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Watching Big Brother The rising sun |
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BJP loss in by-elections
The games that memory plays
Will the system rise to the challenge?
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Watching Big Brother The
Constitution guarantees the freedom of speech to all those living in this country. It, however, is silent on the right to listen or not, and definitely it says nothing about paying heed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to address children on Teachers' Day is, therefore, violation of no law. But does forcing students to stay on after school hours to listen to and see him on TV also not impinge on the children's freedom? Depending on their age, children are asking various questions on being told they’ll have to stay back on Friday — who is Modi, what will he tell us? Assuming there is no confusion between Teachers' Day and Children's Day, it would be safe to expect a message to the teachers. A bit of patience would answer all that. The question that has no answer from the HRD Minister is why are millions of teachers and students being put to inconvenience? Yes, it is inconvenience when seven-year-olds get nothing to eat but a small mid-day meal between 9 am and 5 pm. When schools that have no toilets, drinking water, blackboards or a metalled approach road have to arrange a TV set, amplifiers and power back-up. When parents have to disrupt their dropping and pick-up schedules. All that the minister is able to say is listening to the speech is not compulsory. That is a wilful misrepresentation. A CBSE circular has even asked the schools to get back on what arrangements are being made. Depending on who is in government, schools in many states have received even clearer advisories. Mr Modi is said to have a preference for speaking to the people directly, and not through intermediaries like the media. And no one can question his ability to deliver a rousing speech, extempore at that. But it is surprising a man as sagacious as him would assume his words are so wise and beyond contention that it should be made mandatory to listen to them. Given the attention he has guaranteed himself — from tiny tots to hardboiled ‘secularists’ — Mr Modi’s speech better be awesome!
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The rising sun Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has received a warm welcome in the land of the rising sun. In turn, he has promised to warmly greet Japanese businessmen keen on investing in India; or to roll out the red carpet while cutting back red tape, as he memorably put it. The Prime Minister's personal rapport with his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, was evident from the special trip that the Japanese Prime Minister made to Kyoto to meet Modi. The atmospherics of the visit in Kyoto built up expectations that were to be fulfilled later
in Tokyo. Prime Minister Modi used the hardware-software analogy to compare the two countries. It may be a little too much to expect a miracle if Japanese hardware and Indian software are combined together, but the fresh breeze of purposeful interaction is perceptible. Japan has committed an investment of $35 billion over the next five years and Modi has promised special concessions as well as the allure of democracy, demography, demand that India has. The first Japanese military export since World War II will be that of Japanese military seaplanes to India. The Japanese have played a role in the Delhi Metro, and can expect to do so in the metros that are being planned in 50 other cities. As expected, a civil nuclear deal between the two countries will take time. However, heightened Japanese economic ties will naturally lead to further cooperation in the field. Modi's veiled comment on expansionist tendencies was received well in Tokyo, but India has to be careful in negotiating the complicated equations of competing claims by various countries in South-East Asia. India needs to build its bridges carefully. Prime Ministers Abe and Modi share warm ties. Now have a chance to work together and take the strong ties that the two countries have to a new economic relationship, even as they work together on
other fronts.
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Thought for the Day
Every man has his follies — and often they are the most interesting thing he has got.
— Josh Billings, American humorist
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The analogy of France employing the Algerian troops INDIANS are most sincerely grateful to Lord Hardinge and Lord Crewe for bringing in the analogy of France employing her Algerian troops in the present as in all her past wars with white races. Lord Crewe has correctly interpreted Indian sentiment when he says that the wonderful wave of enthusiasm and loyalty throughout this country is largely due to the desire of the Indian people that Indian soldiers should stand side by side with their comrades in the British Army. "India," said his lordship, "was aware of the employment of African troops by France and there would be disappointment in India if Indians had been debarred from participating in this war." Over half a century ago the great soldier statesman Henry Lawrence brought this question forward in a letter to Lord Stanley: "France has its Arab Generals and Russia has many Asiatic Generals, but Liberal England restricts its best native officers to posts subordinate to that of serjeant-major, obtainable too only by some thirty to fifty years' service….."
The proposed Hindu University THE explanations, which the Hon'ble Sir Harcourt Butler has been pleased to offer to some of the rigid conditions proposed in respect of the Hindu University of Benaras do not in the least convince the public of the desirability of establishing the University under official auspices. The very object of the University will be left unfulfilled because it is not to be expected that the authorities will have a free hand in promoting Hindu culture and ideals of learning. At every turn western ideals and other unsuitable principles will be thrust in because the official experts know nothing else and they know the path towards learning most be one which they know and there cannot be another.
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BJP loss in by-elections IT appears that the magic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is waning. His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has met a reverse in the by-polls. Out of the 18 seats in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Bihar, the BJP won only seven. The parliamentary election held nearly four months ago saw the BJP sweeping and even getting a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha. The disenchantment of the voters in such a small period is indeed a point of deeper analysis. True, the party made too many promises which were hard to implement. But that is only a part of the explanation. The full explanation is that no home work seems to have done on the capacity to deliver. Over the years, elections have become only a futile exercise of tall promises and very little implementation. Since the parties' purpose is to win, the reality comes before the public long after it is all over. The voters flip from one party to another, expecting better performance than the last time. They also punish those who did not measure up to their standard. The Congress has been reduced to only 44 members in the parliamentary elections, not even making the 55 seats required to claim the position of Leader of the Opposition. The results of the by-polls also show how the political parties, jaded as they are, lose sheen. The BJP, which swept the Lok Sabha polls, has quickly slipped down in position. The fault lies with the political parties which are not learning their lesson. The voters' disillusionment is visible election after election. It is obvious that the present dispensation does not sway the electorate. They are looking to prepare the ground for a setup which, in the long run, can counter the saffron power. The by-elections were seen as a litmus test for the BJP as well as the new combination of the Rashtriya Janata Dal of Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Janata Dal (United) of Nitish Kumar and the Congress. Indeed, the stakes were high for all the three parties in the secular alliance against the BJP which was riding on its massive success in the Lok Sabha polls. The results must have come as a real morale-booster for the combine, particularly for the grand old Congress party. On the other hand, the BJP must be feeling greatly disappointed for its performance which was below expectations. Though the party leadership put up a brave front, it will have to go back to the drawing board to arrest the trend sooner than later as the BJP has little time before the September by-elections in Uttar Pradesh for 11 seats. For BJP president Amit Shah, who has made wholesale changes to the party structure-it is a pity that old guards L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi have been omitted from the parliamentary board-the UP by-poll results will be crucial. He has already said that he will want all the 11 seats in his basket, largely because the elections will be sort of a semi-final before the 2017 assembly elections in the state. Shah will have to work overtime to pick his candidates since the by-elections will be a triangular affair with the Congress and the Samajwadi Party having announced their candidates. Even otherwise, Shah's credibility is at stake after he was pitch-forked to the current position when he single-handed helped the BJP win 70 of the 80 seats from the state in the Lok Sabha poll. The loss of a seat in the Madhya Pradesh by-polls particularly is an alarm bell for both Shah and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister, who has been inducted into the parliamentary board, which is the highest decision-making body. More than the victory of the Congress, which wrested the Bahoriband assembly seat from the ruling party, it is the defeat of the BJP candidate which must be hurting it badly. After all, the Congress managed to retain just two of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in the state only recently. As for the Lalu-Nitish alliance in Bihar, the by-poll results must have come as a shot in the arm for the two veteran politicians. It was a well thought-out political gamble the two took and it has paid rich dividends, after their parties had taken a real drubbing in the April-May Lok Sabha elections. Knowing full well the pattern of voting and caste arithmetic of Bihar politics, the two leaders apparently realised that they stood a chance only if they were to put up a collective fight. No doubt, it was a bold experiment which may well pave the way for a possible realignment of anti-BJP parties on a single platform in the run-up to the next assembly elections in the state. The Bahujan Samajwadi Party's Mayawati has shunned such an offer from Mulayam Singh Yadav for the UP by-polls because she has not yet forgotten the “attempt” by the Samajwadi Party to eliminate her. But in the time to come if she gains confidence, she could reconsider the offer. In any case, the by-poll results must have warmed the hearts of many anti-BJP leaders who will want to go in for such an experiment in future. CPM leader Prakash Karat, who claimed that unity among secular parties had paid off in the recent by-elections, is willing to cooperate with the like-minded parties to fight the BJP. But his party and he have issues with the Congress. “Our party line is to fight the BJP primarily because it is in power now. But we are opposed to the policies of the Congress too,” he had said. Whatever the case, there is one lesson for all secular parties to learn. The voters are yearning for an alternative, away from the Congress as well as the BJP. They want secular and democratic governance which is what the Independence struggle has provided us.
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The games that memory plays I was an incorrigible seven years old, and was packed off to a boarding school. The most fearsome figure in our lives was Mrs. Hickey, our matron. If we had our elbows on the table she would lift them up and bang them down with great force. If we were scraping the remnant of food from our plates, she would rub the plates on our faces. Yet this is not what comes back to me now. On Sunday mornings, Charlie would come to the pavement and we would spend our pocket money on his treats. For some reason, that first week, I did not get any pocket money. I hung around at a discreet distance, trying not to look at the others and pretending that I did not care. “Harishpal, come here”. It was Mrs. Hickey's harsh, grating voice. My heart sank. She took me into her tiny living room, sat me down at her dining table, and gave me a thick slice of plum cake. I remember every detail. I remember the lace table cloth, the plate with the hand painted hollyhocks and yes, Mrs Hickey with her dark brown woollen skirt and her lemon cardigan. Most of all I remember the delicious cake and the strange feeling of wanting to cry. I was in Class VI when we got a new history teacher. He was young, straight out of college and strikingly handsome. He had a kind, gentle air about him we were all drawn to him from the moment he walked into the class. But when he began to teach, I was lulled into sleep and probably began to snore. Suddenly I became aware of him standing over me and stumbled to my feet. “Have you understood?” “Yes sir,” I tried to be as convincing as I could. “What have you understood?” Of course I had not understood a word; I hadn't heard a word. “I’ll give you such a kick in your pants, you’ll go straight through Monkey Point without making a hole in it. “Nineteen years later I came back to the school to teach. He was the Deputy Headmaster. And what a Deputy Headmaster! I would need much more than a middle to do justice to him. He was the last of the Mr. Chips of this world. But all this passes through my mind only fleetingly. What comes back vividly is that moment in class. I remember clearly the brown of his eyes as he stared fixedly at me, I remember his walrus moustache stained with tobacco and the strong smell of his Char Minars, I remember his black and white checked tweed jacket, with its leather patches at the elbows and I remember his wonderful gift of being able to soften a reprimand with his wit. No matter how hard I try, my successes and triumphs, my moments of joy and ecstasy, my tragedies and failures, remain mere shadows, while trivial incidents like these, return again and again with the vivid freshness of this morning's dew on the grass.
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Will the system rise to the challenge?
In
a historic order, perhaps first of its kind, the Supreme Court of India issued notice to a sitting judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on a petition filed by a woman Additional District Judge alleging sexual harassment by him which had led her to resign from her post. Sexual harassment at work is nothing new as we know, but it is very occasionally that a brave woman comes along to complain about it publicly. When the woman happens to be a sitting judge there is not only a poignancy about her plight, it requires exceptional bravery to complain in the face of service rules that do not allow for complaints.
Legitimacy eroded When the harasser is a sitting judge of the High Court, the credibility of the very institution of the judiciary is brought into question and its legitimacy gets eroded. The significance of the Petition in the Supreme Court lies in the fact that there is no forum in which a judge can complain about the sexual harassment she faces, perhaps because the judiciary assumed that judges would not indulge in immoral behaviour. We know now, this is the third case that has come to light of alleged sexual harassment by a judge, or former judge. She sought an opportunity to complain, but the opportunity was denied to her leading to her resignation. She sought a complaint procedure to be set up to deal with her complaint of sexual harassment but that opportunity was denied to her. The woman judge alleges that the judge in question expected her to dance to an item number at his 25th wedding anniversary ladies sangeet. The first question that must be asked is, is it proper for sitting judges of the High Court to invite sitting women District Court judges to their wedding anniversary celebrations? Why are the judges for the subordinate judiciary expected to stand in attendance to High Court judges? What is the nature of power that High Court judges exercise over the subordinate judiciary which compels judges from the District Court downwards to obey the commands of High Court judges?
Administrative control The answer lies in the fact that the administrative control, which includes control over promotion, transfer, and Annual Confidential Reports/records of the subordinate judiciary is in the hands of the High Court judges. This power is sometimes misused, leading to a reign of terror and fear that any refusal to comply with a request or to socialise, will be met with displeasure by the administrative judge or inspecting judge. When it comes to women, this power manifests itself in demands for sexual favours. This is not the first time that I have dealt with a case of a woman judge of a District Court who has alleged that she faced sexual harassment by a High Court judge exercising administrative control over her. She was a Dalit and not as lucky as the judge from Gwalior, her services were terminated on the ground that her performance was not satisfactory. My petition in the High Court of Rajasthan for an enquiry under Vishaka, was met with the argument that the Vishaka Judgment does not apply to the judiciary and only the High Court could
exercise disciplinary jurisdiction over the judiciary.
Punitive measures The woman judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court could see the writing on the wall, her refusal to comply with immoral demands led to intense surveillance of her work, and her ultimate victimisation by transfer mid-term as a punitive measure to a remote district. Her repeated requests for a meeting with the Chief Justice of the High Court went unanswered and, ultimately, an appointment was denied. This led to her resignation from office. As she says, if she could not get justice within the system, she would seek it from outside the system. In her own words: “I humbly seek justice from outside the system, being ousted for the simple reason that the insiders of the system are left with no avail.” She further says, “imagine if a judge who is herself part of the Vishakha committee, is not getting justice herself, how failed this system must be. Only because the perpetrator is so powerful as an “administrative judge” of a bench, that he can cast all evil upon me, and I do not even so much, as get a hearing. What system are we leading our welfare democracy towards? If this is how a mother, sister and wife can be treated, who is herself no less than a judicial officer duty-bound to protect the society and uphold law, what Constitutional goals are we serving, and whether knowledge is any empowerment?” In her petition, the judge demanded that an enquiry should be conducted into her complaint by judges from outside the High Court of MP, that the order of transfer be declared void, being vindictive in nature and being passed because she refused to submit to immoral demands. She seeks a declaration that her resigning is in fact a constrictive termination and she be given re-instatement.
Onus on Supreme Court The challenge is now before the Supreme Court. It is up to the Supreme Court of India to send a loud and clear message to the judiciary as a whole that sexual harassment by judges will not be tolerated under any circumstances. The only way in which such a message can be sent would be to conduct an enquiry into her allegations and upon a prima facie finding of guilt, to recommend his removal.
Cumbersome procedures Removal procedures are cumbersome. They require fact finding by a committee that has to be set up. However, such a committee can only be set up if not less than 50 Members of Parliament of the Rajya Sabha or not less than 100 Members of Parliament of the Lok Sabha move a motion for the removal of a judge. If that happens, the Chief Justice will have to set up a Committee of three — consisting of two judges and one jurist to inquire into the alleged misconduct of sexual harassment. If the Committee of three finds him guilty, a motion is moved in Parliament for the removal of the judge. While we have seen removal procedures being activated in the case of financial misconduct, this will be the first time that a Motion may be moved for moral turpitude and sexual harassment of a woman judge. This will indeed send the message what women in the judiciary cannot be messed around with and they are here to stay.
Significant challenges We are faced with several significant challenges. We are challenged as a society to learn how to respect women at workplace, not treat them as objects of desire. Our courts are challenged to discipline one of their own and our members of Parliament are challenged to rise to the occasion and demand a proper Inquiry. For now, the lady judge has put her faith in the Supreme Court of India to do justice to
her.
— The writer is the former Additional Solicitor-General of India and Director, Lawyers Collective
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