How do we formulate and interpret laws?

The Supreme Court of India has ruled that a person cannot be convicted for merely demanding dowry unless the demand is followed by mental or physical torture resulting in the death of the victim. The prosecution has to establish convincing evidence that the accused had subjected the victim to torture soon before her death in connection with the demand. "What is punishable under Section 498A or Section 304B of IPC is the act of cruelty or harassment by the husband or the relative of the husband against the woman," the Bench said.

This begs the question - Doesn't the demand for dowry constitute mental torture in itself? How can it not be considered an act of cruelty or harassment? Why do women need to die for culprits to be brought to book?

In another judgement, the Supreme Court held that "A husband and his relatives cannot be prosecuted for "cruelty" towards wife merely because the mother-in-law or other family members had kicked her or for that matter threatened her with divorce". Apparently "kicking may make out some other offence but not the one punishable under Section 498A".

We need judicial reforms and we need them as of yesterday!

The Terror Within

I am prompted to write this piece by an article I have just read which questions why India is contemptuous of its soldiers and continues to have dialogue with Pakistan. There is a comment in the article about how "an entire state government machinery can be put on guard to protect a commercial venture of an individual" (the context: the release of Shahrukh Khan's movie 'My Name Is Khan' being held to ransom by violent elements due to remarks made by him in favour of Pakistani cricketers playing in India) while our soldiers are regularly disrespected by the Indian Government with the state kowtowing to Pakistan.

I do believe that India remains inconsistent in its approach to Pakistan and offers an easy, soft target to external perpetrators of terror. That said, while we do need to strengthen our response, fighting the battle within has gained utmost importance for me. When we are weak internally, we cannot hope to stand up to external threats - and we don't need external terror to destroy us when we are so hell bent on doing the job ourselves.

Unfortunately, our institutions are failing us - be it the executive, the legislature or the judiciary...and now the fourth estate, our media. Our very social fabric is in danger of being torn up by vested interests. India in the 21st Century finds itself in a cultural and political morass. We need to stand up to the hooligans and let it be known that as a society, we aren't going to be held to ransom....and if it takes an entire state government machinery to do it...so be it!