Thomas Hobbes' theory of justice depends on
certain observations on human nature – doubting our ability to come to some agreement about what is just. I agree.
Indians must give up the search for the Summum Bonum – Cicero’s concept
of the highest political good or perfect justice.
An Indian company, DLF Ltd, was found
guilty on Oct 13 2014, of not disclosing complete information in its Initial
Public Offering (IPO) of 2007. Great. It takes Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) seven years to figure this. Let us now look at the punishment meted out
to the company – The Company and some of the key staff are barred from accessing
capital markets for three years.
In other words, a person walks down to the
bank and fraudulently withdraws money from an account. The punishment for this person is that he
must not enter a bank for three years!
Is this not great? I mean
wow! What a relief!!
The stock lost 30% the next day. Essentially SEBI punished the investors and
not the company. What kind of a twisted
justice is this?
The above incident clearly shows the lacuna
in the concept of justice in India.
Organizations and institutions are more happy to be seen to be
delivering justice THAN ACTUALLY DELIVERING JUSTICE.
The Law commission is currently in the
process of repealing some 300+ antique laws in India. Come On!
Is this the best that one can do with his / her time? There is no dearth
of laws in India - what we need is modern laws and their implementation. Let us say all these 350+ laws are repealed – will it make an iota of difference in our
lives? The average citizen becomes aware
of these laws only when the media reports that they will be repealed!
In the concept of Justice as a natural law, Justice is similar to the laws of physics - Newton's law of Motion requires that for
every action, there must be an equal and opposite reaction. Well justice too requires that defaulting individuals / groups
to get what they actually deserve.
Theories of retributive justice are
concerned with punishment for wrongdoing, and need to answer three
questions:
Why should
we punish?
Punishment is the infliction of
an unpleasant but appropriate penalty upon an individual or a group by law
enforcement agencies in response to behavior that an authority
found to be in violation of existing laws.
Who should be punished?
The answer here is clear – we punish the
company, the lead managers, and all those associated with concealing the
material information
What punishment should they receive?
Ah! Here lies the rub! The answer here lies in the concept of
restorative justice. Restorative justice
focuses on the needs of victims and offenders, instead of satisfying the law. Offenders are forced to take responsibility
for their actions and this type of justice shows the highest rate of victim
satisfaction. This concept was eulogized
in the 1972 Indian Film “Dushman”
Lady Justice depicts justice as
equipped with three symbols: a sword symbolizing the court's coercive power; a
human scale weighing competing claims in each hand; and a blindfold indicating
impartiality. Well, the coercive power it is, but the
poisoned blade found its way to the wrong person - the investors.
Talking of poisoned blades reminds me of
Hamlet and Shakespeare. “This above all: to thine own self be true.” I wish
India wakes up. Is this what our freedom
fighters dreamt of – A hypocritical India?
But, there are no fighters here now,
are they? Do you know why?
“Conscience doth make cowards of us all.”
© Nitesh Kotecha
