– Mainul Hosein
On the demand of lawyers, the Supreme Court has announced its decision that the all courts, including the Supreme Court will start functioning from August 16. This new decision should be welcome for the convenience of the general public. But the fact remains how prepared the outside courts are to work virtually remains doubtful. Sending more innocent people to jail to suffer like convicts though they are not convicted will make people more miserable. In fact humanity demands no innocent people must suffer imprisonment as convicts. They should be in court’s custody and on bail in such harsh and perilous time. We can guarantee crimes will not go up.
The judiciary like conscience cannot be half dead and half alive. No other state institution represent conscience of the nation. A judge has to live with this constant conflict of how to save conscience and not be half dead.
No other democratic institution than the judiciary has any meaningful existence to stand by the people against suppression and oppression. Everybody in authority treats them as people powerless and helpless which is the sad unfortunate reality. Luckily, the judiciary is breathing to be
alive. It is far from easy to sack a judge for whatever independence the judiciary has.
Justice is nothing but mercy where the justice system is half dead and half alive. The judiciary has to be half dead and to serve the cause of justice.
The people or the lawyers on their behalf, can only seek mercy when, merely on suspicion the innocent ones in law can be sent to jail to suffer like convicts. Their fundamental rights are of no consequence. The practice of law is not the practice of mercy or arbitrary discretion.
It is common knowledge that the master criminals do not have to come to the court for seeking bail, they are sending others to jail without trial, so that the truth is not revealed about them. We cannot be unconscious of every hard truth we know.
If the lawyers also remain half dead and disunited they cannot expect fair and full justice from the half dead justice system. They have to be full time lawyers of the learned profession.
Conscience of the judges is the life blood. So they cannot be half dead and half alive. Either they are fully dead or fully alive in doing justice. The judges are not to fight political battles but they are also not to compromise justice for politics. To be a judge is a highly noble position. They have taken oath to do justice without fear or favour. They are not so weak as the government wants to them to think as long as the judiciary exists under a Constitution.
It is true the people are living in fear of unprotection. But there is only one place where fear must not have its free way that is in the justice system as long it exists. To allow the judges to suffer from their conscience is not enough. The basic thing about judiciary is, it is not for solving government’s problems.
For the government it must not be an advantage to use the police and the courts to send the innocent ones in law to suffer imprisonment without bail. It is not only unjust but cruel in the situation when the whole population is fighting for staying alive under the escalated pandemic of Covid-19 and Dengue. In the justice system, the background of affliction of poverty of our people in the pandemic cannot be ignored. The judges themselves say justice has to be done in the context of the background.
Let the government stop crimes and unrest in the country their police way. The court is for punishing the criminals but not for sending anybody to suffer imprisonment as convicts who is not convicted. This is gross injustice. Lawyers are angry and the people in desperation.
The arrested person is produced in the court to be in the court’s custody. Refusal of bail should be an exception.
Let there be no doubt that a large number of lawyers are financially in dire condition, they are tense and angry. Some of them have become mentally unstable. It is time for understanding, togetherness and magnanimity.
Very few of us can say in this cruel and unjust time that we are mentally fully normal. Our submission is by sending people to imprisonment at the wish of the police without bail will be the most injudicious act. The Courts have no politics, but only humanity of justice.
