Double Whammy
The Supreme Court of India has set the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons. It rulings on two consecutive days last week, the apex court held that:
(a) The provision of electoral law protects a convicted lawmaker from disqualification on the grounds of pendency of appeal be struck down and made it clear that, therefore, MPs, MLAs and MLCs would stand disqualified from the date of their conviction in the trial court. (b) Any person who is in jail or in police custody is banned from contesting elections to various legislative bodies.
Both rulings are widely being described as landmark judgments, which they are, as they certainly would go a long way in decriminalizing politics and cleaning up the electoral-political system that has been compromised to the point of paralysis given the taking root of the lawbreaker-turned-lawmaker syndrome. Yet, responsible politicians cutting across party lines have made the point that the rulings are not unproblematic.
The Central government has already indicated that it would be preferring an appeal against the rulings and politicians across the spectrum have expressed concern that the first ruling is against the principle of natural justice whilst the second debarring those convicted from contesting elections will be used to harass political rivals and be especially dangerous given that the politics of vendetta and framing rivals in false cases.
Both these arguments have some merit. After all, the principle of natural justice means that a person is innocent until proven guilty, and convictions by trial/lower courts are routinely overturned in appeal by higher courts. So, the logic goes, by debarring a legislator duly elected at his or her first conviction, as it were, amounts to pronouncing him/her guilty and depriving him/her of Constitutional rights even as the process of law is still on and a final call on guilt or innocence is yet to be established. Add to this the ramshackle system of criminal jurisprudence in India especially at the lower court level, and you have a recipe for injustice, is the argument put forth by the political class.
As for banning those who are in jail or police custody from contesting elections, India is littered with examples of those who maliciously and willfully misuse the law, makes false charges out of a spirit of revenge or getting even, resort to framing rivals for perceived slights, et.al. Police in most cases have to, by law, register an FIR. And that in itself is function of the sections of the IPC/CrPC applied which in turn, nowadays, is a question of the clout of the complainant more often than not. Thus, argue erudite politicians, the Supreme Court ruling would be susceptible to wide and persistent misuse especially given what is at stake for career politicians.
So, prima facie, these seem to be entirely genuine concerns. Yet, why is it that, our eloquent leaders and legislators must ask themselves, there is no tractions among the vast mass of citizenry for these sensible arguments? Why are people not protesting against the perceived unfairness of these rulings and why are not civil society groups petitioning the apex court for a review? Imagine if the two apex court rulings under discussion were made applicable in toto to any other class or group of professionals ~ there would have been a national outcry. Instead, when it comes to politicians, the mass reaction is ~ it’s about time! This antipathy towards the political class may be, in the long run, inimical to our faith in democracy but then at least we will know whom to blame for it.
So, it is incumbent on the better sort of politicians ~ and they do exist though their numbers are dwindling at an alarming rate ~ who are interested in rescuing their profession from the mire and helping the cause of democracy, to encourage their brethren to ask of themselves why their stock has hit rock bottom amongst the public. Perhaps they can also suggest that as a first step to change this mass perception about themselves, politicians will not oppose political parties being brought under the ambit of the RTI, which is the one issue in recent times that there seems to have been complete unanimity on!
It’s time to get real.
