court’s Amicus Curiae said, the
March 20 th 2018 judgment was
based on the govt’s view about the
abuse of the 1989 law”. “It was the
govt. which gave the data, made
the submissions and now they are
challenging the judgment”. Justice
Goel has pointed out that it was the
report brought by the Govt. which
became a deciding factor for the
court to lay down the guidelines
against arbitrary arrests or false
implications under the Act.
The whole episode of review
petition (not yet complete) brings
out two things. One: The Central
Govt. as well as the court wanted
to dilute and make the 1989 Act
ineffective. The Court only gave
this idea a form of March 20 th 2018
Judgment. The assertions made by
the Judges only make this point
clear. Two: Unexpectedly, the
judgment had triggered off a
massive protest and opposition.
The BJP govt. at the centre found
itself in a dock. It had, therefore,
become necessary for it to distance
itself from the judgment in order to
escape itself from the political
damage caused by the judgment.
The review petition is only a part
of this exercise. The meekness
shown by the govt in its petition as
well as its arguments to retain the
1989 Act are only a manifestation
of its lack of commitment towards
the aim of ending the caste system
and associated discriminations,
inequality and oppression.
A Few Things to Learn
The masses of Dalits and other
oppressed people have certain
things to learn:
1. With all its claims and
promises about the equality,
freedom, justice, democracy and
democratic rights the Indian
Constitution is based on and
represents a class divided society.
It upholds the private property – as
well as foreign – as sacrosanct and
inviolable. In the last seven
decades, this right to property
enabled the economic, social and
political inequalities to grow in the
May - 2018
society unimaginably and the
wealthiest few as well as the
overwhelming majority of poor to
emerge. It placed the wealthiest
classes on a highest pedestal
crowned with powers and
resources to dictate and alter
every aspect of life of property less
and weaker sections of people by
invoking the Indian Constitution,
law and power of property as they
please. Similarly, the wealthiest
classes and the institutions
controlled by them can install
themselves at the helm of power,
interpret, direct, utilise, curb or
discard any democratic institution,
their functioning and rights. They
can decide whether the poor, at all,
can avail the democratic rights,
freedoms and to what extent and
in what manner. Various pillars of
society – state, legislature,
judiciary, police, bureaucracy and
media, etc – seem to be
independent from each other. But,
in reality, they are controlled and
used in the interests of dominant
classes.
Our people fought and
sacrificed a lot for an independent,
democratic economic and political
system. But, overwhelming masses
of people are sought to be brutally
suppressed whenever they tried to
utilise the rights and protections
that are said to have been
promised in the Indian Constitution.
The people are required to wage
bitter struggles against the powers
that be and dominant classes in the
court of law and mainly in the
streets to avail ad protect even the
marginal rights. The struggle of the
poor becomes more difficult
whenever they are contested by
the state, rich classes and powerful
political forces in the society.
So, while struggling to avail or
defend the rights or protections
that are believed provided in the
Indian Constitution, the exploited
and oppressed people must always
be conscious that their ability to
avail or defend their rights will be
weak, uncertain and unreliable
when their struggles as long as
they do not have a really
democratic and independent
economic, social and political
system of the society. So the
people’s struggle for democratic
rights and freedoms must be linked
with the struggle for a new society
free from feudal and imperialist
exploitation and oppression.
2. Laws in the present society
that promise some legal
protections to the rights of people
are a product of people’s struggles.
The rulers had enacted these laws
under the pressure of people’s
struggle and as a move to check
the advance of people’s struggle
and pacify the people. They seek
to reduce the laws thus enacted
into empty papers in practice and
create all hurdles in the way of their
utilisation by the people. The
experience show that the people
can avail the rights and legal
protections as long as and to
whatever extent the people rely on
their own initiative, organised and
united struggle. So they must fight
for legal protections as well as their
enforcement. But, at the same
time, they must never excessively
put their hopes on them and thus
weaken their own conscious,
organised and united struggle.
3. Dalits, advasis and other
oppressed people must continue
their struggle against every attempt
to dilute or do away with whatever
the legal protections are provided
in the 1989 Act. They must fight for
a total withdrawal of the directives
of the judgment (March 20) of the
Supreme Court which seek to dilute
and make the Act ineffective. In the
conditions when the Hindutva
forces are at the helm of power and
the retrogressive, reactionary,
communal and upper castiest
trends and forces are getting
boosted up in every sphere of life,
a determined and unrelenting
struggle against these trends and
forces and the ruling class policies
alone can stand by the exploited
and oppressed people in our
Country.
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