Law and Justice

LAW AND JUSTICE
Justice begotten at a cost is justice lost. The fact is lost sight of by present
administration of justice. Justice necessitates an integral vision. It cannot be isolated
from its environment, past, present, future, diverse issues, people involved and related
events. It means delving into the heart of an issue and delivering justice taking into
account all related issues and matters to the rightful entitlement of all. This presupposes
a passion for objectivity and justness and above all, selflessness in the arbitrators of
justice as well as in those who are in the service of the administration of justice. The role
of the police in the administration of justice comes under scrutiny in the context of their
part in the investigation of crimes and maintenance of law and order.
The police play umpteen roles as executors at the grassroots level. They are
basically performers, actual doers in the field. Passion is the normal trait of action.
Objectivity and justness seldom give company to those who act to show results.
Expecting selfless traits in policemen is akin to waiting for rain drops to fall from bright
white clouds. The policemen perform their duties with normal flair and loyalty while put
in service of justice. Only they lean towards the rich and the powerful.
Loyalty to justice is a noble cause. It signifies a heightened mind bound to a
heightened cause. Loyalty to a value or a just cause is always a great virtue. The same
cannot be said about loyalty to individuals of whatever importance. Individual loyalty in

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the service of the administration of justice is self-defeating. The achilles’ heel lies in
loyalty, basically faith, a blind faith, sans stirrings in the conscience. The only loyalty
desirable for those in the service of the administration of justice in addition to the loyalty
to the cause of justice and other virtues is loyalty to conscience, freedom of thought and
independent judgement. A policeman with his loyalty can do an exemplary job in the
administration of justice.
The police, as the cutting-edge of governance, enjoys enormous powers. They
can prevent, check, prohibit, restrain, regulate, confine or arrest erring people. They can
forcibly break-open, enter, search and seize when the need arises. They may use
weapons to hurt and kill. These extraordinary powers are tools of the police in serving
the interests of justice. The police, as the means of justice, is exempted from the process
of justice by the law itself. The relevance of the police in the administration of justice is
two-fold: one, fair exercise of their powers to ensure that no harm is done to the
process of justice. There is virtually no way to force them to comply with the needs of
objectivity and fairplay in work save their own interpretations of laws and actions.
Interference of the court often is to little, too late to be meaningful. The lack of a sound
mechanism of supervision and the poor position of the policeman in society, mediocre
education and a deviant job culture inhibit the police from performing at levels
commensurate with their responsibilities. They have no organisational pride. Field
orientations distract them from high human values. A weak economic position and
opportunities to make easy money render them prone to corrupt practices. There is
nothing tangible in their service to inspire a commitment to the noble cause.

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Shallow policing is responsible for all the mishaps and turbulence of the first half
century of independent India. Another factor is the exercise of their special powers
without going against justice. The police is a fence which, with its extra-ordinary
powers, however, can ruin the crop it is asked to protect. The enormous powers confer
special responsibilities on it to protect innocent people from a rash exercise of powers.
Every person thinks he is right and every criminal is just in his own assessment.
Every act of a human being has its own logic, reasons and justifications. This is true of
the police too. Every encounter, every lockup death, every third-degree method, every
wrongful confinement, every illegal arrest and every excess committed by the police has
its own justification. It is irrelevant how the justifications appear to outsiders. You
seldom find a policeman confessing to a wrong or an excess committed. Commissioners
have explained away the gunning down of innocent citizens by subordinates in broad
daylight as a case of mistaken identity. We have any number of cases of senior police
officers colluding with subordinates in destroying evidence of lock-up death cases.
The cause of failure of the police lies more in the system’s failure, the character of
its main players, deviant job culture and wrong leadership than in the concept of policing.
Police in an inappropriate milieu may turn into a monster.
These days the executive heads of government opt for their own men in the
police force to head premier investigation agencies; political rivals are investigated and
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charge-sheeted on flimsy grounds while cases of national significance drag on. The
police is reduced to the state of a tool of political revenge in this power game. In the
process, the police loses its credibility as a nonpartisan player and an infallible tool of
establishing justice.
Making justice a costly affair gives another dimension to the issue. Effectiveness
of the police lies in its ability to make justice an easily and cheaply dispensable
commodity. The police is the first line of defence. Courts come on the scene only in a
far later stage. Most cases of dispute never go beyond the police stations. Good police
certainly symbolises effective administration of justice more than courts and prosecution
department together do.

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LAW AND JUSTICE

administration of justice. Justice necessitates an integral vision. It cannot be isolated

part in the investigation of crimes and maintenance of law and order.

Loyalty to justice is a noble cause. It signifies a heightened mind bound to a

cannot be said about loyalty to individuals of whatever importance. Individual loyalty in

The police, as the cutting-edge of governance, enjoys enormous powers. They

commensurate with their responsibilities. They have no organisational pride. Field

nothing tangible in their service to inspire a commitment to the noble cause.

special responsibilities on it to protect innocent people from a rash exercise of powers.

seldom find a policeman confessing to a wrong or an excess committed. Commissioners

officers colluding with subordinates in destroying evidence of lock-up death cases.

Police in an inappropriate milieu may turn into a monster.

department together do.

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