What True Justice Should Be Like

There is a Latin maxim ' Dura lex, sed lex ', which means ' The law is hard, but it is the law '.

This maxim can be illustrated by a historical example.

In the South Indian sultanate of Bijapur there was a Sultan whose son, the Crown Prince ( wali ahad ) had committed the crime of raping a poor girl.

When the Sultan heard of this he made enquiries and found the allegation to be true. He then ordered his son to be given 100 lashes as punishment.

When the 90th lash was given the son died. Then the Sultan picked up the whip and gave 10 lashes himself to the dead body of his son, so as to complete the sentence.

When that was done, the Sultan broke down in tears, became a father again, and himself buried his son, weeping inconsolably.

This is what true justice should be like

But what is the condition of the judiciaries in India and Pakistan today ? As regards the Indian Supreme Court I have co-authored an article ' All the times the Supreme Court turned a Nelson's eye to injustice ' published in The Wire.in, where I have mentioned in great detail how the Indian Supreme Court has shamelessly surrendered before the present Indian Govt and is doing its bidding, and is no longer functioning as a guardian of the rights of the people.

As regards the Pakistan judiciary, the less said the better. In Federation of Pakistan vs Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan ( 1955 ) the Pakistan Supreme Court propounded the novel 'doctrine of necessity' for validating the illegal dismissal of the Constituent Assembly by the Governor General of Pakistan, a verdict which gave a legal foundation to all subsequent military coups. And the Court loyally obeyed the order of Gen Zia in committing the judicial murder of ZA Bhutto.

Views are personal

Author is A Former Judge of Supreme Court of India.