Tagore firmly believed that independence from the British, in itself, would be meaningless and merely lead to replacing a foreign oppressor with home-grown ones as long as Indians stayed mired in superstition, ritualism, caste ism and such other ims. This belief made him strongly oppose Gandhi’s philosophy of   “Education can wait, Swaraj cannot” at the cost of being maligned as ‘unpatriotic’. In time, we have come to learn about the basic truth behind Tagore’s fear.

In the year 2001, PUCL moved a writ petition (a PIL) before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India to address the issues pertaining to effective implementations of ICDS and midday meals in the country.

On 28 November 2001, the Hon’ble Supreme Court passed, anong others  the following directives with regard to the Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS).

·     We direct the State Governments/ Union Territories to implement the Mid-Day Meal Scheme by providing every child in every Government and Government assisted Primary Schools with a prepared mid day meal with a minimum content of 300 calories and 8-12 grams of protein each day of school for a minimum of 200 days. Those Governments providing dry rations instead of cooked meals must within three months [February 28, 2002] start providing cooked meals in all Govt. and Govt. aided Primary Schools in all half the Districts of the State ( in order of poverty ) and must within a further period of three months [May 28, 2002] extend the provision of cooked meals to the remaining parts of the State

·     We direct the Union of India and the FCI to ensure provision of fair average quality grain for the Scheme on time.

·     The States/ Union Territories and the FCI are directed to do joint inspection of food grains. If the food grain is found, on joint inspection, not to be of fair average quality, it will be replaced by the FCI prior to lifting.”

On 2nd May 2003, the Apex Court noted that ‘some States in implementation of the said direction [of 28 November 2001] are supplying cooked mid day meal to the students. We are, however, told that despite the fact that 11/2 years has passed, some of the States have not even made a beginning. Particular reference has been made to States of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

On 20 April 2004, the same Court observed that by an order dated 29th October, 2002, it was made clear that in case of persistent default in compliance of the orders of this Court, the concerned Chief Secretaries/Administrators of the States/Union Territories shall be held responsible.

It is a matter of anguish that despite lapse of nearly three and half years, the order dated 28th November, 2001 has not been fully implemented by all the States and Union Territories. As already stated earlier, many of the States have given only half-baked information and figures. Further, we wish to make it clear that the fact that some of the States were permitted to at least make a start in some of the districts in terms of the order dated 2nd May, 2003 does not mean that this Court has modified or varied the earlier order dated 28th November, 2001. It is a constitutional duty of every State and Union Territory to implement in letter and spirit the directions contained in the order dated 28th November, 2001.  

Among others , the following directions are noteworthy:

·     The conversion costs for a cooked meal, under no circumstances, shall be recovered from the children or their parents.

·     In appointment of cooks and helpers, preference shall be given to Dalits, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

·     In drought affected areas, mid-day meal shall be supplied even during summer vacations.

On 27^th April, 2004, the court noted that “from the facts and figures that have been furnished to us, it seems evident that there is a large number of mal-nourished children between the age group of 0 to 6 years…The position is quite alarming.  These young children are the future of the nation.  Further, it appears that except Kerala and Tamil Nadu where the benefit under the scheme is said to be reaching to about 50 per cent of the children, in the rest of the country the average seems to be below 25 per cent.  The position in the States of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal seems to be quite alarming.  

Then again on 7^th October, 2004, the court noted

The scheme intends to cover all the children under age group of 0-6 years. The food is supplied to the children through Anganwadi Centres  (For short, `AWCS').  The norms of Government of India provide for one Centre for a population of one thousand (700 in case of tribal area)…according to norms, there should be approxomately 14 lakhs ACWS.  Admittedly, nearly 6 lakh Centres have been sanctioned. Many of the sanctioned Centres are also not operational as is evident from the Report under consideration.  The problem seems to be more acute in States like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand….The result was that a large number of children between the age group of 0-6 years were malnourished.  That Order also noticed that the position was alarming in the aforesaid three States as well as the State of Uttaranchal.  

It is most unfortunate that instead of three months, nearly six months have expired, the Government of India has still not filed the affidavit and instead an oral application has been made by learned Additional Solicitor General for grant of further time to file an affidavit in terms of the Order dated 29.4.2004.We are shocked at the attitude of the Central Government which is in respect of giving nutritious food to all children though in practice it concerns those unfortunate section of the society who can ill-afford to provide nutritious food to the children of the aforesaid age group.  In absence of the affidavit, we could have straightway issued directions for the sanction of the remaining AWCS and for increase of norm of rupee one to rupees two but having regard to the totality of the circumstances, we grant one final opportunity to the Central Government to file affidavit within a period of two weeks whereafter we would consider these two aspects, namely, (i) sanction of 14 lakh AWCS; (ii) increase of norm of rupee one to rupees two.

Further, the Court observed as on that day that the Report presents a glooming picture both in regard to the operation of the sanctioned AWCS in some of the States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand and the position in those which are operational….

…

According to the Report, on an average, 42 paisa as against the norm of rupee one was being allocated per beneficiary per day by the State of Jharkhand.  The position in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh is also no better.  

On 13^th December, 2006, the Apex Court passed a judgment, reported in 2007(1) SCC 719, wherein it observed that “it is matter of concern that 15 States and Union Territories have not submitted any affidavit in compliance with the order dated 7.10.2004. They are the State of Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Goa, Punjab Manipur, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, Haryana, Bihar and the National Capital of Delhi and the Union Terrioty of Lakshadweep. Within four weeks reply shall be filed through the concerned Chief Secretary as to why action for contempt shall not be initiated for the lapse.”

On 9^th July, 2007, the Apex court passed another judgment wherein it observed that “It is a matter of concern that even the sanctioned centres (the number of which is much less than the targeted one) have not been made operational. The backlog has to be cleared immediately and the  centres which have been sanctioned upto September 2006  shall be made operational and functional by 15th July, 2007 in  the case of all States except the State of U.P. where the last  date is fixed to be 31st July, 2007. Those centres which have been sanctioned upto January 2007 shall be made functional by 30.9.2007….

….

It is made clear that if there is any non observance of the time period fixed would be seriously viewed.”

20^th November 2007. Another judgment passed. Reported in AIR 2008 SC 495. The Court notes  that considering the submissions and the material

data placed on record we direct as follows:-     

(a)       The Union of India and all the State Governments and the Union Territories shall (i) continue with the NMBS and (ii) ensure that all BPL pregnant women get cash assistance 8- 12 weeks prior to the delivery.   

(b)       The amount shall be Rs.500/- per birth irrespective of number of children and the age of the woman.   

(c)        The Union of India, State Governments and the Union Territories shall file affidavits within 8 weeks from today indicating the total number of births in the State, number of  eligible BPL women who have received the  benefits, number of BPL women who had  home/non-institutional deliveries and have  received the benefit, number of BPL women  who had institutional deliveries and have  received the benefit.

(d)       The total number of resources allocated and utilized for the period 2000-2006.     

(e)        All concerned Governments are directed to regularly advertise the revised scheme so that the intended beneficiaries can become aware of the scheme.

(f)        The Central Government shall ensure that the money earmarked for the scheme is not utilized for any other purpose.  The mere insistence on utilization certificate may not yield the expected result.        

(g)       It shall be the duty of all the concerned to ensure that the benefits of the scheme reach  the intended beneficiaries.  In case it is noticed that there is any diversion of the funds allocated for the scheme, such stringent action as is called for shall be taken against the erring officials responsible for diversion of the funds.

On 22^nd April, 2009, The Supreme Court pointed out that several States like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Nagaland have not met the requisite norms. These States are directed to take steps as required to be taken.

The schemes mentioned above have turned out to be scams of such a grave proportion that presumably, it has gone much beyond the best intentions of the Apex Court. Despite direction of the Supreme Court, 1.63 crore children of drought affected areas were not provided nutritional support by the State during summer vacations of 2005 and 2007. 121.98 crores of food grains, meant for mal nourished children, remained with transporting agencies and/or food grain shops.

A reference maybe made to the article of Mr. Himanshu Upadhay which u may read here

http://www.righttofoodindia.org/data/mid_day_meals_himanshu_upadhyay.pdf

While the Supreme Court is yet to decide whether the doctrine of ‘separation of power’ is loosely or strictly  followed in India , while the State of UP, refuses to implement the Right to Education Act citing lack of funds when even when crores continue to spent from the State exchequer at the behest of the Chief Minister to construct symbols of Dalit pride and awakening, a very large part of the genuflecting spine-less purchased helpless tongue wagging scotch connoisseur Intelligentsia genuinely feels but again such expenditure being in the exclusive domain of the government, the Judiciary perhaps may have no authority to interfere.

The bright young legal minds of this country have perhaps watched the cool funk ‘butterfly effect’ and are presumably aware of the grave repercussions of policies (or the lack of it) and how these lead to internal disturbances like the ones we are facing presently.

Obsessed with internships , PROs and a lame fight as to which is the best law school, the opinion of these well fed young people on legal and constitutional questions/issues is almost non existent, on this website atleast.

Can we know what people might think can abate this cancer or do we have no choice whatsoever at all? 

Those were the ‘catastrophic’ words which were uttered by the naïve Maulana Noor-ul-Huda on the phone just a few minutes before the take off aboard his Emirates flight on Wednesday which promoted the Delhi Police not only to offload him from the aircraft at the IGI Airport but also book him under Section 505 I B (making statements likely to cause fear among the public) and Section 341 (wrongfully restraining passengers by the scare).

Every rational human being who has even little knowledge of the urdu language knows that that the straight forward connotation of the term is ‘The plane will take off, we will fly’ and not the corrupt understanding of the expression as proposed by the Delhi Police. If this the level of security measure undertaken by the authorities then tomorrow a person uttering the words ‘Goodbye’ on the phone to his near ones before a take off should also be scuffled out of the aircraft because it may be construed to mean that those are his or her ‘last words’ and the plane may contain a bomb which would go off within seconds.

It is really baffling to see that the Maulana being harassed on the pretext of a lady passenger on board who misunderstood what he said and raised an alarm. Ever since then the incubus began for the him as he was deplaned, charged with a crime he never committed and then had to seek bail for it.

It is rather more disheartening than vexing to come across such tidings for people who are deeply rooted in their faith yet never see a hatchway in the implantation of treatments bestowed upon the ‘beaded’ and the ‘beardless’. These are the very incidents which lead to estrangement of a particular faith.

When the very essence of our Constitution itself guarantees that there shall not be any differential treatment with regard to a person’s caste, creed or religion, then why this stigma attached to one particular faith which has to prove again and again that every member of its clan is not an ‘OSAMA’ or ‘KASAB’.

Its high time that the Justice Mechanism (in case it existents) in the country should agnise that incidents like this would shake the ingrained belief of the Indian Muslims and they may even start questioning their loyalty towards their very own ‘ Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic’.

For the news coverage of the the incident refer to-

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=CAP/2010/05/15&ViewMode=GIF&GZ=T&PageLabel=9&EntityId=Ar00103&DataChunk=Ar00901&AppName=1

CALL TO ACTION

Final year Students Unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!

We are under attack from the repressive tyrannical Bar Council.

All of us who have worked so hard over five years of law sweating it out at internships, writing papers, winning moots, doing summer courses and what not, to land ourselves our dream jobs will now have to be faced with the prospect of losing it all!

The Bar Council and the esteemed members of the bar have no care or interest for our plight. Sh. Subhramniam seems to be hell bent on not letting us practice till we give the bar exam even if it is a decade from now!

The fact of the matter is the incompetent Bar Council does not have its own house in order and it now wants to make us the scape goats. First they wanted to conduct the bar exam in July- almost like a surprise assignment and now they say they are not well prepared and so the exam will be in December. (To top it all they still haven't given an assurance that it will happen in December, but they are sure they won't let us practice till then!). The minimal implication of this is we lose eight months pay and this whole disruption may threaten some of our jobs.

Is there any logic in denying us the right to practice because they cannot conduct the exam?

The quintessence of a civilized community is freedom from terror. However, unfortunately in our country whimsical administrators  have always had their sway over the life's of people, destablising their plans and bring their hard work to naught.

Today, our future is threatened and time for sitting on the ropes is past. We must enter the battlefield with all weapons at our disposal. Our single point demand should be - conduct the bar exam in July or allow us to practice without it. 

The fact is that today there is nobody who is interested in our future, those on the bar are happy to do give us meritocratic moral preachings while they gain eight months free labour at our expense. The Hon'ble Supreme Court, as yet not apprised of our plight, is more focused on uplifting the standard of legal education. Whilst behind the shadows those in favour of foreign law firms in India are strongly backing the bar exam. (Of course we do not oppose foreign firms). At this stage to sit back and think that someone else will do something about it will be fatal. The macro scenario is against - in the forward march of the legal community, we are going to be the road kill.

Each of us must fight against this oppression. The following steps are suggested:

• Signature Campaigns and Open Letters addressed to Bar Council, Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, and the Minister for Law and Justice.
• Meetings & Discussions in all Colleges
• All-India Level Co-ordination
• Approach teachers sympathetic to our cause
• Approach sympathetic bar members
• Approach prospective employers esp. law firms against the entry of foreign law firms to flex their muscles.
• File Writ Petitions, get our selves impleaded in the Bonni Case (perhaps some one can draft a writ and post it here)
• If need arise Delhi Chalo! to protest in front of the Bar Council Office.

More Suggestions are welcome. 

Male Rapes – Some Myths, Statistics, True Incidents and Legal Insight

A True Story

Is Rape attempted only on females? I would request you to think again. Male rapes are not fiction created in novels and movies. What happened in Shawshank Redemption can happen to anyone at any place.

Shikhar (name changed) was popular at his college for being a philanderer. He had multiple girlfriends and at age of 22, he had everything a student could aspire for. He shared his room with two of his classmates. His relations with them were not cordial. He had some unresolved issues with them. One night when he was sleeping, he realized that his room mates were tying him to the bed. He was repeatedly raped (sodomised) by both of them that night.

The incident changed Shikhar’s life completely. Even after two years, he hasn’t dated any girl or talked about sex with his friends. The very talk of sex upsets him. He also tried attempting suicide once to get rid of miserable life. Only two of his friends were aware of what happened to him that night, but even they were unable to console him in this situation. Similar to other instances of male rapes, the matter went unreported.

Male Rapes: Some Shocking Statistics

• About 10% of rape victims are men.
• Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey, US points out that 71% of male victims were first raped before their 18^th birthday; 16.6% were 18-24 years old, and 12.3% were 25 or older.
• U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (1999) estimated that 91% of rape victims are female and 9% are male
• Human Rights Watch Report suggests that 22% of male inmates have been raped at least once during their incarceration; i.e. around 420,000 prisoners each year.

History of Male Rapes

In some societies the victorious soldiers were given a right to rape the defeated enemy. The act demonstrated a total control over the defeated warrior. It was believed that whether consensual or forced a male who has carnal intercourse looses his manhood and is thus incapable of becoming a ruler or warrior. Gang Rapes of a male as a punishment was awarded for crimes like adultery in Rome and Violating the sanctity of Harems in Persia and Iran.

Who are the Victims?

Most of the people believe that males are victims of rapes only in jails, prisons and hostels but statistics reveal that these are not the only places where males get traumatized. A large number of males become victim of sexual assaults and forced sodomy in their own houses, pubs and armed forces.

The perpetrators avail the benefit of their victim’s vulnerable condition. A popular notion prevails that a male is supposed to protect himself and if he fails, he has lost his manhood. Like most of the rape victims, these victims also start holding themselves responsible to the injustice done to themselves. The thought that “they have lost their manhood” results in their continuous victimization. Most of them start doubting themselves and may even fail to have healthy sexual lives with their spouses. A very few cases of male rapes are actually reported. The offense is considered difficult to prove and the perpetrators are often acquitted. Out of 852 cases that were reported to police in the UK, only 44 perpetrators were prosecuted. Ironically, the victim who confesses that he had been raped or sexually assaulted is punished by the entire society. The feeling of guilt and shame makes him detest himself and his very existence. The rape is not only committed on his body but also on his mind, soul and spirit.

Indian Penal Code and Male Rape

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code is the only section that criminalized all acts of carnal intercourse. The section penalizes both consensual and forced sodomy. The minimum punishment awarded of such crimes 10 years which may extend to life imprisonment. The Delhi HC in its leading judgment of Naz Foundation v. Government of NCT and Ors stated that the provisions of Section 377 I.P.C will continue to govern non-consensual penile, non-vaginal sex and penile non-vaginal sex involving minors. Even if the judgment is upheld by the honorable SC, the section can be evoked to punish sodomists, pedophiles and zoophiles.

The only laws that remotely address to the problems of child assault in  the country are sections 376, 377 of Indian Penal Code and some sections  of the Information Technology Act, 2000.  But there is no specific law that can punish pedophiles or can compensate the victims of such events.

The Section 375 of Indian Penal Code does not include males as rape victims. Recently the government decided to amend the definition of rape and replace it with sexual assault instead. They believe that the amendment would give the section a wider jurisdiction and scope. But it is criticized that the proposed amendment would further harm the interests of the rape victims.

Conclusion

It is unfortunate that till now people associate manhood with sexuality. Manhood is not lost by a victim who was sodomized but it is lost rather it does not exist in the perpetrator who committed this heinous act.  It is a myth that only gay men commit such crimes. The offender can be bisexual, straight or homosexual. India definitely needs separate laws to deal with male rape or forced sodomy and child assault. Majority of such crimes remain unreported and therefore awareness must be spread in this regard. The benefits availed by female rape victims under the Cr.Pc must be also extended the male victims. Helplines and Online-help can be provided which may prove helpful in providing psychiatric help to them.

Ignoring Male Rapes won’t change anything but accepting it would surely make a difference.

The post is a duplication of the article already published on www.legaldrift.com

Its official now that we are going to have a caste based census this time after a gap of 80 years. Caste is an inescapable reality of Indian society. Supporters of caste enumeration argue that census categories merely reflect existing classifications, and that only the census can provide the figures necessary to map inequality by caste. For social justice, we are made to believe there is no alternative to reservation, and for reservation, no alternative to counting caste.

This caste-based census is nothing but an identity politics in our elections. The politicians who are interested in the caste census data are not as interested in advancing the living standards, as they are in organising them into vote banks. If they are so interested then what were they doing till now, waiting for this Census.

This Census will give rise to new problems. It has been asserted by the government that this data will not be subjected to analysis. Caste groups and their status differ from region to region. A certain caste in a particular state having the same name can be an upper caste, a backward caste in another state and the most backward in the third state.

 Further, caste data for the census should cover all religions and not be restricted to those calling themselves Hindus. Also, such legitimisation of casteism will strengthen the hands of reactionary and obscurantist like khap panchayats.

There is no doubt that stringent affirmative action policies are required to make formal institutions more socially inclusive, but to shackle the census to this agenda betrays a failure to learn from the past or to think imaginatively about the future.

However, the good news is that there is an opportunity for those who want to be a classless Indian progressive civil society. In the 21^st century as the whole world is concerned more and more of development, there is no need for furthering casteism and caste-based vote banking.

Go India Go...

on the lines of "legalpoet" i thought to post something poetic.. so, at first an acknowledgment to  him..

Now here it goes ....

Capitalism ki duniya me hum profit aise kamate hain ,

When the judge pronounced Kasab guilty, the tv reporters and agency reporters rushed to the doors of the court! They fought like cats to be out first and break the news!
One poor friend of mine actually got bumped in the head by a metal detector, which tilted with the people running out unthinkingly!
The security forces at the metal gates to the arthur road prison, for a moment were stunned watching the mob approaching them, unaware as to the proceedings going on inside the high security court! They pointed guns at the media persons and had to be told, "let us go, the judgement is delivered, we have to rush out!"
On the day the sentence was delivered, the judge had come prepared not to let the media out until he finished dictating the entire operating order! The policemen stood at the court's entrance with the doors locked and the tv guys were ganged up to rush out.. the seats were half empty for those who wanted to sit, most of it being occupied by the print journalists!
While dictating the order, the judge actually appreciated the media for maintaining the transperancy between the court room and the public at large!
And when the media persons demanded for the doors to be opened, the court asked them to sit down or he would remove the appreciation-observation from the judgement:-)
When the doors did open, they rushed out in such a hurry as if the jail was about to get blasted! Even before they could cross the security doors, they shouted to their colleagues standing outside about the verdict, which was then immediately passed on to their offices!
My plight was worse... I had to report for tv and print both! and when i did reach outside, before the office, i had to deal with red-ants on my bag!

Kasab may have been the lone gunman to have survived from the lot of 10 terrorists who entered India by the sea route to create a havoc in the city. But is sending him to the gallows the right route to adopt?
I firmly believe that anyone who attacks my nation deserves to be slaughtered, as was the fate of the other nine! But what irks me, or rather irk is a very mild word to use, what makes my blood boil is the way the trial has been projected! It has been shown as if we are playing all fair! Now the death sentence will go to the High Court for confirmation and then an appeal in the Supreme Court will pull on for another decade. If, at all, these two stages are expedited, what happens when the clemency petition goes to the Prez? The wait is unending... For those like Kasab and Afzal Guru , who should have been hanged years ago, they might die their natural deaths waiting for clemency and the whole world will see how compassionate we are! Or how ineffective a system we have!
After Dhananjay Chatterjee, we have stopped! Why not give those who deserve to die, the ultimate punishment in our books?
But we go by those very books and make futile all the attempts at justice for those who have suffered the troubled times! And who gets justice are the criminals?

im sorry. didnt mean to annoy anyone.

[Originally a short blog entry from a student hating law school, which was deleted a short while late. For readers' information so the comments are not just on an orphan post, we have pasted the original below again. -Ed

"national law unis are SO over rated. they all have sucky faculty. ppl who stay there for more than two years lose their marbles theyre divided into the sanes and the nlus. the nlus are some exaggerated for of insane. theyre all located in some shitty back of beyond areas. why did i have to write the clat ? why god? why ?"]

SCBA Elections are being held on May 7th, 2010.It would be great to discuss people's thoughts/views on how the SCBA should move forward this year. Clearly, a lot of trust has to be re-built and greater transparency and accountability needs to be reinstated. So please do share your ideas and thoughts on what the SCBA should seek to accomplish this year. As a candidate for the post of Secretary, I am keen to hear your views, and will seek to incorporate your views and opinions into the SCBA's agenda.

Also, please feel free to use the discussion forum on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=42&post=88&uid=113886605314151#post88

OPEN LETTER TO CHAIRMAN, BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA

Dear Mr. Subramaniam,

 Recent media reports(Hindustan Times, 03/05/10) suggest that the Bar Council of India is introducing a qualifying bar examination from September,2010.

 We are writing this mail to draw your attention to some of the concerns of final year law students on the introduction of the bar examination in July-August,2010. As responsible law students and soon to be members of the bar we do not wish to question this reform, which is in the interest of the country and has wide support of the legal community. Even the Supreme Court of India has backed this step in Bar Council of India v. Bonnie Foi Law College. We feel such a step is necessary to regulate the quality of legal education in India and to meet the challenges posed by the demand for quality legal services due to globalization and rapid growth of the Indian economy.

 Our concerns are as follows: 

1. The conduct of these exams in September will mean that final year students seeking enrollment with the bar will have no opportunity to prepare for the same, as till date neither the examination nor the syllabus for the same has been notified.
2. Since Final year law students will get limited time for preparation many of them may not qualify, they will remain unemployed for a year and in a competitive job market the long-term impact on their careers could be disastrous.
3. Law students who have received job offers contingent on their registration with the bar will be adversely affected as they will not be able to join their future employers.
4. Law schools with three year law courses like University of Delhi will be subject of discrimination as most National Law School students would pass their exams and enroll with the bar by May/June itself, while students of University of Delhi and other law faculties will get their results of their final term examinations only in July/August.
5. The examination may not be conducted efficiently and fairly in a hurried manner and the failure of the first bar exam will be unfortunate and may jeopardize the public  support for the exam.

 We would request you to ensure that in order to give a fair chance to law students who have not had notice of this exam, such law students may be admitted to the bar subject to their clearing the Bar Examination in 2010 or at the next attempt 2011. In this way final year law students will get a fair chance at the exam and their careers would be safe guarded.

 The essence of the constitutional guarantee of Art.14 is non-arbitrariness. This decision announced at the fag end of the academic session does not give a fair chance to final year law students. Further it disrupts employment contracts entered into much prior to the announcement of this decision.  This decision will jeopardize the careers of not only those who may fail any prospective exam but even of those who will pass it, as they maybe unable to secure the support of their prospective employers to wait till September to take them on board.

 We trust that you shall consider our concerns and make a reasonable exception and admit law students to the bar in June/July/August subject to their passing the exam in September 2010 or September 2011.

 We hope that the macro concerns of implementing this policy will not cause you to overlook the micro concerns of final year law students, who are now anxious about their future.

 We entrust our future to you.

 Sincerely

Collective of Final Year Law Students

The ever-enlightening Wikipedia tells us that the phrase “Face value” is the value of a coin, stamp or paper money, as printed on the coin, stamp or bill itself by the minting authority. While the face value usually refers to the true value of the coin, stamp or bill in question (as with circulation coins) it can sometimes be largely symbolic, as is often the case with bullion coins.

We learn that ‘face value’ of bonds, usually represents the principal or redemption value, that in the case of stock certificates, ‘face value’ is the par value of the stock. Further, that the ‘face value’ of a life insurance policy is the death benefit and that in the case of the face value of property, casualty or health insurance policies, it is the maximum amount payable, as stated on the policy's face or declarations page.

Furthermore, ‘Face value’ can be used to refer to the apparent value of something other than a financial instrument, such as a concept or plan. Face value also refers to the price printed on a ticket to a sporting event, concert, or other event (the price the ticket was originally sold for by the organization hosting the event).

In English, ‘taking someone at face value’ is assuming another person's suggestion, offer, or proposal is sincere, rather than a bargaining ploy.

In the legal corridors, the same phrase is very commonly heard but barely understood in its entirety and all its connotations.

Illustratively, a young lawyer friend of mine assiduously studied his brief and went for an appeal admission. His case according to him was squarely covered by a Constitutional Bench judgment passed a few months back. His opening argument was met by a very stern reply from one of the Judges who stated that in view of the decisions of that Court in several other matters, the appeal was not maintainable and the learned Judge cited a few decisions. As my friend was busy noting them down, he tried to maintain his position and said that although he had not had an occasion to read the judgments as cited, he wanted the Judges to have a look at the Apex Court decision since according to him, in view of the said decision cited by him, there was no requirement of looking into the earlier decisions of that Court.

The Court unfazed, asked him to come back the next morning but only after he had read the decisions so cited.

Back in the Gothic corridors, an unsolicited advice appealed to him. So and So lawyer, he was briefed, has an amazing ‘face value’ before the Court (where he perspired to no end to get his appeal admitted). The rest of the evening, both of us looked for those decisions. We found only one out of some seven cited. And surprisingly, the said decision appeared to be impliedly overruled by the Apex Court decision which my friend was obsessed with by now.

Having run out of imagination, he contacted the ‘so and so lawyer’ and briefly addressed his predicament. The person on the other side of the phone asked him to meet him in the corridors the next morning before the Court would commence work for the day.

Having marked his briefing copy with colourful post-its, armed with extra copies for the court and a lot of intrigue, my friend meets the so and so lawyer with several juniors in toe. The Gentleman looks at the decision and enters the courtroom. As the Court commenced work, the Gentleman approached the Bench with my friend in suit.

So and so to Court :

“My Lords, My Lords, I reckon that my Lords had indicated that the appeal is not maintainable. My Lord would kindly have a look at…..”

Court to So and So:

“No No, Mr. So and So, the appeal stands admitted. We would fix a date in the matter for arguments. "

So and so to Court:

"Obliged My Lord."

Ordered accordingly.

My friend and I stand dumbstruck.

Such things happen everyday in our courts. Irrespective of the merit of one’s submissions, matters get decided on ‘face value’.

In the domain of judicial discretion and especially in view of the fact that in the Indian legal proceedings, an injunction granted or denied is more than half the battle won or lost, such ‘face value’ creates havoc. Just think of the  'bail' court.

In order to clearly understand the nature of this phenomenon called face value, one must remember, in most cases, we deal not with just the law in courts but first and foremost, deal with a person presumed to be well versed in law.

Like all humans, they do have their limitations, likes and dislikes, and as we are all aware, that some humans, on the face of it, have more credibility and thus more ‘face value’. Such credibility may come from age, lineage and a variety of reasons and some of such reasons may also be not so credible’.

However, such ‘face value’ based exercise of judicial discretion, does immense damage to the confidence and the prospects of the younger generation at the Bar.

Results, Results and Results.

 Manic obsession with favourable results is perhaps  one of the single biggest reason for rising corruption in judiciary and desperate extra legal measures adopted at the cost of fairness and dignity of the profession and its professionals.

The Client, most often is not in a position to appreciate the young lawyer’s sincere efforts since especialy in the face of an unprepared lawyer with face value appearing and disappearing with an order in his favour leaving the young lawyer to gradually disappear from the court room, don his colours and silently exit with a bitter feeling …

And that is how ‘face value’ devalues the cause for creation of premier law  schools.

A dead body was found in a remote village of Madhya Pradesh. It had been discovered in a well after seven days of the death of the deceased. It was in a heinous condition and the people were even scared to look at it. The matter was reported to the police. The constable went running to the house of the government doctor who was posted in the village.

There was party organized at his house. Everyone a couple of doctors, their wives and children were enjoying some quality time with each other.

The news was indeed pleasure to none. The other doctors immediately decided to leave the party as if the doctor on duty was disowned by the whole community.

The doctor also realized the pain and trouble he had to undertake to carry on his duty. Therefore he choose a convenient way out. Instead of fulfilling his duty deligently, he decided to stay and delegate his work to the drunk peon in the hospital. Consequently, the report lacked necessary details which could have been sufficient to arrest and prosecute the guilty. This is a true story was narrated by Dr. Satpati (a leading medical expert in postmortem).

The story is not a myth but an ignored reality. In most of the cases the accused is given the benefit of doubt due to lack of evidence. The laxity of police officials, investigating team and medical experts are the prime reasons for injustice and judicial failures.

The concern raised in the story mostly deals with the disinterest doctors have in examining dead bodies and rape victims. It is important to note why doctors are disinterest in carrying on their duties? The answer is simple conducting postmortem is not exactly the part of their duties. India lacks medical experts in areas of postmortem and rape. Thus these duties are often delegated to a government doctor who is on duty in a village or district.

The traditional Indian notions that dead bodies are to be dealt only by untouchables, still exists in the mindsets of the people. Hence like everyone else, the doctors also try to ignore or delegate their duties to not so expert “drunk peons”. The results are disastrous, it not only provides an easy exit to the offender but also results in gross miscarriage of justice.

Another problem which must be addressed is the lack of knowledge in legal practitioners about forensic science. Most of the times the judge, the lawyer and the accused have no knowledge to check the veracity of a medical experts testimony. Moreover the language of law is alien to the medical experts and the medical language is a stranger to the lawyers. This communication gap often leads to miscarriage of justice. The medical experts are aware that it is difficult to challenge their opinion and even if they act ignorant, careless or venal they have almost no accountability.

Dr Satpati in his lecture told that it is easy to discover truth, if proper investigation is undertaken and minute details are noticed. A connection must be established between the wound and injury to the weapon discovered. The difference in pattern of wounds can be used to figure out the number of weapons and thereby helping in deducing the number of attackers. The pattern of wounds are also helpful in deciding veracity of cases specially when the wounds are self-inflicted. The date of infliction of injury can be figured out by noticing the color of the wound. The color of the wound changes in the VIBGYOR pattern similar to that of the rainbow. Thus a corresponding link can be established between the day of the crime and the time elapsed thereof.

It is unfortunate that most of the times the evidence is not destroyed by perpetrators but by the guardians of justice. This defect can be cured only by appointing some more medical experts who specialize in  areas of rape and postmortem. A collaboration must be developed between the legal (judges, students and lawyers) and medical experts. This must be initiated by imparting some basic knowledge on medical forensics to law students. Medical ethics is a term which is more related to field of medicine than medicines itself. The medical experts must not only treat it as their professional duty but also their moral duty. It is not the interest of the dead that they keep at stake. It is the faith of millions who believe in the medico-legal system that is risked.

Like all my earlier posts, this post is a duplication of the the post already published on my blog legal drift.

P.S. 

http://www.legaldrift.com/improperpostmortem-can-lead-to-the-death-of-justice/

27^th April, 2010 9.20 A.M. Court of the Metropolitan Magistrate. Punctuality being the virtue of the Bored, Chandi Agreywal, LLM, reaches courtroom no 12 situate in a huge palatial Brit built building tastelessly modified in the interests of justice. The measured steps on the near empty corridors were a welcome relief from the exercise completed a few minutes back….Chandi recovering from the suffering endured while maneuvering through the streets of the capital which for the uninitiated are ‘art of living reality’ lessons of forgiveness and tolerance of the worst forms of criminal intimidation employing rolling wheels.(Chandi drives a H.Civic ...Daddy's gift for opting for litgation over the trainee contract with Charming, Handsome and Deadly)

A hairy four legged ball of puff, a dirt ball with the most exquisite eyes stare at Chandi from the rumple on the unkempt floor, yawns, stretches its paws and silently leaves the court room. Chandi looks around and realizes he is alone.

Filtered slanted rays of sunlight window crash into the centre of the passage between the dias and the seating arrangement evincing the Brownian . The dusty seats of the half broken chairs, meant for ‘Advocates only’, lie bucktoothed, as if laughing at a bad joke. Around , on the ceiling, blotches of old plaster hang in stoic silence, ad-hoc measures of sloppy half hearted renovations lazily wake up to yet another day,

Chandi finds the usual A 4 sheets pasted on the walls signifying solemn entreats CHAIRS FOR ADVOCATES ONLY ,

STICH OFF MOBILE PHONES  

REMAIN QUITE 

Moments later, a few men appear on the other side of the dais.  The Court clerk (peshkars), the St.Peters at the pearly gates of justice. They /He can help you out if you can help them/him out.. Neatly combed hair and trimmed moustache. The first two buttons of his polyester shirt open and sleeves rolled up. The speck of Rupa frontline and the odd shades of grey chest hair stare in sharp contrast to the freshly dyed hair. An amazing sense of calm and shine on his demeanour attract you ostensibly maintained by whisky and surrogate soda and an impish smile coupled with a huge heart for extra judicial reliefs. He is the guy who can tear up the AD cards duly returned post-service of summons, he is the person who chooses the next longish date of hearing and many more…he is responsible for the smooth running of the giant wheel of justice.

Soon more servile looking people arrive, all smiles, their bodies assuming character in the confines of the court room where they would bloom to importance for a better part of the day before disappearing in the metro after the day’s work. A few entreats as they go about doing their chores, dusting files, etc. Loud conversations from across the near-empty court room, jokes and small talk.

The fans get turned on. The dusts fly and settle elsewhere. An underage serves tea in opaque glasses and disappears. A few quick gulps later, a few lawyers arrive at the Pearly gates and make brief exits after having made equally brief enquiries. And then the crowd slowly gathers. The scoffing, coughing, mixture of several conversations, whimpers, scratches of phlegm, as Advocates prepare their clients to put up their best behavior or tutor last minute lies. The pock marked pimp, the one -eyed prostitute, the phony peddler and the putrid policeman, all in one place, the unequals in equal motions of distress. A few lawyers, without bands or coats, in jeans and sneakers throw their weight around a few more people waiting around the court room and the connecting corridor. The cops, hand in hand with the petty thief,sharing a joke in the corner.

The A4 causelists hung to a thread nailed to the wall, attract itigants like bees. A constant death metal refrain on low bass, the back ground score. A momentary pause as the Magistrate takes her seat.

The matters get called out twice. First the court clerk shouts out the cause, usually part of the first name of the cause which gets echoed by another for the ones waiting in the corridor.

One by one the matters get called and heard.

Outside the courtroom, a courtyard scene from a Benegal satire unfolds. Visually…..dull colours off the palette with generous roving spots of black and white mostly, in different shapes and sizes, linen, gauze and cotton , the junta busy in the cocktail of life. Helpless litigants, busy litigators, under trials, cops , pimps , touts amidst chai and nimbu pani , typists ,  stray mongrels , soupy sambhar smell mixed with cheap oil and nicotine and the ubiquitous dust.

As Chandi daydreams waiting for his matter on the lush lawns of Oxford or the manicured strip off the front gates in Berkeley , sharing a strong espresso with his blonde mate laughing over some funny incident over the last night’s beer brawl…fleeting to his moments of hashperspective in his hostel room littered with a  sycophantic junior ensemble cherishing the last international moot exploit, a dreamy eyed appealing to the prurient interest of his devilish mind exhausted after a hectic law school schedule.

Comfortably numb, Chandy could hardly hear the faint refrain of a name akin to his client’s echoed in the corridor. He jumps to his feet. Approaches the dais while perusing his file. Punctilious as always. Application, copies, caselaws neatly filed in separate folders. The matter: fixed for service of summons. Since no receipt on file from other people summoned   Judge murmurs something to the steno typist on Chandi’s left. The Court clerk whispers something back. The magistrate asks Chandi his name. Chandi replies in an oxonian twang, The steno types a wrong spelling on the CRT unable to comprehend. The Judge gives the earliest possible date, 27^th August 2010.

Next Cause called ….and echoed again.

Chandi pushes himself out of the packed courtroom, unfazed. No applause, no cool canteen to regale with peers over quaint bytes spilled from leaks in the magic circle.

Chandi increases his pace to reach the next court room in time to seek an adjournment.

Soon you will have the census enumerator knocking your door! The massive exercise involving a billion plus people has finally begun! But this time the modus operandi would be little different! The surveyor can knock your door even in the early morning or late in the evening unlike last year when you were visited mostly in the afternoon hours.

There will be two separate forms this year, one being the main census form and the other one to collect basic information for the preparation of the Unique Identification Code. The questions have taken interesting turns and are modified keeping pace with changing times. People will be quizzed on more number of points i.e. thirty five as against twenty three in 2001. In addition to this the UID form has total of 14 points.

The questions incorporated in the questionnaire range from the number of rooms in your house to number of technological gadgets (primarily T.V, laptop, mobile phone and computer!) being used by you and your family... from the number of vehicles you own to the type of fuel used in the kitchen... from banking services being availed to having a bathroom facility inside your house! The form is expected to consume a minimum of half an hour.

But you must be aware of the punishment for uncooperative citizens! To give a serious touch to the census, the legislature has enacted a provision in the India Census Act, 1948 to penalize those who refuse to answer the questions or provide the surveyor with false information. Any person who refuses to cooperate may be fined with Rs. 1000 or/and imprisoned for 3 years!

Let us keep our fingers crossed and wait to know how much we have gained this decade in terms of demography. Also, we may receive some surprising data in the coming three years so as to the perpetration of technology in the households.

The Author is Founder and Editor in Chief, MightyLaws.in. 

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