By P Mohan Chandran
Do the courts recognize irony? Are they fluent in the subtleties of human compassion, or are they ensconced in the bastion of legalese, oblivious to the quirks of society? Questions like these meander in the minds of citizens when they hear rulings so astonishingly perplexing, it makes one question the very sanity of the judicial system. Today, let us talk about stray dogs and how they have become the unwitting mascots for judicial double standards in India.
Why is it that stray dogs, these marginalized citizens of the four-legged variety, are drawing so much ire from the Indian judiciary? Ah, yes, because they are "public nuisances." They howl at night and dare to—brace yourselves—pee in public areas! Clearly, their conduct is far more calamitous than the actions of some people who partake in free roadside meals and then commit heinous crimes.
In a mélange of judicial ambiguity and misplaced responsibility, the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court states that good Samaritans should feed stray dogs at their homes and not on the streets. Stray dogs, by definition, belong to the streets, and expecting every kind-hearted individual to adopt them is an asinine notion. If logic were an edifice, this judgment would be its crumbling foundation.
Let's muse upon another gem from the judicial treasury: if you feed a stray dog, and that dog bites someone, you are responsible for the injury. Yes, you heard it right. By this yardstick, if you offer a sandwich to a starving man, and he turns out to be a rapist or murderer, congratulations, you're an accomplice! It's as if jurisprudential thought has transmogrified into an absurdist Kafkaesque drama.
The pièce de résistance? Article 51A (g) of the Indian Constitution, as interpreted in the landmark Animal Welfare Board of India v. A. Nagaraja & Ors., makes it a duty for citizens to have compassion for all living creatures. If you're scratching your head in bewilderment at this paradox, join the club. It seems as if the courts are saying, "Be compassionate, but don't you dare actually show it!"
Is it not high time for our judiciary to resuscitate its ailing moral compass? The dharma—righteousness—of jurisprudence must not be lost to a labyrinth of illogical statutes and contradictory judgments.
So, we find ourselves back at the conundrum with which we began: Does the judiciary understand irony? Or are they happily ensconced in a hall of mirrors, where each reflection justifies the other, irrespective of its basis in logic, ethics, or societal norms? How many more stray dogs must become the crucible for this judicial folly before sense prevails?
It is high time we asked: what kind of intellectual juggernauts are steering this ship, and where, pray tell, is it headed?
Do you agree that some of the judgments of the courts are illogical and insane?
A. Yes, a few of the judgments are really crazy & insane!
B. No, it is not so though it may seem so, prima facie.
© 2023. P Mohan Chandran. All Rights Reserved.
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