DailyPost 2590
WEAPONIZED LEGAL FRAMEWORK
Can a legal framework be weaponized? Should it be? Is it doable? Was it not created for exactly the opposite? This would be succinctly described by the ones who have been on the receiving end of this framework. It could also be explained all those who have made it into a weapon and reaped the fruits of it. There are lot many times we talk in an ambiguous manner that law would take its own course. More often than not it is means that it would take a course of choice or intended legal harassment but that person concerned will never spell it out. The process is the punishment emanates out of this fact. Even if you win at the end of the day, it would still be a loss.
Why that legal proceeding was initiated at all, will keep haunting you for all times to come. Going through the legal tangle is not a joke, it can have put you down in every way; financially, mentally and even physically. And who would compensate you for the loss of time? The embarrassment and humiliation would be writ large on your face for a long time. In short, your life can be completely unsettled by a false, superfluous or an exaggerated case or by a wrong application of an Act or the section thereof, specifically that facilitates your incarceration for a long time. Predictability which is at the core of legal framework is more of a smokescreen today.
Recently the CJI said that the legal framework has been weaponized to oppress certain communities. From the general weaponization now come to specific groups bearing the brunt of this nature of legal framework. Citing Supreme Court judgements, he said that “India’s legal framework has been frequently weaponized to systematically oppress certain communities.” He added a word of caution for the judges to be cognizant of the social realities and that the marginalized groups have been subjected to “horrendous wrongs.” How this can made to happen is the challenge? How does the legal framework become objective, empirical and delivery oriented so that historical wrongs and current social discrepancies have no impact?
When the rule of law becomes to rule is law, the legal framework can ingeniously be used as a weapon. What does weaponization of legal framework mean? In simple language in means that you are able to achieve your ulterior motive giving it a garb of invoking the right law, following the right judicial process and a final decision with full application of legal mind. See the world around you and you would find umpteen instances which you would have treated so far as a very sound application of the law of the land. And finally, not to talk omission in enforcement. It means knowing of a crime and not initiating the law action. Or you don’t react and respond in a matter you should, as state, during the legal process. That is the ultimate weaponization of law.
UNADULTERATED JUSTICE CAN BE THE ONLY GOAL OF THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.