CONSTITUTION OF INDIA, POLITICAL ABUSE OF POWER, IMMUNITY - ATROCITY TO WOMAN

Introduction:

India has been said to have very rich heritage since ages not even known to people. Looked behind, if the old era is looked at, India i.e. “Bharat” has always been a country with unblemished heritage which has always been looked at and been learned from by many people and countries.

               No matter, as per modern time, it’s always said and proof of Sat Yuga, Dwapar Yuga, Treta Yuga has been sought for by many intellectuals. But the presence of the same could not be even denied ever by any as the same have been many times referred to in verdicts and Kali Yuga (present time), which doesn’t need a proof of its existence.

               Sat Yuga which prevailed when humanity was governed by gods, and every manifestation or work was close to the purest ideal and humanity will allow intrinsic goodness to rule supreme. It is sometimes referred to as the "Golden Age". The Satya Yuga lasted for 1,728,000 years or 4800 divine years. The god Dharma (depicted in the form of a bull), which symbolized morality, stood on all four legs during this period. Later on in the Treta Yuga, it would become three, followed by two in the Dvapara Yuga. Currently, in the immoral age of Kali, it stands on one leg.

               The Yugas are said to succeed each other almost endlessly. After the perfect Satya Yuga, a decline marks the Treta Yuga. Further decline brings about the Dwapara Yuga, and after it came the final and dark Kali Yuga, a time of wickedness, when people kill each other. At the end of the cycle Kalki is said to take birth and reestablish righteousness, thus beginning a new Satya Yuga or yuga of truth.

               Relevance might be thought of with the subject, as to how it is connected and how it has prominence while we discuss the present time. Well, the most important thing not to be forgotten ever is; everything has a start and has an end. ‘Where there’s a beginning, there’s always an end.’ But when, is the question?

               Relevance and existence of Yugas barring the present time if is revered to way back centuries ago, was one of the finest time as was said to be ‘golden age’ where people were not mocked and beliefs were not superficial. On the contrary, the beliefs, self respect, respect for motherland was upheld always and believed in and followed.

               Amongst the four eras, the Satya Yuga was the first and the most significant one. Knowledge, meditation, and penance held special importance in this era. All the pillars of Dharma were present in totality. During Satya Yuga, all people engaged only in good, sublime deeds. Ashrams become devoid of wickedness and deceit. Natyam (such as Bharatanatyam), according to Natya Shastra, did not exist in the Satya Yuga “because it was the time when all people were happy”. This Yuga extended up to 1,728,000 years. Lord Vishnu incarnated in four forms i.e. Matsya, Kurma, Varaha and Narsimha in this era. The only text which was considered credible and was followed was Manu’s Dharma Shastra. The average human lifespan in Satya Yuga began with 100,000 years and gradually decreased to 10,000 years.

One shall witness the total establishment of Sanatan Dharma (eternal religion). All the deities, demons, Gandharvas, and Yaksha would give up their hatred and differences. The Rig, Sama and Yajurveda were not separate and demarcated. This era was devoid of agricultural activities or any other type of activity. Just by mere contemplation one would beget desired results. People in this era would never fall ill. No one would try to point out faults or demerits in anyone’s personality. The personality was not plagued by demerits like ego, sorrow, violent thought (aggression), jealousy, hatred, backbiting, fear, anger and lethargy.

At that time, the colour of the Supreme cosmic soul that was situated in the heart of one and all and the saviour of all the sages was white (light).

All the people were embellished with all the good qualities. People would practice austerities and penance to attain Brahman. All would be inclined towards the supreme knowledge and all actions performed would be in the intention of attaining celestial bliss.

In this way all these divine people would be bestowed with sublime faith and piousness. Albeit, people were segregated on the basis of the Varnashram method, they would all response their faith in the Vedas and the Sanatan Dharma because these people were devoid of selfishness, and they would effortlessly attain sublimity or union with God, which is a salient feature of Satya Yuga. Very valiant, mighty, intelligent and people gifted with all good qualities would be born in this era. They would surprisingly give birth to thousands of children. Great sages embellished with divinity would be born in this era.

All the time since existence of Bharat, present India (INDEPENDENT NATION DECLARED IN AUGUST) has had its Constitution by virtue of which all the Kings, Rulers have ruled their selective portion of estates which finally got merged and formed India. Despite that be so, the estates though been ruled by different kingdoms and rules who invaded Bharat, could never take away the esteemed Florence and flagrance of India ever on the contrary they as well contributed much to Bharat which in middle era was referred to as “Hindustan”.

Coming down to the part of the existing time; as said supra, evidences have been sought for as many minds have had beliefs of non-existence of Gods and the eras Bharat has seen. However, the Constitution of India could be said to be the best answer to the questions put forward by many and not one. The Constitution of India is one of the most brilliant masterpiece ever crafted in the History of world and is the longest Constitution ever written. The most beautiful aspect of the Constitution of India is that; not only it is written, but is hand written and crafted with all the Gods, Sages, Empires; Bharat has seen during its time till today depicting different chapters of the Constitution thus showing its resemblance. Thus, what best could be the answer to the questions of people who raise question as to existence of the old era albeit the Vedas, Shastras, Puranas exists?

The Constitution of India, 1950:

The Constitution of India, 1950 entails and provides every citizen of India with Freedom and liberties covered vide Article 14-21. Not only that, under the Constitution of India; accused of an offence as well is not left out. While the Preamble of The Constitution of India which starts with the words “We the People” which is adopted from The Constitution of United States of America is very significant and has its own significance.

The Constitution of India prohibits discrimination based on sex but it equally directs and empowers the government to undertake special measures for women. Though the position of women has improved in the last four decades, but still they are struggling to maintain their dignity and freedom. Presently Indian women are facing the toughest time mentally and physically, mainly due to unawareness and lack of knowledge of legal and constitutional rights of a woman. The Constitution provides many protection rights for women such as Protective discrimination in favour of women, Right to freedom of women, Right of women against exploitation, Rights of women under directives and political representations of women.

Article 15 (1) prohibits discrimination against any citizen based on religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth while Article 15 (3) permits ‘protective discrimination’ in favour of women according to which state can make special provision for women and the scope of this article is wide enough to cover the entire range of state activity including employment. Article 16 of constitution of India ensures equal employment opportunity to every citizen of India.

Nelson Mandela has rightly said “Freedom cannot be achieved unless women are emancipated from all forms of oppression.”

Article 21 provides for Right to life and personal liberty of each and every person in India which includes Right to live with human dignity, right to livelihood, right to work, right to privacy, right against sexual harassment etc. The Indian Parliament also enacted The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 which prohibits indecent representation of women through advertisements, books, writings, paintings, figures films or any other manner. The Supreme Court also emphasized the need to provide a life of dignity to the sex workers in our country by giving them some technical skills through which they can earn their livelihood instead of by selling their bodies.

Directive principles of State policy under Articles 36 to 51 of the Constitution of India are fundamental in the governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the state to apply these principles in making laws. Under this various rights of women have been implemented through legislation's. The Directive under Article 39(a) provides that the citizens, men and women equally have the right to an adequate means of livelihood and Article 39(d) ensures that there is equal pay for equal work for both men and women. The Parliament has enacted the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 and to implement Article 39 (d). Article 42 of the Constitution provides that the state shall make provision for securing just and humane conditions for work and maternity relief and for this purpose the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 was enacted.

Article 40 of the Constitution which lay down that the state shall take steps to organize village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self government. To realize the Directive the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments had sought to ensure a certain proportion of women as chair persons of panchayats. According to Article 243- D (3) and 243-T (3), not less than one third of the total number of seats to be filled by Directive election in every Panchayat/Municipality shall be reserved for women (including SC's and ST's). This opportunity of being a part of local level arbitration process has improved the social conditions of women in village areas.

The reservation is not because women are weak. On the contrary, if the old era is looked back and revered, women have all the time been praised, respected barring the present situation in India where a woman is treated as a material for sexual abuse.

Development of India:

Despite that India is developing as is said. However, the modernization is all mechanical and there is no development of mental growth to accept the fact that woman are equal; though Constitutionally woman have been protected, but how far it holds good can well be seen from the current scenario in India where there are series of incidents reported every day of oppression, sexual assault, barbaric rape, murders and where the accused involved are strong enough, they are protected.

               The biased approach and hidden agenda makes it clear of the motives and the political system India is working at where the one who are sitting as Ministers of States are not qualified enough to understand implement laws framed by Parliament and the guidelines laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and thus enshrine and the immunity granted under the Constitution of India acts as a protective shield for such political leaders and the executives i.e. the Police department.

               Dirty politics, abuse of powers have always been in existence in India and which has been taken note of by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India since the judgment delivered in the case of ‘D. K. Basu.’

               I here quote my words…“Being endowed with power gets more responsibility to preserve, safeguard and betterment. Failure of exercising powers judiciously proves the system to be savage.”

NHRC which came in existence; though is meant for protecting human rights, howsoever, the atrocious acts of the Governments, political parties, police machinery have not been captivated to the extent which need to. Having a closed eye to the incidences happening all the way cannot be said to be the act and object of NHRC until something drastic happens.

               Time and again Hon’ble Supreme Court of India laid down guidelines and in the case of ‘Nirbhaya’, the guidelines were laid down, howsoever, the same are not followed and is now becoming a serious issue with the rise of barbaric rape, sexual assaults on woman in India thus bringing the life of woman in India at stake.

               The guidelines laid by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India are not merely to be looked at by the Courts whether they have been followed or not, but as a matter of fact, it is the Ministerial function of Ministers and Ministries to educate their executives with the guidelines laid by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. With the current scenario and the abuse of power by the police machinery, it could well be gathered how far the executives are educated to implement the guidelines of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and where the powers which are in the hands of police machinery are not for abuse, unless the machinery has a backing from the Ministerial functionaries to curb.

1972 Mathura rape case, Bhanwari devi case, Rape of Priya Patel, Shakti Mill case, Nirbhaya case, Ayanavaram Rape case, Rameeza Bee case, Maya Tyagi case, Bhuwaneshwar case, 8-year-old Minor Girl Raped by 16 Men Including Relatives, Dies in Chennai Hosiptal, UP: In four days, three girls raped, two of them then murdered, during wedding ceremonies, Hathras case shows the undisputed situation of law in India and how the police machinery take efforts to cover-up the incidences. "The list of incidences is endless and the accused's involved in such barbaric incidences are countless."

Uttar Pradesh being one of the biggest states of India almost every day sees a case of rape, which can well be said to be exemplary example of law implementing agencies where the law implementing agencies manipulate and attempt to conceal the facts.

The Hathras case is an overt act of the police machinery which proves that how the police machinery is working and that too under the Ministerial powers and protection and in “UP Gang-Rape Tragedy, at 2.30 am cremation by Cops, family kept out”. Minor gang-raped by 3 in Madhya Pradesh a day after Hathras victim dies. In another incidence dalit woman kills herself after police refuses to lodge FIR on gang-rape. Mumbai: 3 men raped 22-year-old woman for over 2 years, blackmailed her using videos. 20-Year-Old allegedly rapes 8-Year-Old Neighbour In UP's Azamgarh. UP: after Hathras and Balrampur horror, two minor girls raped in Azamgarh and Bulandshahar.

               Quiet relenting was and is when Lawyer who fought for Nirbhaya reached Hathras and was stopped by the ADM and police machinery to meet parents of victim. The act of the police machinery and executives puts a (?) question mark on the working and abuse of powers by the executives of the states. The Constitution of India nowhere bars right of a Lawyer to any person be an accused or a victim and every person has right to be represented before Court of Law. Equality before law cannot merely be in books or phrases, but it is to be implemented strictly without discrimination.

Current scenario

India recorded an average 87 rape cases every day in 2019 and 4,05,861 cases of crimes against women during the year - a rise of over seven per cent from 2018 -- shows latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau.

The "Crimes in India -2019" report shows that crimes against women have gone up by 7.3 per cent last year. The crime rate registered per lakh women population is 62.4 per cent in 2019, up from the 58.8 per cent figure of 2018.

The country had recorded 3,78,236 cases of crimes against women in 2018, data shows. In 2018, 33,356 rapes were recorded across the country, up from 32,559 in 2017, according to the data from corresponding years.

"Majority of these cases under the Indian Penal Code were registered under 'cruelty by husband or his relatives' (30.9 per cent) followed by 'Assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty' (21.8 per cent), 'kidnapping and abduction of women' (17.9 per cent)," the NCRB data for 2019 showed.

Not only women, the figures collated by NCRB also indicate an upward trend in cases linked to crimes against children. From 2018, the crimes against children have gone up by of 4.5 per cent in 2019. A total of 1.48 lakh cases of crime against children were registered in 2019, of which 46.6 per cent were cases of kidnapping and 35.3 per cent cases were related to sexual offences.

The NCRB, which functions under the Union Home Ministry, is tasked with collecting and analysing crime data from across the country. The agency has compiled the three-volume report after collating data from 36 states and UTs and 53 Metropolitan cities. Once again, the Home ministry clearly said the latest data has not been shared by West Bengal, which is why 2018 data has been used to arrive at national and city-wise figures.

Question is- Is law really failing??