Everybody is Equal Before Law
In the morning of June 22 we were served with a news-item in the Times of India, Calcutta Edition, with the Front Page Main Heading: "Tatas move court against Mamata govt's Singur Act". Well, people have liberties to go to court with any grievance that is legally tenable and persuadable; why can the Tatas not do that! After all it is the ?largest democracy'. Let us read the report. Para - 1 says, "Singur: Tata Motors moved Calcutta high court on Tuesday night, challenging the legality of the Singur land return Act, a few hours after the Hooghly administration pasted ?requisition notices' on the main gate of the disputed Singur compound to take back land acquired for both Nano factory and the vendor park." Well. Everything is clear; but there is just one little mistake; perhaps the copy-editor slipped her/his pen; courts generally in the weekdays close their doors at about 5PM, and leave no chance of moving to court at night. Let us proceed.
The 2nd Para says, well, what is that! "At 9PM Samaraditya Pal, counsel for Tata Motors, mentioned the matter at the residence of chief justice J. N. Patel. Considering the gravity of the case, Justice Patel assigned the matter to Justice Soumitra Pal, who will hear it at 10:30AM on Wednesday. Tata Motors has notified the state government that it is moving the petition and asked the government "not to disturb the possession in Singur" (italics ours). How hyper-active our legal system is! For nothing do profane or imbecile persons accuse our judicial system as lackadaisical! Just imagine - the Honourable Chief Justice was perhaps retired to relaxation after a hard day's work at 9PM - but he attended a counsel at that time and considering the gravity of the case assigned the matter, probably then and there, to Justice Soumitra Pal, and a speedy hearing was arranged on the very next day at morning 10:30 - god knows how the other party, in this case the state government, would get the notice within that short time span, considering at least the office hours in WB. Ever heard of anything speedier in the entire legal history of India? Only the legal fraternity can tell.
[Though later we saw this kind of surprisingly speedy judicial action (or activism) in case of the Noida Land Acquisition Case, we have not heard of any nocturnal ventures of any Lord Servant of Themis (or Roman Justitia) till now; moreover, Goddess Themis, though in later days was (unexpectedly) bestowed with a sword (perhaps to evoke ?fear of punishment' by the then matured ?state') to supplant her scales and blindfold (this latter unnecessary thing was also a later addition), never was heard to undertake such nocturnal adventures as far our scant knowledge of mythology can say.]
Not only did the Tatas run their legal service in a cruising speed, also they did beat the govt in its game of notice-pasting. Before the DM's motorcade reached Singur starting from Chinsurah (a max 20 km drive) after getting instruction from the very HQ of the govt - the Tata Motors convoy reached there (surely they needed an hour in their journey) - Tata men reached just a couple of minutes earlier - and pasted their ?notice' contradicting the govt ?notice' - and though the TOI served these in their news in the same news-item they never questioned themselves as to how the Tata Motors got the news of govt decision to paste the notice and how the Tata Motors knew what was the content of that govt notice! ????? (?? ????????) ?? ??? ????? ???? ?? o kannon (ya company?) ki haath kitne lambi hai!
But the constitution of India declares soberly: "Article 14 of the Constitution guarantees right to equality and lays down that every one is equal before law and has equal protection of law" [http://nhrc.nic.in/Publications/Disability/chapter08.html]. To see how much equal ?every one' is in this largest democracy we may first visit a small or tiny case and then a really big case.
Take ARCO - the American Refrigeration Company. It was a mid-sized company in Calcutta with --- workers. It was declared locked out by the management in 19--. The workers demanded re-opening and at least the payment of their dues. They ran from pillar to post. The ?every one' who are supposed to be equal know that entering the compound of law or justice requires a high dose of money, of course ?high' only for the lower ones in our democratic society. For a lawyer, even if one of those few compassionate fellows who take up labour-cases, some fees are necessary, but much more is needed for the day to day court expenditure and all sorts of paraphernalia. ARCO workers dared to take this legal way of fight along with their agitation-propaganda programme. They collected money from workers of other factories, from sympathisers, etc. And how many years were spent in this course! It takes months to get a date of hearing and often the management side simply remained absent on that precious date. Anyway, the ARCO workers even travelled up to the Supreme Court. Some judgement went to some extent in favour of the workers. But all were of no avail. The owner, being a Jalan, or being a corporate owner, a rich man, could dodge all such sermons or judgements. This is 2011, -- years have passed, wages of more than 3,000,000 man-days lost (please calculate) which will amount to, in today's term, much more than `600,000,000; gratuity money, many million rupees, is still un-received; --- workers, who once were proud permanent skilled engineering workers are now just contract-workers in various factories; they still are awaiting justice. Will they have to wait till their last breathes for some ?divine' retribution in this largest democracy!
Now we shall see a big case, or one may say a long-lost case, and to start with we'll read a recent editorial of The Guardian (UK).
"In praise of ... Abdul Jabbar //The most effective campaigner for the victims of the worst industrial accident in world history//Monday 18 July 2011 ..." The editorial comment and the comments of 47 readers are worth reading! The editor's comment was eloquent but very brief, as if to pay a proper tribute: "Early in his insightful new book on contemporary India, The Beautiful and The Damned, Siddhartha Deb meets a determinedly unassuming man. Abdul Jabbar is "short, pudgy, with cc thick glasses", with a "surprisingly truculent" manner. Yet the author comes to realise his subject is "a local demigod". For Jabbar is perhaps the most effective campaigner for the victims of the worst industrial accident in world history. In December 1984, more than 27 tons of deadly gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant into the city of Bhopal, killing an estimated 22,000 people and leaving over 150,000 severely disabled. For such a huge tragedy, the settlement has been tiny: the American multinational long ago paid £282m (or around £2,000 for each victim) in compensation, and only last summer was anyone convicted for the disaster - eight local employees, one of whom had already died. Jabbar's own house was only 2km from the factory, and he spent that first night taking family and neighbours to hospital. Soon after, he set up Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan, the first victim-campaign group. Today, "Jabbar bhai" still fights for compensation for the poor, and runs vocational classes for widows and others. The personal cost has been great: one broken marriage and a struggle to pay bills, while the Bhopal leak damaged both his eyes and his lungs. Yet he continues to show an unassuming nobility, tending to victims rather than MPs or press, and giving his all to an often-forgotten fight."
One of the 47 comments was - "If terrorists were ever to release a deadly gas in a built up area in Britain they would be hunted down and brought to justice. If a foreign country were to shelter them then the very least we could probably expect would be a cruise missile or two directed their way.
"In 1991 India charged Union Carbide's boss Warren Anderson with 14,000 cases of murder. But Mr Anderson failed to appear in court to answer the charges, and the Indians were told that the US government didn't know where he was.
"Casey Harrell, toxics campaigner for Greenpeace USA, tracked him down to his country club in Hampton, Long Island, New York state in 2008. He was shown a copy of the warrant for his arrest, but he decided not to turn himself in. The local police don't seem too keen on popping round to arrest him, and so far no cruise missiles have been seen heading towards the Hampton Country Club." How sarcastic, caustic and incensed the comment was, and how truthful too!
Another commentator said - "Indeed, he is a true human being amidst fakes and it's really heartening to see real humans in a place where murderers rule the roost.
"However, it's sad to see him battling for justice against a 27 year old corporate crime for which the Indian Government wholly, or partly, should take the blame. Despite the Bhopal incident, it seems India hasn't learnt anything thereof. Its recently passed (enacted?) Civil Nuclear Liability Bill 2010 limits MNEs (Nuclear specific) liability and, bearing in mind the high risk in nuclear industry, the victims of any nuclear fallout will be left with peanuts. The Bill is nothing but an embryo for many more Abbdul Jabbers.
"India ought to have learnt either from the Bhopal disaster or at least from the UK's "Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007" which imposes unlimited liability for corporate crimes. But, its ruthless and arrogant approach to catch up with China blinds it to the basics of potential costs in terms of human lives and environmental disaster (italics ours)."
[See http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/18/in-praise-of-abdul-jabbar-bhopal for details.] Will Jabber bhai too have to wait till his last breath for some ?divine' reprisal and justice in this largest democracy!
It did not surprise us when we saw Tata defending Dow Chemicals version that Dow, the present owner of that notorious Union Carbide, is not liable to give any compensation to Bhopal victims and pressurising the govt of India in this issue!
If the memories of such incidents stir up in the readers some kind of pristine sacred anger like in the mentioned two comments, then nothing much remains there to be written.
But for the honourable fraternity of Lord Servants of Lady Justitia we add: those unwilling villagers of Singur who were far more numerous than those willing-to-assent-govt-acquisition-for-Tatas at least till 25th August 2006 - they decided to go to the High Court - how many hours they needed to wait for a hearing at the Court (on 28-8-2006)? As far as the peasants-activists there can remember they filed the case within the first week of August though they cannot remember the exact date now; and they are sure they did it before 9th or 10th. So, the then to-be-uprooted Singur peasants had to wait, just for the first hearing, at least 18 to 19 days! Thereafter, how many hours the govt (then pro-Tata-acquisition) got to file a counter-affidavit? (From The Statesman (India) 2006)// Singur hearing KOLKATA, Aug. 28: Calcutta High Court today heard a writ petition challenging the proposed land acquisition at Singur for a car manufacturing unit there. Mr Justice Pranab Kumar Chattopadhyaya directed the State to file an affidavit. The matter will be heard after the Puja vacation. ... Whereas it took only 13 hours 30 minutes or less for the Tatas on June 21-22, 2011 to get a hearing at the same High Court! Is it equality or discrimination?
Workers-activists of the ARCO factory can never dream of knocking the door of the Chief Justice; they will laugh at the absurdity of the proposal; they know it very well that they will be chased off, beaten by the police and guards, dare they do that. Jabber bhai too could not fancy doing that any day whatsoever in the last two decades and half, let alone at night. But could they, the Lord Justices, not take up these cases suo moto and deliver at least only two unbailable arrest warrants against one Jalan and one Anderson?
Their actions or inactions are proving the contrary.
All these show an already known theme - long may be the hands of the law and the law enforcing agencies and law-enacting govt, but longer and abler are the hands of Money! Mr Orwell tried to contemn, condemn contemptuously the Stalin years in his Animal Farm; one of his lines there became proverbial: All animal are equal, but some are more equal than others. But, if ?History' can be imagined as a person then s/he must have been laughing mockingly: Why, Orwell, your maxim seems to be more fitting for democracies!
Perhaps the half-baked character of our democracy dictates this - the un-baked democracies too show the same, as we got in a communiqu? on this subject from Thailand. [Please see: 15 Years of the Textile Workers' Case: What Justice Has Thai Society Gained for Them? Created: 2011-05-24|| Asia Monitor Resource Centre || http://www.amrc.org.hk/node/1120 || By Somboon Srikhamdokae]
Friend Somboon got an email message of solidarity from the GM 21 Workers' Union. The General Motors workers sent their message through a poem:
?A bunch of feeble sticks may pry a log
Small power may overcome massive power
With perseverance,
?A bunch of feeble sticks may pry a log
Small power may overcome massive power
With perseverance,
No strong power shall withstand
All the small sticks come together bravely
With the two hands of a worker,
Any force shall crumble.'
Perhaps Justice and its symbol Themis, who had been, in the beginning, the ?goddess' conductor or convener of community assemblies (perhaps on or before 1000BC), will arrive only in this course to the Bhopal Victims, to Jabber bhai, to the ARCO workers and all such people.
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