How Not To Court The Law

Corn cannot expect justice from a court composed of chickens

—African proverb

A black sheep from a family of lawyers with no great distinction, I have often been amused by lawyers and the legal system. When I hear people say they have confidence and “full faith in the judiciary”, I can’t help but smile and think of the abuses masked by the righteous rubbish. Thanks to John Grisham, American TV and our 15 national law schools (there are a thousand other law colleges), some of the brightest students now opt to study law. Some of them find jobs abroad or take to teaching and research. But a majority is exposed to our courts and, dare I say, get compromised.

I myself had tried to join the tribe once. The law exam was a cakewalk, I was told. A law student those days didn’t have to attend classes. You did have to appear for exams, but you could take help not just from books but also “seniors”. I went to the law college twice; first, to complete admission formalities, and on the second occasion, to write the exam. I found the examinees already had the question paper even before the scheduled start, and they were writing the answers, sipping tea, cracking jokes, even humming songs. They were on the lawn, in tea shops across the road and some lounging in cars.

Though intimidated, my reporter’s instinct got the better of me. I decided against taking the exam and instead took down notes for a news report that appeared three days later in the weekly city newspaper I worked for, bringing a hundred howling law examinees to the office after the paper was cancelled. That effectively ended my quest for a law degree.

Several years spent in the court provided me with insights that continue to revolt me. They made me realise that the courts are of law, not of justice; they go by the letter of the law, rarely the spirit; that laws are indeed like cobwebs for the rich but like iron chains for the poor. That lawyers are officers of the court and cannot afford to point out mistakes made by the court. That there was no separation of powers, and most of the judges behaved like government servants, not independently. That courts were often friends of the police and the powerful, not of society.

The disillusionment drove me to work with Free Legal Aid Committee, Jamshedpur, a great learning experience. We found people in prison because they couldn’t afford bail. Others had stayed in prison as undertrials far longer than they would have had they been convicted. We surveyed villages and, in some of them, found every household embroiled in litigation and selling land and valuables to fight cases. We came across so many cases of police framing villagers and planting evidence that I have never been able to trust the men in uniform.

Earlier, people studied law either because their parents could afford to send them to England, or because they didn’t know what else to do. A pithy Bengali saying held, “Jaar nei kono goti/Taar aachhe Okaloti (Those at a dead end/fall back on Law to fend).” The profession has now become glamorous and offers steadier income and security. An added bonus is the opportunity to excel in politics, with political parties realising the utility of having resident lawyers capable of arguing on both sides and making eloquent speeches, often signifying very little.