CONNECT ON:
Shamim Zakaria
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • PORTFOLIO
  • BOOKS
  • CURRICULUM VITAE
  • BLOG
  • Contact

TOWARDS IMMACULATE POLITICS: Right to Reject

29/9/2013

0 Comments

 
Lenovo tablets at up to 25% off | BUY NOW
Flat 25% Off on Titan, Fastrack and Sonata watches
PictureImage Courtesy- right-to-reject.blogspot.com
I was in the midst of a seminar, when the cell phone suddenly vibrated to a SMS, as the session was an important as well as interesting one, so unwillingly I opened the message. The message sent by one of my friend from Guwahati, filled my eyes with glitter, anticipation and hopes, which to a large extent broke off my cynical views. The message said, “Supreme court gives historic judgments of right to reject. Victory for the common man!! Time to celebrate” Somehow impatiently I waited till the end of the seminar and after it got over the first thing I did was, confirmed the news.

It was not just me who was blithered; certainly 27th September, 2013 was a very overwhelming day for every voter of the country, especially the one concerned about the political sphere. And why not it be, after days of desperate wait finally the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India pronounced its landmark ruling directing the Election Commission to include a None of the Above Button (NOTA) in all the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and ballot papers. This signifies that, during elections if a voter can’t find any of the given candidates suitable, he/she can press the NOTA button and reject all the candidates. This historic judgment was accepted whole heartedly by every section of the common Indians which eventually resulted in celebrations across the country in bits and pieces, snippets of which was seen in Guwahati’s Digahalipukhuri area too.

One can’t deny the fact that India’s political scenario is certainly worsening with every passing day and something unprecedented was perhaps the call of the hour and keeping pace with it, this judgment can be considered as an initial step towards immaculate politics. And with this India has become the thirteenth nation with an option of negative voting.

When the aura of the atmosphere is of elections, we often come across people deciding to refrain from casting their votes. The most common reason cited is the lack of good people in the political arena and most importantly the absence of any suitable candidate. As a result the voters hold themselves back from exercising the most important right in a democracy i.e. the right to vote. However with this new rule being implemented, there might possibly be change in the mindset of people which in turn may increase the voters turn out. Further it might also compel the political parties to put forward untainted and appropriate candidates meeting with the demands of the voters, which would eventually lead to a systemic change in electoral process.

However amidst all celebrations, one side of the coin has not yet grabbed public attention, making the rule a tossed-up one. A thorough analysis of the judgment reveals that, the NOTA option won’t impact the results of the election even if 50% of the voters opt for NOTA. For instance, even if 90 voters in an electorate of 100 persons press the NOTA button, the poll will be decided in favor of the candidate who gets the maximum of the remaining 10 votes. There’s no provision for re-election. As a result of this the candidate whom people presumed to be unfit might come to power.

Nevertheless, keeping aside the flaws this new rule can be considered a drop in the bucket of India’s changing political scenario. As it’s said, “Democracy is for the people, of the people and by the people” and with this historic ruling by the apex court India’s staking democracy would be safeguarded to great extent. The NOTA option certainly marks the beginning of a political revolution and as common citizens, we can behold a new dawn in India's political scenario with hopes that it will be devoid of any filth, which as of now had compelled the common man to sheerly loathe politics.

Though it’s too early to make bountiful expectations, however as 2014 Lok Sabha polls is knocking at the door, we might very well see its repercussions.



No unauthorized publication or use of any content allowed without prior permission | All rights reserved by the author | Feel free to Share via buttons displayed on the left side

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
0 Comments

MERE DEATH PENALTY CAN’T TRANSFORM A SOCIETY

20/9/2013

0 Comments

 
PictureImage Courtesy- blog.foreignpolicy.com
The recent abhorrent incident of rape and murder of two girls near Azara, on their way from airport in a taxi, has certainly ashamed every right thinking citizen. The heinous episode has not only shaken the conscience of the city dwellers, but perhaps has brought various aspects, ranging from security cover of the city to deceasing humanity, under scrutiny. However, one vexatious aspect of this is even after people clogging the streets to protest against rape and after numerous rape convicts being sentenced to death, why sexual atrocities, predominantly rape hasn't deterred. The million dollar question that pops out in the present scenario is, is mere death penalty enough?

It’s evident enough that death penalty perhaps can never be justified in the form of justice or can’t bring justice to anybody. Any civilized society can never have any place for death penalty. Whatever may the crime be, killing someone is synonymously a form of violence. For the innumerable form of violent and heinous crimes taking place in the society, we ourselves say that violence in any form is unacceptable, then how can we justify death penalty and support the right to take life of others.

Even, according to Amnesty International, there are thousands of people in this country who believe that the use of death penalty is arbitrary, flawed and biased. Death penalty is merely short term revenge. Speaking in the context of rape, there’s no doubt that it’s one of the most heinous crime prevalent in the society and stringent punishment must be ensured, however though we presume that the survivors of rape and other women centric violence might want the killing or physical harm of the convict, but through studies and research by women based activists procured that even the women folk who are the worst sufferers of violence and abhorrent acts doesn’t stand for physical harm of the convicts. According to the victims, what has been done to them, they never want that to happen with others. What they sought is justice, not revenge and death in any form can’t bring justice to anyone. Moreover, death and a few minutes of fear before it is not what can be termed as punishment.

Very often we feel that death penalty might work as an asset towards bringing down the crime rate or creating a fear towards committing it. However, there’s no any evidence or research to suggest that death penalty succeeded in deterring the crime rate or creating a fearing. Rather a shocking survey reveals that, in American countries where death penalty is still prevalent the crime rate is higher than, the countries which has abolished capital punishment.

Putting light on the Saudi-Arabian and some middle east countries, punishment like public hanging, chopping of limbs or stoning to death are quit prevalent. Though such punishments might create a degree of fear or deterrence of crimes but, again we need to question ourselves, do we want to transit to a society of that sort where merely in a week or more judgment is being delivered and death penalty is handed over, where there’s even doubt in the credibility of the judgment. There might even be chances of false fabrication of the accused.

Lastly, this again brings us to the question; can death penalty transform a society? However, the fact remains that killing can never transform a society. It neither can serve nor justify a community or society in any form. There’s a lot more to do other than killing, to make the society grow and improve its stature. To uplift the society in terms of aesthetic and moral grounds focus should be on creating a space for education, acuity, equal access to justice and legal opportunity and eradication of poverty.


No unauthorized publication or use of any content allowed without prior permission | All rights reserved by the author | Feel free to Share via buttons displayed on the left side

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
0 Comments

DEFENCE LAWER’S COMMENT SPARKS HUGE CRITICISM: Makes a Mockery of the Judiciary and Contempts court.

13/9/2013

0 Comments

 
PictureDefense lawyer Mr. A.P. Singh speaks to media. [Courtesy- ONE INDIA NEWS]
The nation’s desperate wait finally ended when on 13th September’2013, a Delhi fast track court gave its final verdict on the much infamous Delhi gangrape case that took place on December 16th 2012, which was eventually followed by haling protest all across the country. And all the protests and peoples’ outrages were answered with the court granting death penalty to all the four accused amongst the total six, where one being a juvenile was granted seven years imprisonment by the Juvenile Justice Board, whereas the prime accused Ram Singh had already committed suicide.

Now, shifting focus towards today’s decision, what happened inside the court certainly gives enough reason to celebrate, but the outside scenario is extremely the opposite. After comments by the defense lawyer Mr. A.P. Singh, it compels us to think what have we learnt from the abhorrent incident and how far we have come after one of the most heinous crimes that took place on that fateful night of December 16. The lawyer’s insensible comments would certainly intrigue one to think how much insensate, spurious and stereotyped this man could be. In Mr. Singh’s words, while briefing the media after the delivery of the verdict, he made certain disgusting statement hurting the dignity of the departed victim further assassinating her character, stating, “Why don’t people first control their own daughters? I’d burn my daughter alive if she was having pre-marital sex and roaming around with her boy friend at night.”

He didn’t simply restrict himself till this and went even further criticizing the decision of the court where some of his comments gave clear snippets of breaching THE CONTEMPT OF COURTS ACT, 1971.

In Sec 2(C) of the act it’s clearly stated that, the publication (whether by words, spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representations, or otherwise) of any matter or the doing of any other act whatsoever which-

(i) Scandalizes or tends to scandalize, or lowers or tends to lower the authority of, any court; or

(ii) Prejudices, or interferes or tends to interfere with, the due course of any judicial proceeding; or

(iii) Interferes or tends to interfere with, or obstructs or tends to obstruct, the administration of justice in any other manner,
is a criminal contempt of the court.

Coming back to the defense lawyer, Mr. A.P. Singh, in his statement to the media there’s a clear instinct of the violation of this act as he said, “It is regrettable that in the judgment in the case of the December 16 gang rape has been completely dictated by the government. The judge without giving its due thought and under political pressure, without considering the evidence or witness has handed all four convicts the death sentence”. He further stated that the verdict made by the court was under utmost political pressure by the Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde”. He not only criticized the court’s decision but further asserted it to be influenced by alien forces, further the defense lawyer Mr. Mr. A.P. Singh, detrimented the stature of the judge calling his decision to be one without any due thought and thrust by the political class. This is absolute bizarre, making a jest of the most respected judiciary system of the country.

Indian constitution terms the judiciary to be an independent body, providing it with absolute power, which makes it the most respectable and supreme body of the country. However, statements like that of Mr. A.P. Singh, has certainly made a mockery of it.

Though the defense lawyer’s statement resulted in huge public and media criticism and protest in bits and pieces, however it would be interesting to find out, does Mr. A.P. Singh face the law and what repercussions erupts for scandalizing and disrespecting the supreme body of the country.



No unauthorized publication or use of any content allowed without prior permission | All rights reserved by the author | Feel free to Share via buttons displayed on the left side

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Archives

    July 2018
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    July 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    September 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012

    Shamim Zakaria

    Promote your Page too
    Subscribe to Newsletter

    PAGE VIEWS

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.