Truth about Law

" Real Justice always prevails. It is more visible and/or is felt more strongly in sacred environments. Our job needs to be to clean up our environments through everyday service. The existing laws and processes are more than enough for the citizen of faith. No amount of legislation would be enough for the citizen without faith."

by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam 

(April 01, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) I respond to the article ‘Justice Implies More than a Law‘ published in Sri Lanka Guardian of 31 March.

In the article ‘Persecuting of NGOS under the pretext of prosecutions’, the Asian Human Rights Commission stated ‘The importance is that whenever investigations begin they should begin within the framework of a clearly defined crime and that the persons being investigated must be clearly told of the crime for which they are being investigated.’

To me, at first glance – the two seemed to contradict each other – one looking at possibilities beyond legal borders and the other to construct and/or confirm those very borders.

The opening statements in the article in relation to Justice in India are ‘Over the past four months, the Union Law Minister, Mr. M. Veerappa Moily, has been claiming that his ministry wishes to propose a law, on the 'right' to justice, which would guarantee justice to every citizen. While the minister's wish is noble, the country lacks the means and administrative will to assure what the minister has proposed, even at the notional level to the ordinary people.’

This is exactly the point I was making in regards to the previous article about firm framework in relation to crime. Even though they seem to contradict each other – they are both ‘right’ in terms of the respective countries – India and Sri Lanka. The commonness in terms of framework is applicable to multicultural areas including NGOs. It is easier to work on the basis of Faith in mono-cultural areas. Hence appointments to those law and order positions is the critical area and not whether the crime is firmly brought under the provisions of the law, to the satisfaction of the citizen. In Sri Lanka, if investigations were to begin within the framework of clearly defined crime the Government would have been guilty of serious racial discrimination when Tamils and Tamil areas were searched under suspicions of terrorism. Searching is also elementary investigation. Most of us accepted this ‘special’ requirement due to our appreciation of the Government’s position. That was as per Natural Justice.

The author says ‘The problem with the concept of justice is that, the people would not believe in its existence, unless it is visible. Justice is a tangible impression directly proportional to the diverse means in which it is experienced.’

I do not identify with this in relation to India. As per my observations and feelings through my Indian heritage, majority Indians are driven by faith and they do believe in Natural Justice. It’s Judgment by Humans that requires particular form to be credible. The more foreign and/or multicultural we are the more we need Objective outcomes that are visible and processes that are transparent. Most money rich countries use this system. People rich countries such as India are better off with Faith based systems. As for the right to Justice for all citizens – it is taken as already being in existence. The citizen must want to use that system. The more corrupt a system becomes, the further away the good citizen moves from that system. That is the choice we make. When the citizen governs more than the Official Government – the Government needs to facilitate the citizen and not administer. Citizen has the opportunity to Govern through every life in her/his regular environments. We learn through those experiences. If we continue to be active in the official system we need to adjust our status vis a vis the Government and its agencies, at least in our minds, and not take the easy way out as most money affluent folks do.

In this regard, I recall my experience on the train to Madurai from Chennai in South India. We all queued up for hours to get into the train. While we were waiting, a couple of guys approached us and asked us whether we would pay them if they got seats for us? Relying on the queue system (the parallel of the legal system) – we said ‘no’. There were a couple of Police Officers to regulate the flow. When the train arrived – the queue started moving and we were happy. Then all of a sudden, the officers left and the crowd just surged forward. I was shocked and just got carried with the crowd. My husband managed to get into the train and asked for my hand to pull me in. I felt so upset that I was wondering whether we should not go in that train. Since my husband was already in – I also got in. There was only standing room and I felt very upset. I shared this with my husband. After the train started moving, a gentleman who was seated asked the lady opposite to him to make way for me to sit down. I took my seat and allowed myself to vent my frustration through a letter to the General Manager of South Indian Railways. I had a small notepad in my handbag and I started writing. My husband stood most of the way to Madurai – but he did not seem to mind it. I thought of posting the letter after we returned to Chennai. Later when I looked for the letter – it was missing ! I still do not know how that letter went missing. But thinking about it, I felt that Goddess Meenakshi of Madurai was saying to me that She had facilitated me through Her system and hence I did not need the official system. I often recall that experience when I feel I am likely to be disappointed by the official system. Later here in Australia also – the Legal system including the Australian Human Rights Commission let me down in terms of ‘outcomes’. But to the extent of my faith as an Australian, I felt more closely connected to fellow Australians in that system who were worse off than I due to having lesser opportunities than I to seek Justice through Natural Paths in everyday life.

Real Justice always prevails. It is more visible and/or is felt more strongly in sacred environments. Our job needs to be to clean up our environments through everyday service. The existing laws and processes are more than enough for the citizen of faith. No amount of legislation would be enough for the citizen without faith.