Thursday, June 12, 2008
How can you share name with Nehru? India's Supreme Court asks rapist
Thursday, June 12, 2008
To: The Editor
Afternoon Despatch and Courier, Mumbai
This has reference to your report: SC asks rapist how he can share name with Nehru?
This raises many fundamental questions:
1. First an alleged rapist is not a rapist till it is so held by the highest court. Any assumption giving rise to extraneous comments would not be the appropriate course for the esteemed court.
2. No person guilty of a crime can be awarded punishment, that does not confirms to prevailing laws. A punishment for changing of a name smacks of feudal times, when the Lords would proclaim arbitrary punishments. Feudals have known to resent high sounding names of their peasants and would even punish them for their audacity to keep such name. It would appear that the same line of reasoning and fall back to feudal practices could be the source of such outburst by the learned justice of the Supreme Court.
3. On the face of it, naming children after the names of the famous and sacred are common practice all over the world from times immemorial. A free person is free to have and keep the name that he likes. Though it is a shame that a person with a famous or sacred name should commit acts degrading the very name with which he is known. That should not be a reason to start a precedent to curb individual right to be known by the name one chooses for himself. To strip that right of identity is a very inhuman form of punishment and in a free society, those in authority should have full respect for the identity of the individuals in the society, be they low or high, rich or poor, innocent of guilty, belonging to any religion, ethnicity, region etc.
4. People opting for names of the famous and noteworthy, can be no doubt chastised and counseled to follow the noble acts of their namesake. The person shamed should be given the chance to reform and lead a more exemplary life.
5. As not many people will be found in India, with names like Jawaharlal Nehru, one of our towering leaders, a question does arise; why the name had not been so popular with the masses. Is it something to do with caste taboos involved? It that’s the case, a counter movement should be launched to break the casteist habits of the past.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com
www.ghulammuhammed.wordpress.com
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http://www.saharasamay.com/samayhtml/Articles.aspx?NewsId=100554
How can you share name with Nehru? SC asks rapist
Posted at Wednesday, 11 June 2008 18:06 IST
New Delhi, June 11: A rape convict who shares his name with the late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru today left the Supreme Court frowning.
The apex court observed that such culprits had no right to share names with exalted national leaders.
"You have committed a rape and share the name with Jawaharlal Nehru? It is a disgrace for the national ethos," a vacation bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and P P Naolekar observed.
The apex court which reserved its judgment on the alleged rapist Nehru alias Jawahar, remarked that it was high time that something was done to change the names of criminals who have their names after national icons.
"We think it is time we should do something on this issue," said the bench in an oral observation.
The bench also expressed its displeasure over some lapses in a medical report submitted by a doctor in the case.
"We feel the Government should proceed departmentally against the doctor for giving such a report," the bench observed while reserving its judgment.
Earlier, Shishir Pinaki, amicus curiae appointed by the apex court filed a report in the court seeking acquittal of Nehru on the ground that there were several discrepancies in the prosecution's theory.
He submitted that there were inaccuracies in the FIR and there was no medical evidence to corroborate the rape charge. Pinaki further told the court that Nehru was implicated by the victim and her mother as he refused to buy firewood from them.
The charge of the prosecution was that Nehru had in 1988 raped the 16-year old girl at Rajendra Nand Gaon in Chattisgarh.
A Sessions Court sentenced him to seven years RI and the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2001 reduced the sentence to five years RI. Nehru then filed the appeal in the apex court.
Labels: Feudal mentality, India's Supreme Court, Jawaharlal Nehru, Manu's caste aparthied
