Centuries ago a man was brought to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s court. The man was accused of harassing, raping, and abusing a woman in the village under his control. The woman out of shame committed suicide. After this her father went begging for help to Shivaji Maharaj. Shivaji Maharaj ordered his men to investigate and the results of the investigation corroborated the father’s story.
Maharaj decided to punish the perpetrator by having his arms and legs broken. The man was then further punished to be paraded around the village on top of a donkey. Maharaj had a strong belief of protecting the dignity and respect of persons who were wronged. He believed strongly in the rights of women. He believed the culture of our people needed to protect women. Most importantly he believed that every individual has the right to protect his or her dignity. These values were taught to him by his mother Rajmata Jijabai herself. Stripping the dignity of the perpetrator was a fair punishment because the perpetrator could truly see the perspective and the plight of the woman he had abused. The perpetrator lost his position in society and was ostracized from society thereafter.
On that day the woman was given justice to some extent. She had someone to protect her and Shivaji Maharaj took it upon himself to protect all the people in his kingdom. Her dignity was somewhat restored. It was unfortunate that she died before she could see justice being served. The question remains however, does that power of accountability remain consistent today? Are we in a time where we can rely on our courts and our judiciary to be fair and provide us a fair hearing and trial? Maybe not always.
Recently, in the city of Pune, Maharashtra, a young boy of around 17 years of age under the influence of alcohol was given charge of a vehicle and he ended up driving the vehicle into two youths killing them on the spot. If there is any indication of a societal collapse then it is this.
The young boy was allowed to consume alcohol despite being underage. He was allowed to drive a vehicle despite being under the legal age and not having a license to drive the vehicle. He was allowed to drive the vehicle under the influence of alcohol. Not only did he drive the vehicle he drove it well above the speed limit. All of this happened under the supervision of fully functioning adults who could have easily prevented this. The blame game can go on forever but are these individuals strong enough to admit to their faults? Are they willing to hold themselves accountable?
The aftermath of the incident led to the arrest of the young man and then he was immediately released with a stern warning and was told to write a 300-word essay as a punishment to show that he learnt his lesson. The punishment sparked outrage as it showed the submission of justice to the power and influence of the wealthy.
The two youths who died were simply heading home from a social gathering and were going about their lives. They had ambitions and they worked hard to get where they were. Nothing was handed to them. They simply wanted to live peaceful lives. Is asking for a peaceful life too much?
The Police had their hands tied as there was political influence and there was a lot of pressure from the media at the time to make sure the boy was punished. Yet they handled the matter as best as they could and made the arrest. But the forensics department tampered with the evidence allowing the members of the family of the young boy to get involved. This was all done for money. Has money truly become so important that the lives of two individuals have become worthless?
The family of the boy is wealthy and has many political connections. They have many connections with the criminal world too. They fought tooth and nail to make sure their child would go unpunished. There is no blaming them, he is their child and anybody in their position would have done the same.
The fact is, as a society we shame wrong doers instead of correcting them. We harass them, taunt them, and berate them. We humiliate them and use our power to publicly destroy their lives so they never dare get back up and make meaningful changes to their lives. If as a society we showed rehabilitation as a way to improve the lives of the people who have committed crimes, we would have less crimes. Of course there are exceptions but those would be few and far between.
The boy was terribly misguided. His actions show a clear lack of maturity. Whether it was excessive pampering or if it was emotional neglect, the result of both of which are extreme, the boy’s actions were correctable. A fair trial where the boy’s identity would have been kept a secret because he was a minor, would have been sufficient.
The media in the want for sensational news chased the story like hounds publicly naming the child and humiliating the families involved without giving full context. This argument is not defending the acts of the child it is simply pointing out the fact that the perpetrator too has rights. Critical thinking has become a rare commodity in our times and profiting from false information is never a good idea especially if the stakes are high.
As for the victims there really is no fair compensation for them. Two families lost their young. Youths who were breadwinners and were going to uplift the family from their social class. The best way to deal with this was according to the law. The evidence clearly shows the two were on a motorcycle and the car rammed into them. The politics around the case truly destroyed the chances of giving them justice.
Ideally the family of the victims should have received fair monetary compensation and the perpetrator should have received a fair amount of prison time and a strict mandate of going through psychological counselling and rehabilitation. The perpetrator should have been punished to be actively involved in campaigns and volunteer against drunk driving, illegal consumption of alcohol by underage individuals and the abuse of traffic laws as a part of community service. This brings out the opportunity to bring closure to the families of the victims and provides an example to the people about the realities of such matters. The perpetrator should have also been given the chance to apologise to the families of the victims. They have the right to refuse forgiveness.
Whether they like it or not the lives of these families are intertwined and something good must come out of this. It does not matter what their class is in society, it does not matter where they come from. What matters is that if a society has to succeed in the long term there needs to be a fair judicial system that ensures the victims are fairly compensated and the perpetrators are shown fair compassion regardless of their crimes.
In African communities there is a system called the Restorative Justice System which in effect draws on African communal values. Restorative justice brings together victims, offenders, and the community to resolve conflicts. This process focuses on restoring relationships through acts of compensation, reparation, or apology rather than relying on punitive measures. The aim is to repair the harm caused, reintegrate the offender, and ensure community participation in addressing the root causes of the crime. By prioritizing reconciliation and social harmony, this paradigm helps mend broken relationships that are vital within communal societies like ours in India and prevents individuals from being disconnected from the wider community.
No human is born to be a criminal. A young child who made the grave choices that forever altered the course of his life is not a criminal. Coming from a wealthy family does not take away the guilt and there is no other way but to reconcile with the families and give back to society to improve his life and relieve his conscience. There is no reason to stop him from learning and becoming a better version of himself.
With power in our hands we seem to forget our basic humanity. We are all guilty of it. Shivaji Raje wanted a society where each individual could thrive without causing harm to another. He wanted freedom for his people. This freedom comes at a price. The price is that we contribute to the society by doing our jobs.
We must demand our authorities to do their jobs properly. We must as a society think critically about our issues both personal and large-scale issues. We cannot pull each other down just because we can. If anything we should help each other succeed.
There is a concept in biological sciences that states that in an ecosystem- animals, birds and plants communicate with each other. The communication is done in such a way that if a predator is in an area the birds sing in a pattern which is telling the prey animals about the presence of the predator. Plants release certain scents to ward off insects and other plants catch these signals and update their security mechanisms to prevent insects from attacking them. Some animals catch this scent and search for insects to feed upon. This just means they are looking out for each other. As a society we must communicate with each other and be critical of our actions.
Our justice system needs a complete rehaul. There is no suggestion of removing the judges and lawyers from the system here. Simply put there must be a system of transparent accountability. In the age of A.I this is certainly possible especially on a large scale. Our cases have been backlogged for decades not because of bureaucracy but because of politics. The politics of the lawyers, the politics of the judges and the individuals involved in each of these cases.
A simple checklist and a time limit on these systems will significantly improve our justice system. Not only this, there must be a system to ensure that no individual can tamper with the details of the case. Be it case evidence or witnesses or any other such detail. If there is already a system in place then its clearly not being enforced. This needs a clear overhaul and update.
As citizens of this country we have a duty towards it. We see people running away from it to settle in other countries because they aren’t powerful enough to improve it or change it. But if we come together as a group there is nothing stopping us from being a strong society. 70% of us are young and able. Sure we are from different backgrounds and fall victim to the politics of division but if we can try to look beyond that, are we really not strong enough to make this change?
The case of the young child was tragic. The death of two youths in such a callous manner was a true eye opener. The child, now an adult is currently free and lives under the care of his family. His father and two of the doctors involved with evidence tampering are in prison. The case is ongoing and will probably be backlogged for years; the reality is that a lot of individuals are looking for a pay day and there are a lot of individuals who are willing to pay for it.
There really is nothing in this world that is constant other than change. Shivaji Raje knew this. The day he chose to uphold the dignity of a person proved that this was the most important aspect of humanity. He saw injustice and he decided to make a change.
When we fail to be civil, we lose our dignity. When we lose our dignity, we go insane. When we go insane, we become animals. The minute we as humans are stripped of our dignity we lose our value. What separates us from the animals? What makes us human? Civilization.
Our justice system is a representation of us. Who knows who might need justice? What if it is one of you? The day the justice sytem failed, we failed as a society. Failure does not mean the end however. This means there is room for improvement. In reality we see such crimes occur every day. All over the country cases of honour killing, road rage, murders, rapes, and a lot more occur. A lot of these cases are either never registered or shut down. Most of these cases are never resolved and the ones that are, do not get resolved fairly.
We see powerful individuals committing crimes that affect the common public and then get away with it. Its really not their fault that they get away with it. It our fault that we fall to their feet when they show us power and wealth. It is true that as individuals we cannot do anything about this but as a group we can do anything. People in power know this.
We are so lucky to be a part of a nation like India. We know it has its faults but we can absolutely change our nation. We can make it better. We have educated individuals who are extremely intelligent and capable of making this change. We as a nation need to make ourselves strong first. Money and power hold no value when they reach the hands of the few. The true strength of a society is in unity and the ones who guide this unity are truly the most powerful leaders of this world.
Improvement happens at the grassroot level. Let’s try to improve our selves by holding ourselves accountable first. We as a nation already focus on education and our society already has that at the top of our priority list. But there are other aspects to human life. Let’s engage in physical fitness through sport and physical exercises. Improve our minds with hobbies that engage us and allow us to develop strategies to change for the better. As humans we need to be social and have more in-person contact and learn from the experiences of the elders and from the ideas of the young. We can come together and be better. 70% of us are young now so would it not be a good idea to have the foresight to effectively shape and uphold our laws and systems for the future generations as we get older?
If you have children, you are already privileged. You have the opportunity to raise an individual to achieve greatness. Let’s not waste their potential by allowing them to be slaves to their moods. Let’s push them to greatness with fitness of the mind and the body and prove to the world that our nation too can produce dignified individuals.
Our nation has a bad reputation on the international level where other countries easily assume that we are a third world country. They assume we are corrupt, they assume we lack civic sense, they assume we are uneducated and lack manners. Most of all they assume we are incapable of making significant progress as a society. The reason behind this is because we have only shown them this side of us. Our people work for them instead of establishing businesses in our own country. We don’t have an ecosystem that allows an individual to thrive instead it forces them to flee to other countries. We need dignified individuals to change this for the betterment of our nation.
Discipline and critically thought actions are the need of the hour. We need an entire workforce of individuals in varied fields not just in Engineering and Medical fields. We need Economists, Artists, Philosophers, Thinkers, and many more such individuals who can stick to their principles. You as parents have the opportunity to develop such individuals.
These individuals must be capable of being responsible and mature enough to uphold the law and ensure the safety of everyone involved. These individuals should be mature enough to help each other and try to stop each other from doing wrong. These individuals have to be strong enough to face any adversity, make amendments to policies and laws and truly defend our values and principles that we acquire from the diversity and the rich cultural history of our beautiful nation. We have surpassed 75 years of independence; we deserve better than what we have now. We must make our nation stronger.
This was the vision of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj- A strong nation united by diversity and upheld by dignity. A place where justice is expected not requested.
Let's hear it!