For the religious minded, the Supreme Court is of course the court of the Lord that takes decisions depending on the merits of the case, supposedly delivering what a person deserves. Then there is the ultimate day, the day of the judgement that decides the final fate. Referred differently as qayamat, the last day or Yawm al-Qiyamah, it is part of the eschatological worldview of several religions. But for that day to arrive, the day on which the final judgement will be pronounced, there is a long wait. When will that day come is not known. However, apart from the canonical gospels, there is a Supreme Court for the mundane world, too, that pronounces judgements of far-reaching consequences and charges the believers when the chips seem to be down. The two recent judgements of the Apex Court pronounced in August fall in that category.
August has a historical significance for other reasons too, but the two judgements pronounced in this month — the one on Triple Talaq and the other on Right to Privacy — lend further credence to this month of August. Declaring that the Triple Talaq practice is unconstitutional and privacy is a fundamental right put, rather catapult, India further in the 21st century, raising the level of society to a more progressive one. Archaic laws made by the powers that subjugated India for centuries have remained a bane for the country that entered into the democratic club 70 years ago. The Indian Supreme Court, however, has time and again stood with the citizens of this democracy through several landmark judgements, including the Golak Nath case, the Keshavanad Bharti case, or the Minerva Mills case. The two August judgements may well fall in the same category given the implications they hold for the citizenry. That citizens’ rights are supreme and inalienable is a basic doctrine of a democracy which for all practical purposes should be a ‘Government of the people, by the people and for the people’. That is what the term janta janardandenotes.
The Latin “Vox Populi, Vox Dei” also signifies the same. Aberrations do arise but the wonder of Indian Constitution is its resilience to re-establish the equilibrium whenever it is being threatened. And the one institution that has withstood the test of the times by standing up to these threats has been the Supreme Court. Both Triple Talaq and the privacy judgement can be seen from the point of view of citizens’ right to life and liberty. While the Triple Talaq judgement upholds the rights of womenfolk subjugated by the clergy, the privacy judgement upholds the right of all citizens from subjugations through excessive governance. It would certainly strengthen the citizens’ right to question the Government as very aptly stated in the Apex Court judgement that “who are governed are entitled to question those who govern”. Too much governance is an anathema to progressive governance, which must rest on the premise laid down by Henry David Thoreau that “Government is best that governs the least”. The problem with our country and countrymen has been the worldview of the Governments about citizens and that of the citizens toward Governments. For the Government, the citizen still is the praja or the subject, a legacy of the alien rule mindset, and for the citizen the Government is the maibaap. Though there is still some way to go, we certainly have covered a big distance.
shashwatchintan 