Rapes in India: Retrospective Laws in a Retrograde Nation

How I loathe the fact that I sometimes must mention politics on my blog.  I have to then sit down and write a few other blogs that act as an as antibiotic and as an antiseptic for my blog.

The Government of India lost the taxation case to Vodafone.  The government then went all sourpusses and redrafted the law with retrospective amendments with effect from 1961.  The International community was wondering if the Government of India has lost its marbles.  Sure enough, the Government said that the law will remain and as such provided the International community a certificate that it had indeed lost its marbles.

The International community decided to stop investing in India and the Indian rupee proudly changed from Rs 44 / USD to Rs 68/USD.  Great.  Good work.  We Indians did to ourselves what Hitler did to Poland.

Let us shift gears.  Rapes are rampant in India and we may soon have the dubious distinctions of being the rape capital of the world.  Today, A Civil and Sessions Court in Bengaluru (Banglore) sentenced six persons to life term for gang raping an undergraduate student of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) on October 13 2012.  However, The Government of India amended the rape laws only in early 2013.  The prosecution wanted a tougher punishment for these criminals but they could not invoke the amended laws on rape, as they did not come with retrospective effect.

Let us talk common sense now.  What will be more beneficial for this country?  Amending tax laws with retrospective effect while earning the ire of the world business community and bringing financial ruin on the country OR amending rape laws with retrospective effect and assuring the people of this country that the Government is serious about safety of its people?

The amendment of laws with retrospective effect exposes the ethical code and value system that governs such actions.  With the above actions, the Government of India has given a message to the people of this country – “We will draft retrospective laws to punish all those who are proven to be innocent and we will draft tough prospective laws only for future criminals.”

This brings me to another issue.  What is the basis of retrospective effect of Laws?  Under what circumstances must a law be applied with retrospective effect?  I am not a lawyer, but here is my view –

A law must be applied with retrospective effect only if it is moral to do so.

Is it moral to change the tax law because your Supreme Court found them to be not liable for any tax?  Is it immoral to amend rape laws with retrospective effect so that all the existing accused criminals get a more cracking whip?

Where is the “National Will” of this nation?  I am reminded of a song by Bob Dylan.  Below are a few lines:

Don't know how it all got started
I don't what they're doing with their lives
We always did feel the same
We just saw it from a different point of view
Tangled up in Blue

© Nitesh Kotecha

No Wonder... I Saw You Smile

A bird flew to me,

 and said to me;

“From far I flew

Just to be with you”

And I say,

“I think it is His style

I think I see Him smile”

“I need some shade

am afraid I will fade;

I need something sweet

Do you have anything to eat?”

And I say,

“I think it is His style

I think I see Him smile”

“I need to be on my way,

my land is far away;

Shelters today are only a few,

Staying here was never the point of view”

And I say,

“I think it is His style

I think I see Him smile”

What can one say of such beguile?

Or lapse of reason for a while?

And then I want to cut it with a file,

But then... I saw you smile;

All my thoughts did I want to compile,

But then... I saw you smile;

Well, I know that this is His style,

No wonder... I saw you smile

© Nitesh Kotecha

What About Shakuntala Devi?

Indian Mathematical Genius and child prodigy Shakuntala Devi passed away on April 21 2013.  The papers say “Hundreds of people, including relatives, friends and admirers were present at her last rites, which was performed in a southern suburb of Bangalore before sunset.”

Let us look at her notable achievements (Source: Wikipedia)

In 1977 in USA she competed with a computer to see who give the cube root of 188138517 faster, she won. At the Southern Methodist University she was asked to give the 23rd root of a 201-digit number; she answered in 50 seconds. Her answer—546,372,891—was confirmed by calculations done at the U.S. Bureau of Standards by the Univac 1101 computer, for which a special program had to be written to perform such a large calculation.

On June 18, 1980, she demonstrated the multiplication of two 13-digit numbers 7,686,369,774,870 x 2,465,099,745,779 picked at random by the Computer Department of Imperial College, London. She correctly answered 18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730 in 28 seconds. This event is mentioned in the 1982 Guinness Book of Records.

Holy Cow!  I cannot even remember these numbers in 28 seconds.  Anyway, where are our leaders and politicians at the time of her funeral?  Does India not owe something to Shakuntala Devi?  The lady put us on the limelight in the world when India was considered a backward and armpit of a country.  May be she should have created a scandal or a sensation to get everybody’s attention.

The above event just highlights the misplaced morality that stinks up in our parliamentarians.  There is no point in attending a funeral if there is no extensive media coverage, I guess.  She had a dream of creating a university for Mathematics.  We have politicians who tom-tom the need for education in this country and yet geniuses like Shakuntala Devi remained untapped potential citizens.

Anyway, I must pay my respects.  I have read all her books on number and mathematics while I was preparing for my entrance examinations.  She brought the joy back in to numbers.  I have also read her insightful book on astrology.

“Devi used very distinctive but offbeat techniques, which were not always based on theorem, but her methods were correct and gave results. Her capability to perform sophisticated computation, which could beat computers, gave her a stature of a computational wizard. Her death is a great loss to us all," said Professor Y. Narahari, chairman of the computer science department at the Indian Institute of Science.” (Source: ibtimes .com)

God Bless Her Soul!

Maybe I Think Too Much

The seed is just barely sown
and you already consider it grown?
It is only over time that
the mulberry bush becomes the silk gown;
but you just want to dig in
and over its undergrowth you frown?
Will you, Oh! Gardener,
please give it your loving touch?
But, then I say to myself,
"Yeah... Maybe I think too much."

The seed is just barely sown
and you already consider it grown?
It is only over time that
the mulberry bush becomes the silk gown;
but you just want to dig in
and over its undergrowth you frown?
Will you, Oh! Parent,
please give it your loving touch?
But, then I say to myself,
"Yeah... Maybe I think too much."

The seed is just barely sown
and you already consider it grown?
It is only over time that
the mulberry bush becomes the silk gown;
but you just want to dig in
and over its undergrowth you frown?
Will you, Oh! Almighty,
please give it your loving touch?
But, then I say to myself,
"Yeah... Maybe I think too much."

©  Nitesh Kotecha

I Told Ya!

The Honorable Supreme Court of India, on Feb 15 2013, decided to rid India of the scourge of VIP security.  Below is an excerpt from a report from Economic Times / India times.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has held that VIPs do not have the first right of way on public roads, while criticising the widely prevalent "red-light" culture in the country. A two-judge bench said beacons, sirens and security assigned to people other than constitutional heads and their state counterparts must go, terming the provision of these facilities to such a large number of people at state expense as "oppressive symbols of our democracy".

"Every citizen has a fundamental right to use public roads. Which is the power that says that X category has prior right to use roads, have precedence in traffic?" Justice GS Singhvi asked on Thursday. The remarks were made in response to a petition seeking to question the constitutional propriety of holding up traffic for VIPs. "Even if there is a power, is it to be used in an indiscriminate manner?"

These powers, Singhvi said, were "misused frequently to create havoc for ordinary citizens". None except emergency services and constitutional functionaries should get security without a genuine threat perception, he added. "What is the genesis of the red light culture? How many have lost their lives because they could not reach the hospital on time because of VIP movement? We have become indifferent and insensitive as a society. This is the worst crime in a democracy. Does anyone understand the value of life?"

Singhvi offered to lead the way by cutting down on judges' security. "Remove red lights. Allow entry (into courts) without stopping traffic," he said, adding, "Many may not like it, but it (the security) has become silly, ridiculous."

Both judges singled out P Chidambaram and George Fernandes for praise on this count. "A former HM went around without any security," Singhvi said. In this regard, Justice Gokhale pointed out that Fernandes did not have any security even as defence minister. Justice HL Gokhale said the large sums of money spent on the security of 1 per cent of the population could be used to improve the lot of the ordinary citizens.

"The police force seems to have become a private security force. Sometimes, those with criminal records get security in situations of their own making," he said. The court also asked states and Union Territories to furnish within four weeks details of expenses incurred in providing security to public functionaries and other individuals.

States were also asked to specify the kind and quantum of security assigned to such persons, details of security assigned to family and relatives, both inside and outside, security assigned to those facing criminal charges, details of those provided state security in lieu of payments, information about any review of threat perceptions, and rules that allow police to shut roads to facilitate movement of public functionaries.

With regards to security for VIPs, amicus curiae Harish Salve said, "If the streets are unsafe, they have to be unsafe for all. You can't give more security to a secretary. Needless security for an individual or a genre of individuals amounts to wasting of tax-payers' money and is also unreasonable, and hence, violative of the right to equality."

"Even the British were not as heartless as we are. They were a small power trying to rule a big country; they had to do it. But now we do it to ourselves. The mindset is shocking. Nothing has changed. We have just replaced one set of rulers with another," he added.

Read more news about the Supreme Court of India at

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/oppressive-symbols-of-our-democracy-supreme-court-slams-misuse-of-beacons-sirens-by-vips/articleshow/18508547.cms

Readers of this blog will recall my earlier blog on how there is only one institution in India that can save India.

However,  is it possible that the top leaders of the country have orchestrated this decision from the court so that they don’t have to worry about bringing this discipline from the parliament and compromising their political futures?

I don’t know... but the Supreme Court did it.  I told Ya!

© Nitesh Kotecha

What Is Wrong With My Garden?

Well, I did the routine chores,

Am waiting till the rain pours;

I have planted the seeds,

And removed the weeds;

Am proud that my call will be harkened

Can anybody dare say

"What is wrong with my garden?"

Well, the rain never came,

I stand and face the shame;

I had planted seeds of pride,

Into the sun I must now ride;

Nature is proud that its call is harkened

Should anybody dare ask

"What is wrong with my garden?"

A man gives to the world all he has,

And looks skywards with his eyes unfazed;

But the Lord of Time holds a mast,

The future soon becomes the past,

Time is proud that its call is harkened

It is with humility that I say

“I know what is wrong with my garden,

Oh Lord! May I beg your pardon?”

© Nitesh Kotecha