A thought-provoking conversation with a pursuing law-graduate...
This weekend I had a very interesting conversation. A conversation that really kept me thinking… or rather wondering.
The conversation was with a young lad, who was pursuing his studies in LLB and was in the final year of the same. Yes… that means he’s the lawyer of tomorrow. In an year’s time, he will be out in the market, fighting for justice… I thought. But the conversation that followed made me think twice! Here’s the conversation :
Me: So you are in your final year. What do you intend to do next year? You intend to practice? Or pursue a job in industry?
Him: I will practice. I aspire to be a criminal lawyer.
Me: Good! Nice to see someone willing to fight against the crime.
He responded with a grin. And continued with the conversation…
Him: You know how the lawyers (criminal lawyers) of today work? It’s like a balance. There are two types of clients - the crime-doers and the victims of crime. But for the lawyers, what matters is the one who can shelve a heavier suitcase of notes. It can be the crime-doer or the victim. The one who comes with a heavier suitcase, wins the case!
Me: You mean they don’t fight for justice?
Him: NO! It’s their livelihood! And let me tell you, the crime-doers are usually ready to pour in heavy lump sums of money, then the victims.
Me: In other words, the crime-doers will continue to do crime and still escape and walk safe on the streets? That also means the crime situation will still be the same, or rather worsen in the coming years? Don’t you think the next generation of lawyers like you should start to work on changing this trend?
Him: What and how can I do it alone? However hard I try to fight for the truth, the judges would already have been bribed, and the verdict manipulated or pre-decided. Let’s be more optimistic, and say the even the judges are honest. But then, the ministers would be bribed! A lone person cannot do anything. It’s better to go with the wind.
Me: But if everybody starts thinking the way you do, then the crime will always prevail. And there will be no fear of punishment. This country will be an easy destination of committing a crime and still get away with it!!
Him: I have to think about my livelihood too! If I take the path of truth, I will be pitched against the big guns, who will present the offender’s case in such a way, that my case will look meek. I will loose. And then after a series of defeats, no clients will turn to me. After all, who would turn to a lawyer who is a failure?
Me: But see, you can always be strong with the way you present your case, and win with your abilities. However good the big guns be, if you can present the case in the right way with your abilities, nobody can stop you from winning the case!
The young man gave another grin…
Him: What you think makes this elite group of lawyers they are today? Their abilities? Bullshit! (He used a word even worse, which I think is inappropriate to use here). They are big names because of their contacts with the people that matter. Their contacts with the ministers, the MLAs or the Chief Minister. This is what that makes big lawyers today! Let’s face it.
Me: This may be true. But people like you, the protectors of law of coming years should start the revolution. Else this country will lead for a doom!
Him: We may say that our legal system is the best in the world! But our strength itself has become our weakness. Look at the country like USA. Do you know the legal system they have? Every state has its own set of law. That means a mere of hardly 8 to 9 sections. And here we have hundreds of sections. They have a single law and punishment of anything that is “murder”, and like our legal systems, do not have various variants of “murder” like “culpable homicide”.
He continues…
Him: Or another solution for this is, you take the law in your hands. If a girl is raped, then the offender pours in a lot of money and gets away. If only the fathers of 10 rape-victims come together and decide to kill the rapists, then a person will think twice or even more times before committing such a crime in the future. But do you think this is possible? No! Nobody is ready to take the law in hands. And that is the reason why we continue to be the way we are!
Him: Let me tell you a marathi saying. “Shivaji jalmala yave, pun shejarchya ghari”. (A shivaji, or a revolutionary should be born, but at the neighbour’s home). Remember it’s easier to say that we need to bring in a revolution, but then, when a lawyer goes out in the market to start his career, the first thing that he will think about is not a revolution, but how to build his career. How to be a successful lawyer. And I have told you what makes a successful lawyer of today!
At the end of this conversation, I really didn’t have a good enough argument to put forward or support my point. All that I could do was shake hand with this lawyer of tomorrow, and say, “You have really given me a food for thought”.
A blindfolded lady, holding a balance – that symbolises the law. And if this young man is to be believed, our lawyers have really made the law go well with the symbol. From the conversation I could see today’s lawyers are blindfolded, holding a balance in their hand. And the one who places a heavy sum of money in the balance, law is with him!!
The conversation really scared me and also made me wonder if this country is leading to a position that is irreversible? Have we already taken it too far that now it’s near impossible to mend, which at one point of time was (to say the least) a mere defect?
I must say the way u have written this has made it more interesting to read. As far as my comments are concerned I feel every INDIVIDUAL should be aware of his/her rights. I myself feel that one should fight for his rights entirely. Nobody will stop you from getting justice. JUSTICE now a days can be sold in market its we, people like you me and all the other people living in this society become more self centered and selfish that too not for earning money but in order to support their families and step behind 1st. Your friend is one of them. He wants to be the most successful and no doubt he will become for sure one day, earn lots of money and getting to the top of the ladder in his career but build your career in a correct direction and not to support the wrong deeds & hampering the society.
ReplyDelete"Shivaji zari shejarchya ghari jalmala ala tari suddha tyachya anga madhein sampurna swaraj ghadvun anaychi bhavna asli pahije." -- What I meant to say is one should always do the correct thing and try all the things which a lay man is capable of doing to diminish the corruption existing in the society. If we start thinking that one cannot fight alone that means our future is definitely going in wrong hands. Har Insaan duniya mein akele hi atta hain aur akele hi jaata hain.
Stay in the system and fight against the corruption. Law itself is made for maintaining the law and order. There are several sting operations going on in this world just to expose the corrupt ministers and several ordeals going on different parts of the world. One cannot blame the system also we being part of the system are not taking any initiative to change it. In fact the Ministers are throwing money like water during their campaigning and buying on votes which is against the SO CALLED LAW and we FOOLISH PEOPLE do vote because we need something to live.
Guys do change and be practical. Ministers, MLA's and all they are also humans they also have some weaknesses and some strengths. So stamp on it and get a way in a different direction.
I would prefer not going in the support of such criminals infact INKO TOH BHARE BAZAAR MEIN NANGA KARKE GHUMANA CHAHIYE GADHE PE BEETHA KE. One cannot just sit quiet saying he cannot do it himself.
Do it in such a way that you don't hamper the law at all. There are many ways to do it. One should only decide that I CAN DO IT AND SHALL DO IT. NOBODY will be able to stop you once u decide the same.
Very nice conversation. India will never change. Criminals-turned-politicians keep getting votes, lawyers/judges getting notes! Its a business. Indian law needs a radical revamp.
ReplyDeleteGood Work Harish Good work, Same can be said about your comment Bindiya..Whatever you have said is quite true, We have made it a habit of saying that India and its systems are going to dogs, We are the one's who always criticize but the point is that when there is a right time to take action we wash our hands saying that How can a single person change the full system?? Not only this we say that if a single person stands against corruption and bad deeds he will be punished for his act of Kindness and Courage But the thing that we have to remember is “Boond Boond Sagar bhaita hein” It is this single drop of water which on its own is the weakest as it can be swept away by wind, dried up totally by thirsty land, drank by a little bird too...but when these small droplets come together they form the mighty ocean which can neither be swept away, neither can be dried off. So it is the time that all of us who are against corruption join our hands and form the mighty ocean of brave and sincere people and fight against the evils that are ruling our society and the country as a whole, and in order to do so each one of us will have to start fighting on our own without waiting for someone else to come out and fight for us, then slowly people will start joining us, but the first step must be taken by each individual himself..And as far as your friend's thinking is concerned I was really shocked to know that even before entering the battlefield itself he was ready to surrender, I might have said that his thinking is right if he had said this things after facing the problems in person(The problems that he has mentioned to you) And not only facing but also after fighting and loosing but it is sad to know that he is saying this words just like that. According to me and might be all of us have the same thinking that Judicial System is required so that justice is done, And in order for the justice to be done we need lawyers, but if the mentality of lawyers itself is such then what is the use of the Judicial system as a whole. If money is what decides who will win the case and who will loose then why to fight for justice...It looks like unofficially rich people have been given a license to do the crime and poor people have been given a unofficial duty to suffer. But the bottom line is that it is not too late yet, we can still change our thinking and attitude, stop running behind money and start doing the real justice.
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