India is the world’s largest democracy with the concept of Separation of Powers enshrined in the Constitution. This largest democracy stands tall on its four pillars: The Legislative, the Executive, the Judiciary and the Press. While the Legislative is entrusted with the duty of making laws for the people, the Executive acts to effectively execute and enforce those laws in the country. The Judiciary comes into play to safeguard the principles of Justice, equity and good conscience. The Press acts as a medium between the Government and the people of the country. Each pillar holds its immense contribution in shaping the future of our country.
India has been an independent democracy for 76 years now. The three pillars of the Indian democracy- Legislative, Executive and Judiciary have always worked in a bound synchronisation with the fields of function broadly separated for all the three and that is how the system is supposed to function smoothly. Delegation of power is a different aspect but what happens when any one of these wings starts encroaching upon the working area of the other? The answer is very simple; the smooth functioning of the democracy will fail. Students in Cooch Behar Law College are being taught about these delegated powers but many a time they witness this encroaching of powers in real lives.
The Encounter Culture or the Robin Hood culture as it is popularly called today has been termed as Extra-judicial killings. This is the practice that is turning very popular amongst the masses evoking rapturous joy and exhilaration in recent times. The view of people has also turned towards the execution of rapists and other hard-core criminals in the same way. A large credit to the appreciation that is gained from the public goes to the Media- print, electronic or social. A case is generally already decided in the minds of the masses, a person is a convict even before he is tried at the Court and all of this is owed to the media.
The accused in so many criminal cases was brought to an end by the police by way of an encounter. There was heavy applause for the police by the family members of the victims in those cases, by the general public. But there was a big question mark put on the judicial system of the country. The incident could prove a situation where the masses had lost faith in the judicial mechanism of India. The cases were to be inquired and tried in the court and it could have happened that Dubey would have escaped conviction like the previous cases due to his political connections. Thus, the public rejoiced in the encounter while the police were being granted promotions and awards. But in a democracy is this practice of encounters justified? Democracy gives separate powers to the Executive and Judiciary so that these can work efficiently in their spheres and not encroach upon the powers and functions of the other. These extra-judicial killings are a miserable attack on the separation of powers doctrine.
At the time of framing of the Constitution for this democracy, there had been a keen note on providing the fundamental right of Equality under the law and Equal protection of rights under the Law. The laws thus framed were closely knitted in order to provide equality to all its subjects. Principles of Natural Justice also provide that no person is a culprit unless proven in the eyes of the law. Every person also has the right to be tried in the Court of Law and is given an opportunity to be heard. But there has been a great divergence from that which should be and ought to be to that which is actually happening in the country.
The Judicial System in the country is not what is shown in movies. It is a known and proven fact that the procedure of getting justice is a long way to go in the country but that cannot be directly alleged upon the system. The system comes from the people. No aspect of the society can stand alone and every aspect affects the other significantly. It is all that works in a circular chain; the only difference remains between the two kinds of people in the chain- an honest man and a corrupt one. The growing practices of Encounter Killings and Media Trials is setting up a different Judiciary- a mirage of its own kind and the masses are blindly believing things to be true. The media and executive both, as the students of Cooch Behar Law Colleges know, have their individual massive roles in society to play and they thus need not assume the role of Judiciary. Sometimes the same rages the masses against something and sometimes binds them to pre-conceive a notion. It can be thus rightly stated that justice outside the Judiciary is no justice but a mere forgery.
