The Hindu Business Line : Emulate the US!

THE US is no less a democracy than India, right? Conceivably, its claims to being a long-standing and successfully functioning democracy may even be superior, yes? Then why not borrow the best practices in nurturing democracy that are in vogue there? For instance, let us focus on the criminal justice system.

I have had occasion to be present at court hearings in that country as a member of the public. The brisk, business-like and no-nonsense manner in which the hearings are held, and the tight rein the presiding judge has over the lawyers and witnesses, are truly impressive. If any of the lawyers strays from the norms governing advocacy, the judge does not hesitate to fine him a hefty amount which he is required to pay then and there before being allowed to continue.

Mark you, this is not under the law of contempt, but in exercise of the inherent discretionary powers assumed by the judge to regulate the counsel's conduct.

In India, I have not come across a single instance of a lawyer being made to pay for his dilatory tactics or irrelevant pleas with a salutary fine in a similar manner. If, taking the cue from the US, the judges here too penalise wayward lawyers, it will have a healthy effect on the working of the courts.

The dictum in the Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence of presuming the accused to be innocent until proved guilty is followed in the US also. But that does not inhibit the authorities there from handcuffing the accused behind his back the moment charges are slapped against him. You would have seen on TV a number of corporate big guns, charged with various crimes and misdemeanours, being brought to the court and taken back to their cells in handcuffs even during their trial.

In any event, once the accused, however high and influential he might have been in government, business or society, is convicted and sentenced in a criminal case, the marshals forthwith take hold of them firmly at the elbows and put them in handcuffs before taking them out of the court.

In India, even accused sentenced to death or life imprisonment are seen emerging from the court sporting a grin and waving their hands to the media with gay abandon. Only the police constables look cowed down! India certainly can do with a dose of the American medicine for its scoundrels.

B. S. Raghavan

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