India calling

It’s that time of the year when we don the Indian colours and proclaim to the world how we have gained independence. We have a lot to show for ourselves in terms of growth and development. How we have come a long way from being an oppressed lot to the world’s largest democracy today is a story worth knowing. But as we pay homage to our fallen heroes this Independence Day, it would be prudent to take a moment and reflect on our mottled heritage.

We can learn from the Japanese and the koreans who carry pride for their domestic as well as international deals.

They came, they saw, they conquered. But was it just a hegemony over our lands or did they succeed in altering the very roots of our culture altogether? This is a quandary that requires a conscious introspection for on some level or the other, we have all compromised on our traditions and outlook. It may not be glaringly obvious, but the remnants of the legacy left behind by the East India Company can be felt in several quarters of our lives. The Indian legal system is a testimony to that legacy. If perused through it, one can find several anachronistic clauses and articles that may seem detrimental to a healthy democracy. According to the Indian Police Act of 1861, a state government is empowered to enforce sanctions on the very people in need of succour and protection on account of a law and order crisis. This colonial law, enacted in the wake of the 1857 mutiny, says that the “cost of such additional police force shall be borne by the inhabitants of areas found to be in a disturbed state”. Though, mercifully, no democratically elected government in independent India has ever dared to invoke Section 15 of the Indian Police Act, the Centre insists on clinging to this utterly outdated law even after the Supreme Court, in its landmark verdict on police reforms in 2006, directed both the Union and State governments to adopt systems that were more accountable and oriented to modern notions of community policing.

Megha Jhunjhunwala

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