O P I N I O N S

Guest Column
When compassion prevails over anger
FALI S NARIMAN
Some judges retire at the end of their innings on the Bench, and are not seen or heard of thereafter. When they pass on in the fullness of time, the usual obsequies are performed in what is known as a Full-Court-meeting — after which they pass out of our lives and the legal system forever. But there are notable exceptions — as was Justice JS Verma, for his judicial prowess and place in the pantheon of the Chief Justices of India.

Touchstones
No parent, police or God to fear
Ira Pande
‘How much is enough?’ is a question that is not often asked. I recall a couplet from my childhood that puts it best: ‘Rahiman itna deejiye/ Ja main kutumbh samaye. Aap bhi bhukan na rahoon/ Sadhu na bhuka jaye’. (Lord, give me just enough to keep my family together. May we never go hungry, nor refuse a mendicant a meal.)

What Manmohan should really write to Nawaz
Raj Chengappa
Dear Mian Saheb,
Congratulations again on your convincing victory at the just concluded General Election! It was very kind of you to extend an invitation to me to attend your swearing-in ceremony via the media. I regret because of pressing prior commitments I will not be able to accept the honour of being present at this momentous occasion to convey my best wishes for your success personally.

Guest Column
When compassion prevails over anger
FALI S NARIMAN

Some judges retire at the end of their innings on the Bench, and are not seen or heard of thereafter. When they pass on in the fullness of time, the usual obsequies are performed in what is known as a Full-Court-meeting — after which they pass out of our lives and the legal system forever. But there are notable exceptions — as was Justice JS Verma, for his judicial prowess and place in the pantheon of the Chief Justices of India.

Justice JS Verma, a ‘judicial hero’

Justice Verma sat as a Judge in the Supreme Court from 1989 till 1998 and as the CJI in the last nine months of his tenure. He was my judicial hero. I know of the care and time taken by him in “crafting” his judgments. He drafted his important judgments with great care: something that today’s sitting judges would do well to emulate. One of his landmark judgments was Vishakha vs State of Rajasthan (1997). It was a PIL concerned with the hazards (including sexual harassment) to which working women were exposed, and the need for safeguards in the absence of enacted law. Sitting in a Bench of three judges, Chief Justice Verma fashioned an effective mechanism to fulfil an urgent social need: adopting and adapting the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, to which India was a party, but which was not as yet framed into law by Parliament.

In the absence of enacted law, the court went on to “make” its own law, calling them guidelines — laying it down as the duty of all employers and responsible persons in workplaces and other institutions to prevent or deter the commission of acts of sexual harassment and to provide for procedures for resolution, settlement or prosecution of such acts.

Exercising the court’s power to issue writs, orders and directions to enforce fundamental rights, he directed that these guidelines be strictly observed in all workplaces for the preservation and enforcement of the right to gender equality of working women and concluded: “These directions would be binding and enforceable in law until suitable legislation is enacted to occupy the field.”

On the Bench, perhaps his failing, (which of us has none?) was that he would try to convince you that your argument was wrong. To compensate for it, he had sterling qualities of head and heart.

I was quite a favourite of his in court. Only once was he extremely annoyed with me when I appeared for a member of the Fourth Estate, who had commented on one of his judgments, having the temerity to say “the Judge should have his head examined!” Contempt notices were issued. When I stood before him on behalf of the representative of the Fourth Estate, he first expressed shock and surprise — “You, Mr Nariman, are appearing in this matter?” He then added angrily: “Ask your client to come up to the Bar.” The Editor complied and Justice Verma gave him a severe verbal dressing down, during which all I did was look down and say nothing.

In contempt matters, saying nothing sometimes pays rich dividends. My client, fearing a six-month imprisonment, looked sheepish, but unapologetic. He wanted to make a speech in response to the Judge’s remarks, but I asked him to shut up. The result was he was let off. Compassion, another great quality of Justice Verma, had prevailed over the temper of the moment.

He showed his true colours as a courageous rights champion when he assumed charge of what was then a very prestigious office: Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission. He made an outstanding Chairman. And whether you belong to one political persuasion or another, his personal involvement and stand taken in, what are known as “the Gujarat riots”, was worthy of the highest praise. I believe it is the fearless performance of his duties as the Chairman of the NHRC that made him the superstar he was as long as he lived.

When the Prime Minister asked him last December to undertake the onerous task of updating our law on sexual offences in the Penal Code of 1862 and mandated it be done within four weeks, he did not complain of inadequate time. With the assistance of Justice Leila Seth and Gopal Subramanium, he submitted his report on the last day of the fourth week!

Since 1972, I have been practicing at the Supreme Court. There have been 26 Chief Justices since, and I have interacted with all of them. In my reckoning, Justice Verma was one of the noblest.

The writer is a constitutional jurist and Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India

Touchstones
No parent, police or God to fear
Ira Pande

‘How much is enough?’ is a question that is not often asked. I recall a couplet from my childhood that puts it best: ‘Rahiman itna deejiye/ Ja main kutumbh samaye. Aap bhi bhukan na rahoon/ Sadhu na bhuka jaye’. (Lord, give me just enough to keep my family together. May we never go hungry, nor refuse a mendicant a meal.)

No towel can wipe off Sreesanth’s misdeed.

Times have changed a lot from those modest dreams and desires. Just recall Jayalalithaa and Sasikala’s hoard of diamond jewels and saris, or the thousands of shoes that were owned by Imelda Marcos. Run an eye down the assets of our netas and you will discover that within the space of a few years, they have miraculously acquired untold wealth and property.

If a man offered a bribe would once say: No, no. I can’t take this, I have children to think of. Today he may well say: I need this because I have children to think of! We have lost count of the scams that have been unearthed, for everywhere you look someone has a hand in the till. Sports were encouraged amongst youth for the noble qualities of justice, fair play and togetherness they developed. However, after the sordid details being uncovered in the IPL betting racket, parents may dissuade their children from playing anything more innocent than gulli-danda.

What has brought us to such a pass? Everyone has a theory: some blame the West and the cult of material success that has tainted the world; others blame the economic policies that encourage the creation of wealth, leading to huge inequalities; some blame our election system and the funds that are needed to finance parties and candidates; still others hold the dowry system responsible. The truth may be a combination of all these factors but it is equally true that the fear of retribution — judicial or divine — has receded from the lives of most criminals. Time was when one feared the elders in one’s family, the police and God, in that order. All human beings have a moral button that flashes whenever they contemplate breaking a law. If you think this is nonsensical, watch a toddler trying to push his finger into an electric socket: he will first turn around to see whether someone is watching and then dare to stick his hand in. We, too, are aware that someone is watching us. It is when we stop fearing those invisible eyes that we get emboldened to take a step in the wrong direction.

However, trying to live by the old codes of conduct is ridiculous in an age that has reduced the entire planet to a global village. Globalisation has changed human lives in a short space of time and subverted the habits and social codas of centuries in a matter of decades. Following the old laws and customs are viewed as obstacles in the path of material progress and are likely to appear ridiculous to the young and impatient. Look around you and you can see it in every corner of life: in habits of food, dress, language inculcated over centuries. The young look the same all over the world, no matter whether the colour of their skin is white, black, brown or yellow. Their music, their language and their idols are no longer restricted to their native regions. And like everything else, corruption is a worldwide phenomenon: the difference is only one of degree. It comes in the wake of tumultuous changes in social and political movements and we will have to live with it for some more time. Perhaps not in our generation, but in the next, the cult of wealth and possessions may cease to exert the same pull over human minds. Pity that you and I may not be alive but at least our children and grandchildren will live more meaningful lives.

Let us turn to more cheerful matters: after a long hiatus, two interesting films were released this weekend. ‘The Great Gatsby’ (although it has been panned by critics as cheesy) is a moral fable that visualises the concerns I have raised above. Regarded as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel about the moral decay of the 1920s and the hedonism of the Great American Dream, it has a lasting shelf-life and has been made into two earlier films.

The other film, made by our own Mira Nair, is based on Mohsin Hamid’s award-winning novel of the same name, ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’. Mira has given several interviews of the reasons that drew her to this moral fable and — given her unerring cinematic genius — she has invested it with colour and music to bring in the background of the turmoil faced by the protagonist in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy. Pakistan has been so much in the news lately with its decisive election results overwhelmingly cast in support of a democratic polity that the theme of this novel is bound to find a deep chord in many subcontinental hearts.

At a time when the old values and moral laws of our two countries are crumbling and the worst in our cultures has surfaced, these two films — one about the emptiness of a Faustian pact with wealth and the other about the search for an inner core — may well give us hope for a future that leads us back to a wholeness that we seem to have lost lately.