A Rape, A Murder, and An Execution

Brutal gangrape and murder in Hyderabad on November 26,2019 have led to major protests in Telangana and other parts of the country. The protestors raised issues including an end to violence against women, utilization of Nirbhaya fund, need for structural changes in the society, and justice for the victim. Any attempt by the government at meeting most of these demands would cost money.

The four accused in the case of rape and murder of the female veterinarian were killed by the Telangana police on the early morning of December 6, 2019, at Chatanpally of Shadnagar, 50 km from Hyderabad.

The fact that the culprits were not provided with a fair trial is a matter of concern for certain sections of the population. On the other hand, the arbitrariness with which such execution of culprits was carried out is striking. A concept of justice demand equality before the law. The worthy question is will the police execute all the rape accused in such a manner, will the police execute rape and murder accused who possess the money and political power to resist such actions? The answer is no. Does police execute all the rape and murder accused who do not possess money and political power? The answer again is no. When an action is evidently arbitrary it cannot claim to be justice, but then again features that the culprits and victim must exhibit for police to take such drastic measures is worthy of investigation.

The best way to comprehend any police action is through the perspective of maintenance of order. The protests and demands that emerged due to the gangrape and murder were threatening the mandate of maintaining order, the demands raised by different protesting groups to address the issues of violence against women including structural changes would have been a charge on the State finances. Even if the police do arrest the culprits, protests can carry on for a longer period under the banner of justice while also raising the demand for the structural changes to end the violence against women. Such acts would have put pressure both on the police force and the state treasury. Irrespective of whether it will reduce the crime against women or not, summary execution of the culprits was indeed the cheap and quick measure that the administration could have taken, to end the protests and to weaken the demand for widespread structural changes.

Right To Information Act: A Case for amendment

It was on June 3rd that Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that political parties should be brought within the ambit of the Right to Information Act. In the rationale that CIC provided for this peculiar ruling it argued that political parties "have been substantially financed by the Central government and, therefore, they are held to be public authorities under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act.”

It continues to argue that “The criticality of the role being played by these political parties in our democratic set-up and the nature of duties performed by them also point towards their public character, bringing them in the ambit of Section 2(h). The constitutional and legal provisions discussed herein above also point towards their character as public authorities.’’

It seems that two major points that are being raised by CIC in order to bring political parties under the purview of RTI can be enumerated as "substantially financed by the Central government" and their role in political structure of this country, which according to CIC makes political parties "public authorities".

To reach any conclusion of our own, one has to dwell into these claims. Let us be clear that political parties are not government department or part of it. In legal term they are completely separate from the state structure.

The financial support that CIC refers to mostly come as the ad spaces that government provides to different parties in order to ensure that electorate get to know the policies proposed by each parties. A noble attempt indeed in a country where government machinery still remains much more widespread than other private actors.

Now coming to the transparency part, as per the existing legal structure it is mandatory for all political parties to open up their accounts before Income Tax department and the Election Commission. No one can deny the fact that any citizen of this country can avail these information from the said organisation through RTI. If these organisation feel that it requires more information regarding financial situation from political parties it can call upon them to provide such information. Political parties are legally bound to produce such information before Income Tax Department or Election Commission.

Another point that CIC raises is the nature of political parties as 'public authority'. Public authority can be identified as "Any authority which has a legal mandate to govern, administrate a part or aspect of public life, such as all branches of the executive power of a state, province, municipality etc." As per this it is difficult to identify the political parties as public authority. Political parties does not govern any aspect of public life, they can never impose their will upon the public or are legally not part of any executive. There is wall between an individual working as a part of public authority (such as CM, PM etc) or as the member of a political party. A political party is a voluntary association of citizens who joined together based on certain ideology and works within a particular structure. Therefore undeniably all political parties are accountable to its members. This does not mean that any independent individual with no affiliation can be allowed to access such information. 

All political parties have their own strategies, criteria to decide in times of disagreement and organisational policies, which are their own internal matters. In any game situation it would be folly to let the opposition know your strategy. A system based on party politics can be seen as a situation of continues game where one should allow parties to have their privacy. At this point it can be conceded that CIC is within its legal rights to include political parties into public authority as the definition of public authority in RTI act allows for using the campaign spaces provide by government to make this declaration. If CIC tries to interfere in the internal matters using such excuses there is a chance that political parties might disavow the ad spaces provided by the government with citizens of this country ending up in the loosing side.

On The Limits Of Liberal Democracy

Liberal democracy can be identified as a form of government which is characterized by fair, free, and competitive elections between multiple political organization, a separation of powers into different branches of government with checks and balances put into place, the existence and implementation of rule of law in everyday life and the protection of human rights and civil liberties for all people.

The end of cold war and demise of communist governments through out the world has made liberal democracy capable to dominate the arena of political formation. It has been presented as the only alternative available in the present time with Fukuyama coming forward with grand declaration like that of the ‘end of history’. Even though we find liberal democracy to be the natural order of the day it is not without certain inherent tensions. These tensions can be found in the very formulation of liberal democracy.

Chantal Mouffe identifies liberal democracy as composed of or the result of the uneasy compromise among the two major traditions, that of, the liberal tradition constituted by the rule of law, the defence of human rights and the respect of individual liberty and the democratic tradition whose main ideas are those of equality, identity between governing and governed and popular sovereignty. It is possible to identify the issues faced by liberal democracy as those presented by tension inherent in the formulation of its framework.

Authors such as Benjamin Constant has noted the tension that existed between the tradition associated with Locke, which gives greater weight to "the liberties of the moderns",which includes, freedom of thought and conscience, certain basic rights of the person and of property and the rule of law and the tradition associated with Rousseau, which gives greater weight to the "liberties of the ancients", which includes, the equal political liberties and the values of public life. This tension has been carried over through out the discussions and deliberation on the issues regarding the liberal democratic regimes with some liberals such as F.A Hayek arguing that democracy is an instrument, a means for safeguarding internal peace and individual freedom.

This being the first and foremost role of the democracy, liberals asserts that it can and should be discarded if it endangers the liberal institutions. On a different note but still insisting upon the supremacy of the liberal institution other liberals have undertook a line of argument that people deciding in a rational manner, could not go against rights and liberties and, if they happened to do so, their verdict should not be accepted as legitimate. We find from the other side, staunch democrats has been keen to dismiss liberal institutions as ‘bourgeois formal liberties’ and to fight for their replacement by direct forms of democracy in which the will of the people could be expressed without hindrances. Democratic regimes establishes itself on the base of a ‘demos’ the people who form the polity. This ‘demos’ formed not on the basis of humanity but on the idea of commonality among the people who comes to form the polity. Therefore a certain conception of justice common to all the member is an imperative in the formulation and maintenance of democratic institutions. Thus dichotomy between the liberal emphasis on individual rights and liberties and democratic emphasis on collective formation and will-formation underlies the institution of liberal democracy.

Even though it has been accepted both in theory and practice that in a liberal democratic structure that it is legitimate to establish limits to popular sovereignty in the name of liberty. These limits are usually engraved to ensure that the established structures respects and protects the human rights. These human rights are defined and articulated on the basis of the existing dominant ideology therefore are subjected to change. Thus a clear case has been made for ensuring the existence of the limits to popular sovereignty but the nature and scope of these limits are flexible. On one side this structure serves to protect individual rights, on the other side, those rights provide the necessary conditions for the exercise of popular sovereignty. These can be understood as the paradox presented by the liberal democracies.