IS INDIAN LAW A TWISTED ONE?
There are countries like UK, Canada, Israel, Saudi Arabia and New Zealand have no written constitution. We Indians have the longest constitution in the world with 447 articles, 25 parts and 12 schedules. It consists of 1,46,385 English words. Monaco with 3,814 words has the shortest constitution. In fact the laws created from our constitution consists of 'ifs' and 'buts' in large numbers and in between found 'suject to ' create confusions. Our definable and redefinable laws must be the reason for large numbers of cases pending in our courts. 24 cases are reported to be pending in the Supreme Court for over 30 years. According to scobserver there were 80,439 cases were pending in the Apex Court at the end of 2023 and there were 80,221 cases in January 2024. As on Feb 1, 2023 there were 59,87,477 cases pending in all High Courts together as per National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) of which 10.3 lakhs cases were pending in Allahabad High Court alone. As on Dec 31, 2022 total pending cases in district and subordinate courts across the country were 4.32 crores. Total pending cases in all courts put together were 4.92 crores.
There are many examples to quote that many High Courts orders were set aside by the Supreme Court. This is generally happen due to interpretation of law by different courts. This can be suspected for the reason that our laws cannot be called impregnable. And the worst of our legal system is that politicians in power can encroach into it with no harm for themselves. Many such cases reported by the media from time to time.
There are contradictory laws in our law books but no efforts are being made to set those right. Few of those are shown below.1) It is illegal to fly kites without permit in India under the Indian Aircraft Act 1934. 2) According to IPC attempting to commit suicide is punishable. 3) Under Bombay Provinces of Begging Act, 1959, begging is illegal in certain cities of India. 4) In some regions of India it is illegal to kiss in public under the Public Displays Affection Act. 5) Kerala Police Act 2011 prohibits use of loudspeaker at night. 6) Public nudity is prohibited under the Obscene Publication Act 1959 in India. There may be many such laws which cannot be either adhered to by the common man or enforced by the police. Whichever laws that cannot be adhered or enforced may be got scrapped. It is not the length of the constitution but the mindset of the people to honour it that matters.
News media is said to be the fourth pillar of democracy. Unfortunately the foundation of this pillar is lost in our country for quite sometime. This makes the government to function behind an iron curtain. This remains acceptable to the media and unknown to the common man of the country.
K V George
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