IPC or Bharatiya Nyaya: Law is always linked to morality, says Naga leader SC Jamir

August 13, 2023 21 Views No Comment

New Delhi, August 13 (IANS) The law of jurisprudence will always have strong links to morality and this principle has existed before the ‘existence’ of mankind, veteran Naga leader SC Jamir said on Saturday sharing his thoughts on the Modi government’s decision to do away with the British legacy and overhaul India’s criminal laws.

“Let us understand one simple thing, the law is always supreme and it has always a strong connection to morality. So, all religious scriptures across the
globe prohibit mankind from telling lies, cheating, dishonesty, stealing, adultery and so on. But look at their strengths, most moral laws are oral but they are still obeyed and respected,” Jamir told this journalist.

Answering questions on the new move and new nomenclatures, he said “In a lighter vein I will say, many people in our diverse country used to English usage will find it difficult to familiarise with the new names”.

The Bills introduced in Lok Sabha on Friday say the 1860 Indian Penal Code will be replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita; while the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita will be the new name for the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Bharatiya Sakshya will replace Indian Evidence Act.

“But as a matter of principle I agree with what Home Minister Amit Shah said that the new laws will seek to ensure justice and not punishment….. That should be the spirit of any law,” said Jamir, an alumni in law from Allahabad University.

“The jurists certainly deserve high respect in every era. It is they who have played important roles in the evolution of law. I think this is why and it is because of their wisdom that there are codified laws in almost all countries in the new century”.

“In the context of ensuring that law should seek justice not merely punish a criminal, I must say human mind and heart make unique synthesis. This I started understanding better as a politician than I did as a legal professional,” Jamir said.

He said, “I will give you examples. During Emergency, I gave free legal service to the people and that time my clients at the most were able to give eggs or Naga rice beer as gifts. Two peculiar but significant cases I had to defend. A murder case where one youth of Longching village in Mon district was the accused. He had shot dead an Assam Rifles personnel. That Assam Rifles personnel reportedly started frequenting the house of his fiancee.”

Jamir recalled, “As his defence lawyer, I asked him privately to state that it was accidental and not intentional…. But you may not believe it, the accused simply declined. He proudly said he killed him as the AR personnel jawan had tried to spoil his fiancee”.

“A case of this nature requires appropriate provisions of law,” remarked former Nagaland Chief Minister and ex-Governor Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Jamir further said, “I recall another case exhibiting highhandedness of the magistrate where he had imposed Rs 30,000 fine on a poor villager just because his son was in the Naga national movement (insurgent) The ordinary cultivator had no means to pay the fines, he came to me for help. I made the Magistrate to withdraw the order….Arbitrariness of the magistrates very often let the innocents suffer,” said 92-year-old Jamir.

To another question, he said, “I often used to think a few years back, I will write some books on these.There is a book ‘How Judges Think’, I think we should also focus on how an accidental and one-time offender/accused thinks”.

Jamir also said, “In the modern world of technology and Artificial Intelligence, serious studies ought to be made when a machine or your scientific achievement is responsible for killing 100 people or so in a mishap. Due to technical errors or ‘rusting etc’, machines can kill hundreds of passengers or workers even at the global level I was studying, there is no effective support for humans suffering in such incidents.”

(Nirendra Dev is a New Delhi-based journalist. He is also author of the books ‘The Talking Guns: North East India’, and ‘Modi to Moditva: An Uncensored Truth’. Views expressed are personal)