November, the birth anniversary of the late Prime Minister Indera Gandhi is being celebrated as “National Integration Day” in India. The day is celebrated with various brain storming programs and fanfares in different forums to remind the necessity of the spirit of unity among the existing diversities.

          But in India there are peculiar diversities which probably continuously acting as a negative force in the pursuit of feeling united among the Indians. Even though the constitution of the country does not support regional feeling, ghetto within religious groups’.The provision for reservation in the field of  education, employment in certain government sanction persists in India even after 65 years of getting independence divide the Indians among within for which law and order problems very often arises affecting the peace and tranquility in the society including loss of lives and properties. The vote bank politics, bribing the voters, lack of transparency in amassing election funds from the late 60s had made the Indian politics congenial for the entry of greedy, corrupt and persons with criminal back ground. Many selected representatives who proclaim themselves as revolutionaries in politics are settling their arguments at the point of gun. There has been brazen use of money in getting a party ticket and nepotism in the political parties has gradually eroded the ailing Indian democracy. Now a day’s an expecting contestant in Sarpanch election is venturing to spend millions of rupees. During last four decades the Indian voters has not been able to select a single party majority government. When corruption has earned stronghold inside the politics the Indian bureaucracy has not been far behind. Most leaders are found disinterested in reforms but to amass money for their future ambitions. The leaders having certain determination to do something for nation building are pushed to sides or struggling as puppets. The economic scandals of billions of rupees from the government sponsored projects have upset the Indian voters who in contrast has been developing sense of misbelieve towards the government functioning.

               According to the “Economist” magazine the key economic reforms in India are seemingly stuck in the bog of messy coalition politics while the government is struggling under avalanche of corruption scandals.The politicians and the bureaucracy are combined in preventing the country from fulfilling its vast economic potentials. The politicians who are out of touch are portraying the country as a victim but not as a victor. “The Times” magazine  comments that, the nasty divisive political climate in India has actually cooled down the economic growth of the nation while inflation is remaining high. India now can only come out of this era with the entry of dedicated and energetic leaders who are ready to compromise their greed and lust for the sake of the country. Due to reservation politics for the members from the indigenous castes and creed there has been dearth of good teachers, scientists, doctors, engineers and economists in the prestigious educational institutions like IITs, IIMs, IISc, AIIMS and many other such institutions of international repute who  are gasping with shortage of experts while many scholars in the discipline are leaving this country  in search of similar jobs elsewhere and has been showing their excellence in their professions. The economic reforms procedures although are being planned excellently the country is virtually not getting the desired benefits out of those plans. The gap between the rich and the poor is continuously increasing while the middle class is expecting further openings in the economy and the poor want the states to invest more in health care, education, infrastructure and agriculture sector and to check corruption in government.

           Ironically when this country has been spending trillions of rupees in poverty alleviation programs since 1975 and officially providing free nutritious food for 23 million children under the age of five years and 4.8 million expecting mothers 300 days a year, 120 million school students are provided with mid day meal every school day, as per UN report 47% of Indian children are suffering from malnutrition. This figure stands at 35% for the drought stricken Ethiopia. The 2005 World Bank report India stands at the 12^th position of the wealthy nations with a multi trillion US dollar economies. The Forbes recent publication has identified 23 Indian billionaires with a net worth of 99 billion US dollars more than that of Japan. But India is continuously witnessing hunger deaths, unemployment among the emerging youths. These are said to be the tips of the ice bergs. There exists an underground economy in which trillions of black money is being amassed by the corrupt s which is being continuously stashed away to the foreign banks while the tax payers are gasping with additional taxes and the country is suffering from macro-economic imbalances. The government is remaining tight lipped on the issue while an Ombudsman bill where a small man can register any governmental apathy on him has been shuttling in our Parliament since last 46 years to get a presidential accord. While this country is spending millions of dollars of foreign exchange in importing food grains and vegetables officially 40% of the in-house products get perished with the cultivators for those could not reach the market in time. The amount of food grain and vegetables get perished in India annually is almost 1.2 times the total such produce in Australia.

         Actually national integration is a joint responsibility. Such feeling should be an urge of the citizens from within. The selector cannot tolerate to be in darkness while the selected enjoy  the fruits of democracy. Days are gone when people were content with “so se ashi beiman phirbhi mera Bharat Mahan” syndrome. Unless the corruption is put under control the mathematics of national integration would remain as a far dream and would end up in National differentiation with all its limits and derivatives