The Bar Dance
A law is a law, only as long as, the society ‘accepts’ it as a law. I vividly remember our Legal Jurisprudence teacher telling us this, in the very first year of Law School. The examples he gave us ranged from the ‘sin’ of sati to the ‘evil’ of child marriages, emphasizing that even though strict laws existed against such practices, their enforcement became nearly impossible, as the people for whom they were meant, refused to recognize it.
Likewise, there have been numerous instances in the past, when similar laws have been perceived as unacceptable by the society and repeatedly disobeyed leaving the authorities who are supposed to ensure the implementation of such laws, absolutely helpless. In fact, in the last few weeks, we have once again witnessed such a phenomenon on both sides of the Pir Panchal.
One might argue that, the idea put across by my Jurisprudence teacher encourages a state of defacto lawlessness, where a mob rule would at all times prevail over the law of the land. Yet, despite their unpopularity, and even disobedience at times, such unaccepted laws find a place in the law systems as they are necessary for the evolution of a society towards a state where such unaccepted laws finally gain acceptance.
In this context, a recent news article was somewhat disconcerting. The article was about the Jammu Bar deciding to honour the children who had courted arrest recently. These arrests were courted as a sign of protest for the ongoing agitation over cancellation of order of land transfer to Shrine Board. The association president while addressing a meeting, praised the children, and their parents who motivated them, for courting arrests. Ironically enough, the same article referred to the following comments made by some other members of the Bar, “The association is of the opinion that inefficient handling of such situations has contributed to the deteriorating law and order problem and resulted in imposing of curfew” (emphasis supplied).
I am sure these revered members of the Bar are aware that such an act was against the law, though with full public backing. Parents who “motivate” their children to do an illegal act should are not to be appreciated, least of all by the “men of law”. Instead, they are liable to be put behind bars (pun intended). There have been many instances where the Supreme Court of this country has gone ahead and compared the legal professionals to doctors, stating that ours is a ‘noble profession’ but in this sad state of affairs its us, lawyers, who are stopping and holding back the evolution of our society when it is we who have the duty to advance it.
The act of the public can always be justified, though not excused, on the idea which was put forth by my jurisprudence teacher. But something like this coming from the so called protectors of law shows that we have a long long way to go before that ideal state of acceptance is reached.
A law is a law, only as long as, the society ‘accepts’ it as a law. I vividly remember our Legal Jurisprudence teacher telling us this, in the very first year of Law School. The examples he gave us ranged from the ‘sin’ of sati to the ‘evil’ of child marriages, emphasizing that even though strict laws existed against such practices, their enforcement became nearly impossible, as the people for whom they were meant, refused to recognize it.
Likewise, there have been numerous instances in the past, when similar laws have been perceived as unacceptable by the society and repeatedly disobeyed leaving the authorities who are supposed to ensure the implementation of such laws, absolutely helpless. In fact, in the last few weeks, we have once again witnessed such a phenomenon on both sides of the Pir Panchal.
One might argue that, the idea put across by my Jurisprudence teacher encourages a state of defacto lawlessness, where a mob rule would at all times prevail over the law of the land. Yet, despite their unpopularity, and even disobedience at times, such unaccepted laws find a place in the law systems as they are necessary for the evolution of a society towards a state where such unaccepted laws finally gain acceptance.
In this context, a recent news article was somewhat disconcerting. The article was about the Jammu Bar deciding to honour the children who had courted arrest recently. These arrests were courted as a sign of protest for the ongoing agitation over cancellation of order of land transfer to Shrine Board. The association president while addressing a meeting, praised the children, and their parents who motivated them, for courting arrests. Ironically enough, the same article referred to the following comments made by some other members of the Bar, “The association is of the opinion that inefficient handling of such situations has contributed to the deteriorating law and order problem and resulted in imposing of curfew” (emphasis supplied).
I am sure these revered members of the Bar are aware that such an act was against the law, though with full public backing. Parents who “motivate” their children to do an illegal act should are not to be appreciated, least of all by the “men of law”. Instead, they are liable to be put behind bars (pun intended). There have been many instances where the Supreme Court of this country has gone ahead and compared the legal professionals to doctors, stating that ours is a ‘noble profession’ but in this sad state of affairs its us, lawyers, who are stopping and holding back the evolution of our society when it is we who have the duty to advance it.
The act of the public can always be justified, though not excused, on the idea which was put forth by my jurisprudence teacher. But something like this coming from the so called protectors of law shows that we have a long long way to go before that ideal state of acceptance is reached.
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