What has been witnessed in recent times is the almost total abandonment by the Pakistan Supreme Court Judges of their solemn duty of upholding the Pakistan Constitution, e.g. Article 224(2) thereof, and of protecting the liberties and rights of the people, ten thousand of whom, including former Prime Minister Imran Khan, are in jail in terrible conditions, many, including women, having been dragged out of their houses, which were broken into, and often brutally tortured, while the judiciary is silent
Probably the Judges think that if they interfere and refuse to cow down and surrender to the dictates of the Pakistan Establishment they will be made to suffer personally in some way.
For that reason they are not doing their solemn duty, and have turned a Nelson’s eye to these horrors.
But I would like to tell them about a Judge, Qazi Sirajuddin, who did his duty even at the risk of his head being cut off by the Sultan.
In his ‘History of Bengal’ Prof. Charles Stewart mentions an interesting case of 1490 before Qazi Sirajuddin, the Qazi -e-Subah of Bengal.
One day while the Sultan of Bengal was practising archery, one of his arrows accidentally wounded a boy, the son of a widow. The widow immediately came before the Qazi and demanded justice.
The Judge (the Qazi ) was in a dilemma. He said to himself ” If I summon the Sultan to my court, he may cut off my head for impertinence, but if I overlook his act, I shall one day certainly be summoned before the Court of God to answer for my neglect of duty. “
After much reflection, fear of God prevailed over fear of the Sultan, and the Qazi ordered one of his officers to go and summon the Sultan to his Court.
On receiving the summons,the Sultan instantly rose, and concealing a short sword under his garments, went before the Qazi, who far from rising from his seat or showing the Sultan any mark of respect said to him ” You have wounded the son of this poor widow. You must therefore immediately pay her adequate compensation, or suffer the sentence of the law. “
The Sultan made a bow, and turning to the widow gave her a sum of money which satisfied her. After doing so he said to the Qazi ” Worthy Judge, the complainant has forgiven me. ” The Qazi then asked the woman if she was satisfied, to which she assented, and the case was then dismissed. The Qazi then came down from his seat and made obeisance before his sovereign, the Sultan, who, drawing the sword from beneath his garment, said ” O Qazi, in obedience to your command I came instantly to your Court, but if you had not done your duty I swear that with this sword I would have taken off your head. Thanks to God I have in my dominion a Judge who acknowledges no authority superior to the law ”. The Qazi then took out a whip which he had concealed under his robes, and said to the King ” I also swear by Almighty God that if you had not complied with the injunction of the law this whip would have made your back black and blue. It has been a trial for both of us ”.
Let the Pakistan Supreme Court Judges learn from this historical account. They are all God fearing Muslims. Probably they are only thinking of their present comforts. But how will they answer Allah when brought before him ?
I recently gave an interview online to a Pakistani journalist, Sohrab Barkat of siasat.pk, which is below
There were over 670 comments on Youtube after the interview was displayed. Among these were some comments, probably from Pakistanis, that I should be made Chief Justice of Pakistan ( CJP ).
The possibility is remote, but if indeed I was appointed CJP, here are the orders I would pass suo motu on the very first day of assuming charge come what may :
The Army Chief Gen Munir, as well as the Corps Commanders and Principal Staff Officers, as well as the top police officers, are ordered to be immediately arrested and placed on trial before an International Tribunal, for unleashing a fascist reign of terror in Pakistan, and for crimes against humanity ( like Field Marshal Keitel and Gen Jodl at the Nuremburg trials, and Generals Tojo and Yamashita at the Tokyo trials, who were later hanged ), and given harsh punishment if found guilty.
The PDM leaders, especially the arch villains Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Home Minister Rana Sanaullah, PPP leader Asif Zardari etc, are ordered to be immediately arrested for abetting the crimes of the army and police, as well as for looting the country, and put up on trial, and given harsh punishment if found guilty.
National elections shall be held within two months, as Article 224 of Pakistan Constitution provides,and for this purpose all necessary funds will be released forthwith by the State Bank of Pakistan, and all security provided to ensure free and fair elections. Those who oppose this order will be promptly and severely punished for contempt of court. 4.Imran Khan and all PTI workers and supporters are released forthwith, and all charges against them in all courts or bodies are withdrawn
Judges like Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court Aamer Farooq, and Addl District Judge Humayun Dilawar, who are a disgrace to the judiciary, are sacked forthwith without any pension or perks.
Rahul Gandhi”s recent speech in the Lok Sabha during the no confidence motion proceedings on Manipur is being hailed by some as historical, as if it were a speech of Demosthenes, Cicero, Daniel Webster, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill.or Martin Luther King Junior
In his speech Rahul talked a lot about his Bharat Jodo Yatra ( march to unite India ), which was really irrelevant since the no confidence motion pertained only to Manipur. I have earlier written about this Yatra and called it a gimmick.
Rahul then launched a furious and vociferous diatribe against the BJP Govt, accusing it of murdering India, and denouncing Prime Minister Modi as a traitor, a Ravan ( the demon king of Lanka whom Lord Ram killed ), who burnt his own kingdom by his ahankaar ( conceit ), and one who has thrown kerosene throughout India.
The motion of no confidence related to events in the state of Manipur, so instead of devoting most of his time speaking on his Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi should have utilised it in giving hard facts and figures relating to the Manipur ethnic violence. He should have spoken on how the Meitei-Kuki conflict originated, how it developed, what is the situation at present,. and how it can be resolved.
But instead what Rahul Gandhi did can only be described as grandstanding. He first indulged in self praise, mentioning how he walked from Kanyakumari in the south to Kashmir in the north, despite acute pain in his knee and enduring other hardships. He then said that India was a voice ( whatever that meant ) for which he was prepared to give his life. Finally, he launched his diatribe against Modi. And having ended his speech he immediately walked out, like Pontius Pilate who said ” What is truth ? ” and would not wait for a reply.
What was Rahul Gandhi’s real purpose in giving this speech ? One can only speculate, but these points occur to me : (1) Rahul’s aim is to become the leader of the Opposition, not just a mere member of the Opposition alliance called INDIA ( which has recently been formed ), so that he can later become the next Prime Minister of India (2) He wants the Muslim vote bank, which is particularly large in north India, and he wants it desparately in the forthcoming 2024 parliamentary elections.
I am no supporter of the BJP ( in fact I have often strongly criticised it for its communal politics ), but Rahul Gandhi seems to me to be an empty headed spoilt brat, who has no idea how to solve India’s massive socio-economic problems, but in whose head has been instilled the idea that he is the legitimate and rightful claimant to the throne of India as he belongs to the ruling dynasty.
He reminds me of that other clown, The Young Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie, and I am inclined to believe he will have a similar fate as that other buffoon.
A lawyer friend of mine , who is now no more, was a few years older than me. He told me this story when I was a lawyer in Allahabad. In the late 1950s a Convocation was held in the Allahabad University. In this function some University students, including my friend, put a garland of shoes on the neck of the Chief Guest in the function, the U.P. Governor ( in protest over something ). Consequently they were expelled from the University.
They decided to go to Delhi and request the Prime Minister Pt. Nehru to get their expulsion revoked ( Allahabad was not only Nehru’s constituency, it was also his home town ).
They took the night train to Delhi, travelling W.T. ( without ticket). When the TTE ( Travelling Ticket Examiner ) came and asked for their tickets they shouted “Hum Prime Minister ke constituency ke hain. Bhaag jao ” ( We are from the Prime Minister’s constituency. Beat it ), and the poor TTE fled.
On reaching Delhi they went straight to the Prime Minister’s residence at Teen Murti. When they wanted to enter the house they were stopped by the securitymen, who naturally asked whether they had an appointment. They said “Hum Prime Minister ke constituency ke hain. Hamein appointment wapointment ki zaroorat naheen hai” ( We are from the Prime Minister’s constituency, we dont need any appointment ).
When the secuirity men would still not allow them entry they threatened to commit suicide at the gate of the P.M.s house, and created a ruckus. This news reached Pt. Nehru, who ordered that they be allowed entry. The students then trooped into the P.M.s house, and were usherted into a big hall, where there were a lot of dry fruits–kishmish, baadaam, akhrot, cashew nuts, etc on a table. They ate some, and pocketed the rest for future use.
After a few minutes, Pt. Nehru came into the hall, wearing only a vest and shorts, and shouted “Jao padho, padho” The students replied “Kahaan padhein sahib ? Hamein expel kar diya gaya hai ” ( Where should we study, sir ? We have been expelled ). Pt. Nehru again shouted “Padho,padho “and left the hall.
The students were bewildered and nonplussed, and they left the house wondering what the P.M. meant. They then caught the night train to return to Allahabad,( again travelling W.T. and eating the dry fruit they had pocketed at the P.M.s residence).
In the morning, when the train reached Fatehpur, the station before Allahabad, one of them got off the train and bought a newspaper at the platform. There it was published that their expulsion had been revoked by the University Vice Chancellor. Probably Pt. Nehru, the magnanimous man that he was, had told a secretary to telephone the Vice Chancellor and request him to forgive the students and readmit them. After all boys will be boys (particularly Allahabad boys ! ).
Many years back I was invited by the then Vice Chancellor of JNU ( Jawaharlal Nehru University ), Delhi for dinner along with about a dozen Professors of the University
Prof Sopory, VC of JNU from 2011-2016 Who Invited Justice Markandey Katju.
I was told that the budget of the University Grants Commission was Rs.41,000 crore in the Five Year plan, and the annual budget of JNU alone was about Rs.200 crores.
In my usual blunt way I said, “How has this benefited the Indian masses? It seems that the huge funds being ploughed into higher education in India are for the benefit of foreign countries and to give you Professors huge salaries and fine houses to live in rather than to benefit the Indian people.”
This sparked off a lively debate. Some of the professors tried to refute my statement, but I stuck to my guns.
I said that most of the money spent on education in India went to the institutes of higher education like the IITs and universities, and very little money was spent on primary and middle schools, particularly in rural areas, where the foundation of education was laid. There are very few facilities such as proper teachers, proper classrooms, proper seats, electricity, libraries, etc in these primary or middle schools, whereas the institutes of higher education are given huge funds and have very good facilities, state-of-the-art campuses, air-conditioning, etc.
I then gave a few examples to prove what I said:
1. I once went to a village about 40 km from Allahabad (my native city) to meet a farmer friend of mine, with whom I had studied at Allahabad University.
At his home I met one of his sons who had passed class seven and promoted to class eight in his high school in the village. I asked him to bring his class 7 mathematics book and solve a few simple problems. He could not do so. I wondered how he had been promoted to class 8 when he could not solve simple class 7 problems. I then solved those simple problems, and asked him to attempt the other problems in the lesson. He was obviously an intelligent boy, because having learnt how to solve the simple problems, he proceeded to solve the rest.
At this I asked him, “Did your teacher not teach you all this?” He replied, “Master Sahib thekedari karne lage hain, aur doosre master sahib class lene aate naheen hai” (the earlier teacher has become a contractor, and the next teacher does not come to take classes”).
2. I went to a reputed intermediate college in Allahabad and was told that in a section in Class 11 there are 250 students. I was shocked. Under the rules there should not be more than 40 students in a class. What teaching can possibly be done in a class of 250 students? I also learnt that in some of the sections at Allahabad University there are over 300 students, and there is not even place for a student to sit.
In view of this, much of the real education takes place in private coaching institutes, or at the residence of teachers who make much more money there than in their institutions. As a result, these teachers evince little interest in teaching in their institutions, and a student who does not join the coaching (paying high fees) finds it difficult to pass.
3. In many of the staffrooms of our educational institutions, teachers, instead of discussing academic matters, often discuss petty politics, often of a casteist nature or matters pertaining to their service conditions. Senior professors often get appointed or promoted people of their own caste, whether they have merit or not.
4. Teachers are often appointed not on merit but on extraneous considerations, like political connection, caste, etc. They are appointed on contract basis. In some States, “shikshamitra” who have been appointed on a salary of Rs.1,500 a month have no degree or teachers’ training qualification.
5. The level of intellect of many teachers is low, ( like the teachers in Dickens’ novels ) because many of them have not been appointed on merit but on extraneous considerations.
To give an example, when I was a judge of Allahabad High Court I had a case relating to a service matter of a mathematics lecturer in a university in Uttar Pradesh. Since the teacher was present in court I asked him how much one divided by zero is equal to. He replied, “Infinity.” I told him that his answer was incorrect, and it was evident that he was not even fit to be a teacher in an intermediate college. I wondered how had he become a university lecturer.
In mathematics it is impermissible to divide by zero. Hence anything divided by zero is known as an indeterminate number, not infinity. To explain, suppose 1/0=x. Then x multiplied by 0 should be 1. But we know that anything multiplied by 0 becomes 0. Hence it is impermissible to divide by 0.
Infinity is not a number at all. It simply means that there is no end to numbers as they are increased. It can be accurately expressed as follows :
Limit of 1/x, x tending to 0, is infinity.
I gave them many more such examples, and told the senior academicians at JNU that huge amounts of money of the Indian taxpayer is spent on the IITs and other institutes of higher education, but the graduates of these institutes often take up jobs in foreign countries. This results in brain drain. Thus, while Indians pay taxes which go towards educating our bright students, the benefit of their education goes to foreign countries and not to the Indian people. These foreign countries benefit because higher education in their own countries is very expensive, so they have to pay only a fraction of that amount to get our bright young students.
I posed them another question: the test of every system is one simple question. Does it raise the standard of living of the masses or not? I said that the huge amount of money being spent on higher education in India is not raising the standard of living of the Indian masses because about 75 per cent of Indians continue to live in dire poverty. Also, there is massive unemployment, malnutrition, skyrocketing prices, huge problems of health care, housing, etc.
Apart from that, I asked them how many Nobel laureates have our universities and other institutes of higher education produced ? Hardly any.
In many American universities one will find half a dozen Nobel laureates in their faculties.
Australia, which has a population of about 25 million, has 180 academicians who have an F.R.S. (Fellow of the Royal Society), while India, with a population of 1,200 million, has only about 20. So what are the achievements of our scientists and other intellectuals? It is only when they go to the United States or Canada or Europe that they achieve anything.
What is the quality of research work done by our academicians in institutes of higher learning? Unfortunately it is abysmally low and does not benefit the Indian people. Their publications ( often plagiarism ), are mostly poor, and done only to improve their CVs in order to get jobs.
The purpose of education is to help raise the standard of living of the masses. But in India it seems that its purpose is to raise the standard of living of a handful of people who get jobs as govt servants, corporate employees, teachers, etc
I must say to the credit of the professors assembled there that they did not take any of my remarks personally. I told them that I had no intention to insult them but was only voicing my genuine grievance about the defects in the educational system in India, and the need to make it beneficial to the masses.
At the end it was agreed that my views required serious debate
By Justice Katju In the first half of the 20th century divorce was almost unknown in India. In fact it was not even legally permitted among Hindus ( it was first permitted by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 ), and even among Muslims, for whom it was permitted by the sharia law, it was very rare.
India had one of the lowest divorce rates in the world, but in the last few decades this has increased rapidly.Today Indian law courts are flooded with cases of divorce, maintenance, child custody, etc, and such cases often double every few years.
How did this happen ? To explain this drastic change one must go back in time. Upto the first half of the 20th century most people, particularly in rural areas, where 85% of India’s population lived, were married in childhood, the boy being 14-15 years old and the girl being 13-14, and their life partners were chosen by their parents. Thus they grew up together ( usually in a joint family ) and became friends, not just husband and wife. At that very young age one’s personality is flexible, so there was no problem of adjustment. Hence there was seldom any divorce.
Today the position is very different. Now both boys and girls are grown up when they marry, the boy ( or rather young man ) often being 27 or 28, and the girl ( or rather young woman ) being 25 or 26. Sometimes both are highly qualified, and often both working.
Dating system, as practised in Western countries, is still uncommon in India, and the way one gets married is usually this : the girl’s parents invites the boy and his parents for tea at their home, and the boy and girl are sometimes left alone for a short time in a separate room to talk with each other and assess each other. They may meet again a few times, and then they are asked by their parents if they are agreeable to get married. If they agree, the marriage is performed.
However, after marriage, they may realise they are living wih a stranger. At their age their personalities have become rigid, and is no longer flexible, and they may have different interests and ambitions, and may find each other incompatible. Whereas in earlier times women were financially dependent on their husbands, and so had to put up silently with whatever treatment they got from their husbands or in-laws, now they do not put up with ill treatment, such as violence and abuses, particularly since many are working and financially independent, and have their self respect.
This, and other factors e.g. infidelity, ego clashes, etc often results in divorce proceedings, claims for maintenance, child custody battles, etc.
Another cause for this phenomenon is the rapid urbanisation of India over the last few decades. Whereas in former times most Indians ( about 85% ) lived in rural areas, now about 40% live in cities and towns. The financial hardships in these places, and other factors such as shortage of proper housing, often contributes to the break up of the marriage, and increase in divorce cases is more witnessed in urban areas, even in smaller towns.
Many wives separate from their husbands without a legal divorce ( which often takes years to obtain as Indian court proceedings are usually very protracted ), as they prefer separation to life long abuse.
Where is all this heading to no one can predict. But this much is evident that Indian society, particularly relations between men and women, is changing rapidly, and in the years to come this trend is going to grow exponentially, for better or for worse.
Whenever a bomb blast occurs in India there is great pressure by politicians and the public on the police to solve the crime.
The problem for our police is that it is not usually trained in scientific investigation nor is given the equipment for the same, so it can rarely catch the real culprits.
Criminal investigation is a science. If one reads the stories of Sherlock Holmes one reads how Holmes scientifically investigates a crime. Similarly if one sees on YouTube ( see FBI Files, True Crimes, Crime Reporter, etc ) how the American police solves a crime, by going on the spot and gathering the evidence—fingerprints, blood stains, tyre tracks, fibres, cartridge shells, semen, etc, and then sending it to scientific laboratories, one will understand what is scientific investigation of crimes. The fingerprints are fed into a national database, DNA tests are held on blood, semen, etc.
In India, on the other hand, our police is rarely trained in scientific investigation nor is provided the equipment for it, and yet the police inspector is threatened with suspension if he does not solve the crime. So what does he do ? He catches hold of some young Muslims who had given fiery speeches in a meeting denouncing atrocities on Muslims in India, chargesheets them, and then manufactures false evidence against them. The real culprits are rarely caught.
Many people regard most Muslims to be fanatics, who have been religiously indoctrinated to commit acts of terrorism, so they are often the scapegoats. Even if they are ultimately found innocent by the Court they often have to spend years in jail before they are released, as they are usually denied bail. Numerous instances can be given of this, as in the links below
I regret to say that this is a mockery of justice, and this is one reason why Muslims, who constitute 16% of our population, often feel alienated in India
Indian Independence Day, 15th August, is approaching, and on this occasion I appeal to the Indian Govt to bestow the nation’s highest award, the Bharat Ratna, on Dr Dwarkanath Kotnis, who went to China in 1938 with an Indian medical mission to help the Chinese in their fight against Imperialist Japan, and died there 4 years later.
In this connection I wrote an article a few years back, which is reproduced below : The Death of Dr. Kotnis by his wife Guo Qinglan At 6.15 a.m. on 9th December 1942 Dr. Kotnis breathed his last. He was just 32 years old. He had spent over 4 years in China during the War of Resistance against the Japanese, treating the wounded and sick Chinese.
On 27th November 1937, at the suggestion of of the eminent American correspondent, Agnes Smedley, Zhu De, Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Eighth Route Army wrote a letter to the Indian National Congress leader Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru expressing gratitude for supporting the anti- Japanese struggle of the Chinese people and requesting for support in the form of a medical team and medical supplies from India. Consequently Pt. Nehru proposed that a Medical Mission be sent to China. China Day was observed all over India on 29th June 1938. Dr. Kotnis, who had qualified as a doctor from Bombay Medical College, saw the demonstrations in support of the Chinese, and determined to join the Medical Mission.
He went to Sholapur, his home town, and told his family about it. At first they tried to dissuade him, His brother Mangesh said ” For the sake of our education father had to borrow a lot of money. Now our parents are old and need a helping hand.” However, when his father saw that he was adamant he said ” So, Dwarka ( Dr. Kotnis’ first name), you have decided to go. I would like to remind you not to let the Indian people down. Since you have decided to go, you must do a good job and good things to the Chinese people, and win laurels for your family and country”. At midnight, on a September day the 5 doctors of the Aid China Medical Mission, led by Dr. Atal, boarded the P.&O. liner , S.S. Rajputana. They were seen off by Mrs. Sarojini Naidu and others. On 14th September they landed at Hong Kong, and after a 17 days voyage reached Guangzhou. From there they travelled by road to Changsha, and then to Wuhan, where they were met by Zhou Enlai, who asked Dr. Kotnis ” How old are you ?”. ” I am 28″, replied Kotnis.
” Wonderful” said Zhou Enlai, ” You can do much work for friendly relations between India and China”. They travelled then to Chongqing, which was then the capital of the Chinese. government under Chiang kai Shek. At Chongqing, Dr. Kotnis received a letter from his brother in India, which was handed over to him by Dr. Cholkar, the deputy leader of the Indian Medical Mission. It said ” Father has passed away suddenly “.
This was a bolt from the blue, and he could not stop crying. His colleagues tried to persuade him to go back to India, but he said that he will never let his father down, and the best way to commemorate him was to help the Chinese people eject the Japanese invaders. So he continued with the Mission to Yenan, where they lived in caves. They spent the next 4 years treating the wounded and the sick Chinese. During these 4 years Dr. Kotnis had overloaded himself with work for a long period until his health completely broke down working for the cause of the War of Resistance against Japan and liberation of the Chinese people. He went without food and sleep for long periods, and endured extreme pain during this period, and sacrificed all he had till his last breath.
On 7th December 1942 he performed operations on 5 wounded patients. On 8th December he taught his students and performed a practical operation for over 20 students in the operation theater. He was operating on a hernia patient.The operation was difficult as the tissues of the patient were very adhesive. Sweat started oozing out of his forehead as he was very tired. After the operation Dr. Kotnis was completely exhausted and hungry. He grabbed a bite of a stuffed pancake when he suffered an attack of epilepsy. Earlier also he had suffered epileptic attacks. After regaining consciousness he convened a meeting to have a briefing of the day’s work.
That evening he returned to his dormitory-cum-office, and started the compilation work of his proposed book ‘Surgery in Detail’. At 8 p.m. he went to his room to be with me and our 108 days old child. As he was talking he remembered that the younger brother of his landlady was seriously ill. He went there to treat the patient, and returned after 2 hours totally exhausted.
At midnight he asked me for some boiled water as he was thirsty. Having taken it he felt better, but an hour thereafter I was suddenly awakened by the groans of his pain, only to discover that all his four limbs were severely twitching. His complexion had turned pale. He had suffered another attack, and it was serious.
I staggered all the way to the Medical School for assistance. After a while, Principal Jiang Yizhen reached our house in a great hurry. On regaining consciousness Kotnis said ” Principal Jiang, thank you for your visit. I am sorry to interfere with your rest. Please do not worry about me and go back to rest. “
Principal Jiang was aware of the convulsions Dr. Kotnis had suffered in the past, which never exceeded 3 to 5 minutes. This time the convulsions would not stop. Foam oozed out from his mouth, and he went into coma. Dr. Jiang gave him morphine and camphor liquid, but to no avail. The doctor then tried spine puncturing, but it was of no use. Dr. Kotnis breathed his last at 6.15 a.m. on 9th December 1942. He was just 32 years old.
I cried bitterly with my infant Yinhua in my arms and fainted a couple of times. He parted from me and our infant boy , his wounded patients who were waiting for him, his international friends, and the army and civilians of the Shansi-Qahar-Hebei Border Region who were engaged in a bloody battle with the Japanese on the battlefront. I glanced at the table only to see the manuscript of ‘Surgery in Detail’ that he had written upto page 175.
After his sudden demise, Dr. Kotnis’ dead body was kept inside a courtyard on a flagstone. Dr. Kotnis had spent the last period of his life in the Tang County, treating patients day and night. There was not a single person in this area who did not know him.
The sudden demise of Dr. Kotnis left everyone in the Tang County in grief, and even the Tang River wept. The people in the County felt they were rendered orphans. An atmosphere of grief shrouded the entire valley. The villagers of the Ge Gong valley came to our place from all directions. Everyone who came was crying in the streets and in the courtyard, where his body lay.
Shortly after his death, the Bethune Medical School, the Third Divisional Command of the Middle Hebei Military Region, and the County Committee of Tang County, organized a funeral committee.
On 17th December 1942, around 1 p.m. the Shansi-Qahar-Hebei Military Region convened a mourning ceremony at the southern square of Ge Gong village. There was an ocean of people inside and outside the square. People from Shennan, Shenbei, Niangzishen Doufu, and other neighbouring villages walked to the mourning ground wailing and weeping. Some of the country folk were even stamping the earth and crying bitterly. People had never witnessed wailing and weeping of such intensity, and that too over the demise of a foreign doctor. Many fainted with grief.
As for me, my grief was even worse. All my tears dried up and I fell unconscious. I lost my hunger, thirst and sleep, and became very weak. The memorial ceremony was conducted in accordance with the Chinese traditional funeral. A canopy was put for the departed soul, in the middle of which hung a portrait of the deceased, and to both sides of the coffin lay the floral wreaths and mourning couplets offered by people from all walks of life. An oblong sheet of silk was hung with the words ” Doctor who rivalled the glory of Dr. Bethune”. The place was filled with posters stating ” Learn from Kotnis “. The memorial committee consisted of representatives of Commander Nie, Zuo Huaiying, Cheng Zihua, Wang Ping,etc
The memorial ceremony started with funeral music played by a military band, followed by floral tributes and bowing in silence, and then speeches commending Dr. Kotnis’ outstanding achievements and spirit. This was followed by a grand funeral.
Among the crowd were many elderly men and women burning incenses and paper money. Some people sang a song which they had composed for the occasion : ” You came from the shores of the warm Indian ocean To brave the cold of North China For the world of tomorrow You fought four autumns in China Alas! At the end of a long night The fountain of your life ran dry Oh, Comrade Kotnis, our beloved Your image will always be with us And your memory will live forever in our hearts” The news of Dr. Kotnis’ death was soon carried to Yenan. On 18th December 1942, Zhu De, Commander -in-Chief of the Eighth Route Army, and Peng De Huai, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief communicated the sad news to Dr. Kotnis’ family. The news was flashed in the Liberation Daily newspaper published in Yenan, carrying an article by Zhu De.
On 30th December, a memorial service was held addressed by Zhu De. He said ” Dr. Kotnis, our Indian friend, came to China from afar to assist us in our War of Resistance. He worked for four years in Yenan and North West China, giving medical treatment to our wounded and sick, and died owing to constant overwork. The army has lost a helping hand, and the nation has lost a friend. Let us always bear in mind his internationalist spirit “.
Zhou Enlai ( later Prime Minister of China ), sent a message of sympathy to Dr. Kotnis’ family : ” Dr. Kotnis is a symbol of the friendship between the great Indian and Chinese nations, and a shining example of the Indian people, who are taking an active part in our common struggles against Japanese militarism and world fascism. His name will live forever in the hearts of the two great nations to whom he dedicated his life.” Soong Qingling, widow of Sun Yatsen and Chairperson of the China Defence League, also wrote to Dr. Kotnis’ family :
” His memory belongs not only to your people and to ours, but also to the whole roll-call of fighters for the freedom and progress of all mankind.”
His argument is that though the Indian Supreme Court has said that such relationships are not illegal, it has also said that they are not approved by the majority in Indian society.
Thus in Khushboo vs Kanniammal the Supreme Court observed : ” While it is true that the mainstream view in our society is that sexual contact should take place only between marital partners, there is no statutory offence that takes place when adults willingly engage in sexual relations outside the marital setting, with the exception of `adultery’ as defined under Section 497 IPC ”.
Mr Singh says that what is regarded unethical should also be made illegal. Now there are two objections to Mr Singh’s demand :
Morality and law are not co-extensive. There are many things which may be regarded as immoral, e.g. insulting or speaking rudely to elders, but which are not necessarily illegal. Moreover, the criteria of unethical acts also keep changing with passage of time. Something which may have been regarded immoral in the past may not be so regarded today, and something regarded immoral today may not be so regarded in the future. For example, at one time in India one’s life partner was chosen by one ‘s parents, but today love marriages are common, and quite acceptable in a large section of our society In Western countries live-in relationships are very common, and no one frowns on them. It is true that the majority in India disapproves such relationships, and regards them as immoral. But a minority find nothing objectionable in them, since it is the couple’s private affair, and no one has any business or right to interfere with it. With the passage of time the minority view may become the majority one.
Live-in relationship is part of the right to privacy, which has been declared to be part of the right to life and liberty guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution vide Justice K.S. Puttuswamy vs Union of India, 2017. In this 9 Judge Bench decision Justice Chandrachud ( as he then was ), who wrote the plurality decision, observed : ” Privacy postulates the reservation of a private space for the individual, described as the right to be let alone. The concept is founded on the autonomy of the individual. The ability of an individual to make choices lies at the core of the human personality. The notion of privacy enables the individual to assert and control the human element which is inseparable from the personality of the individual. The inviolable nature of the human personality is manifested in the ability to make decisions on matters intimate to human life ”. The Court was of the view that sexual orientation was an aspect of privacy guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. Thus a couple has a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution to have a live-in relationship, and even Parliament cannot ban such relationships, since no law made by Parliament can override the Constitution. Only a Constitutional amendment can ban live-in relationships, but clearly the ruling party does not have the numbers for that in the Rajya Sabha
One day on a nice summer evening a little girl called Alice was dozing on a green meadow when she saw a white rabbit wearing a blue coat running on his two legs, looking at a watch, and saying ” I am late ”.
The rabbit jumped into a hole in the ground, and Alice got up and jumped into the same hole. She fell and fell until she landed with a loud thump on a huge pile of garbage.
She saw piles of garbage everywhere.Getting up she brushed off the garbage off her clothes, and looked around.
She saw on a wall a huge poster on which it was written ” Welcome to india, the country with the fastest growing economy in the world ”.
Below the poster were sitting numerous little children wearing dirty clothes and with haggard faces. She went upto them, and they said they were not getting enough to eat Many had bodies which appeared wasted and stunted, obviously suffering from acute malnutrition.
She then walked ahead, and saw a huge gathering being addressed by a politician of India’s ruling party, who said ” India will soon become the third largest economy in the world, overtaking England, Germany, France, and Japan, UP and Maharashtra will cross 500 billion dollars GDP, and in ten years we will have a 20 trillion dollar economy. All of you will soon have good lives ”.
But in the crowd there was a large group of young men and women holding banners in which it was written ” We want jobs ”, and they were shouting ” We have Ph.D, M.Tech, M.Sc, MBA, and engineering degrees, but are unemployed ”.
Proceeding further, she saw a huge building on whose gate was written ” All India institute of Medical Sciences, India’s premier medical facility ”. But when she went inside the gate the scene appeared like a railway station, with thousands of sick people and their attendants thronging the place, no one caring for them. Many said they had been waiting the whole day but no doctor was in attendance.
Alice then saw a huge procession of farmers marching towards the indian Parliament, some of whom told her that over 400,00 farmers in india had committed suicide due to indebtedness, as farming had become uneconomical for small farmers.
Alice wondered what being the fastest growing economy in the world means when there was so much poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, lack of healthcare and good education for the Indian masses. Who was getting the fruits of this alleged economic growth ( assuming it was actually happening ), a handful of big businessmen and multinational corporations, or the Indian masses ? Proceeding further she saw a demonstration of people who said they were of the minority communities in India, and were protesting against atrocities and discrimination against them. Ultimately Alice reached a place where a lunch party was being held ( which she later named ‘The Mad Indians Party’ ) in which exquisite dishes of mutton biriyani, fish, chicken and prawns were being served, along with the choicest of wines, gin and beer.
She was invited to join the party, where several persons present spoke how India was shining today, having even sent a mission to the moon, and will soon become one of the most prosperous countries in the world.
But then Alice related all that she had seen, hungry children, unemployed youth, distressed farrmers, the unattended sick, protesting minorities, etc. She said all this tall talk of India being the world’s fastest growing economy, and that it will soon become the 3rd largest economy in the world, and have a 20 trillion economy in ten years, appeared to be a lot of bull, hot air, empty boast and braggadocio.
At this the persons present were at first stunned, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over them. But then one of them shouted ” Yeh virodhi dal ki hai ”, another shouted ” Yeh aatankvaadi hai ”, and yet another ” Yeh Pakistani jaasoos hai ”, and having said so they started throwing tomatoes and potatoes which were on the table at her, while others started throwing shoes and stones.
Alice ran for her dear life, and ran and ran until she was exhausted and fell on the ground unconscious. She then woke up and realised she had been dreaming.
