by IJLMH | Jul 1, 2020
In India, the Panchayati Raj System or the Local Self Government was introduced with the aim of decentralizing the powers of Legislatures and democratizing the country from the grass root level. However, some self-proclaimed courts of caste lords in the village (also known as Khap Panchayat) which usually consists of male members of a particular “gotra” who think that they have the power to control the choices made by people enjoy full legitimacy and authority as “Custodians of Honor”. It is because of their meaningless diktats that most regressive views are implemented as they exercise a vast support from the villagers who believe that whatever they are doing is good for their community. The adjudications given by Khap Panchayats are purely patriarchal in nature and “Honor Killings” or “Barbaric Murders” committed on their orders (Khap Panchayats) for the sake of preserving the honor of a family, a clan or a village is one of them which have continued to persist in the Modern times too.In the name of preserving Indian culture, they are perpetuating crimes and thereby setting an example to be followed by their descendants. These are the acts which are usually considered as quintessential mindset of Arab-Muslim world by the International Community. Khap Panchayats, institutions which were originally incorporated for maintaining law and social order in the society comprised of upper and middle caste land owners. They started functioning as judicial entities in parallel to the State Judiciary by subordinating their powers over the poor and their diktats mainly focused on perpetuating caste hierarchies. Khap Panchayats or Caste Panchayats, which were originally incorporated to be credible bodies having a social outlook, are now highly politicized. They are active in various states of India during the time when the country is going through rapid globalization and social and economic advancements. As India tries to fly high, the disgraceful judgements of the self-proclaimed “Custodians of Honor” definitely effect its reputation. Even though Indian Judiciary has a come a long way in delivering some of the most incredible landmark judgements of all time but there still remains a lot to be achieved in order to protect the society from the clutches of these so called “Unconstitutional” and “Unlawful” dispensers of Justice.
Keywords: Khap Panchayat, Honour, Custodians, Unconstitutional, Illegal, Patriarchy.
by IJLMH | Jul 1, 2020
George Orwell, highlighting the power that words hold within them, wrote in his famous 1984 that language has the power to corrupt. The practical illustration of the same too can be seen in India with the infamous ‘Bois Locker Room’ incident. This ordeal placed in front of the nation, the question of ascertaining criminal liability to the misuse of language. Answering the same, this paper aims to highlight crimes that are perpetrated essentially through the use of language and terms them as Language Crimes.
This paper presents the status quo and looks into the wide array of provisions that exist pertaining to the issue which are spread across several statutes. Further the practical application of the provisions too has been portrayed through taking a dive into the Indian courtrooms and highlighting their stand on the same. It also showcases the irony with the protectors of justice rendering injustice by examining the situation of the courtrooms dealing with cases of sexual offences and outlines the gross abuse of language by defence lawyers in their interaction with the prosecutrix during cross examination and by the judges, through the judgements they deliver. The author recognises the need to maintain a balance free speech and ascertaining criminality to language, so as to not make the liability of the accused to be infinite and presents the mechanism that exists to achieve the same. Further, the paper puts forward several suggestions to counter this social evil, including certain amendments to the current legislation.
Keywords: Language Crimes, Verbal Abuse, Sexual Harassment, Eve teasing, Victim blaming
by IJLMH | Jul 1, 2020
As we all know that our Indian society has been a male-dominated society for ages because of which power and strength are the two cores of the feminist theories when we talk on the topic of sexual harassment. We have seen that generally males when in power have taken undue advantage of the female subordinates. The study aims to analyze the situation what was in the past and what is the current situation. It has also been quite a trend that generally sexual harassment takes place when the men in the authority. The concept of sexual harassment arose in Vishakha and Bhawani Devi case on which extensive study has been done in this paper. The research paper is an analysis of the survey done for the collection of various kinds of data on the topic, relevant case laws, workplace ratio and how this whole harassment takes place. In relation, to the women supervisors as they are more likely to report harassing behaviors. Sexual harassment is that serves as power as a balance against the women in power which dominates due to their position and control rather than their sexual desire. Although the victims have tried to escape the embarrassment there have been landmark judgments that have shown how can one can defend their right against such a heinous act.
The researcher in this paper has tried to critically appraise all the evidence and facts on the topic to come out with a clear observation and what have been the landmark judgments in the past and how one gender oppresses the other in place of sexual desire. Finally, the current paper aims that the society understands the sensitiveness of the issue and take further steps to completely stop such kind of activities in society.
Keywords: Sexual harassment, Workplace, Women, Patriarchal Society.
by IJLMH | Jul 1, 2020
This paper is focused on the concept of Honour Killing in India that what it actually is and the reason behind it. After the independence and the codification of Hindu personal laws a lot of things have changed in the field of marriage in Hindus and discrimination because of the caste. The Secularism was introduced as one of the basic principles of the Indian Constitution. But the discrimination done on the basis of caste is still present in the country and is the reason behind honor killing. The main objective of this paper is to elaborate the meaning, laws, present scenario of it in the country. Though there is no separate law for this but the provisions of IPC under which it is dealt by the judiciary are discussed. After this the arguments in favour and against of making separate law for honour killing are mentioned. The mindset of the people due to caste system is the reason behind it which is also elaborated here. Lastly, it ends with recommendations and conclusion.
Keywords- “Honour”, “Caste”, “Murder”, “Separate Law”.
by IJLMH | Jul 1, 2020
The concept of globalization is based on the hypothesis that the entire globe is a single unit which takes decisions as one, and there is little to no role of States in the decision making process. From an economic point of view, this hypothesis leads to the conclusion that national economies open up to the world, leading to a free movement of goods, services and capital. A socialist result of this hypothesis would be that there is increased interaction and integration among national systems leading to increased social and cultural changes . From this point of view, globalisation looks like a harmless and rather positive process. However, there is another view which should be looked at. From this other point of view, globalisation is a push towards a global economic system by the supranational corporate trade and banking institutions so that they can avoid the accountability that arises due to democratic processes in nations. Whatever be the point of view, the result is the same- change.
Keywords: Globalization, Banking Operations, Economy, Financial Reform, Banking Institutions.
by IJLMH | Jul 1, 2020
The picture of queues lining outside liquor shops has gone viral on social media. The incident is a catch-22 for the Government officials as they preach ‘Stay home to beat COVID19’ narrative. But, on the other hand, it would put smirk on Administrative Officers working in the Revenue Department of State Governments. Since, it will help in garnering in revenue stealth to the State finances marred by COVID19 induced lockdown of economic activities.
Plus, alcohol acts as major avenue of revenue support in form of excise revenues which form forms ten-to-fifteen per cent of State’s own tax revenue as reported in a report by the Reserve Bank of India in September 2019.
The epitome of formal studies on relation between alcohol and crime is the comprehensive statistics report published by the National Crime Records Bureau (‘NCRB’, for brevity), Ministry of Home Affairs. In its latest avatar released in starting of this momentuous year ‘2020’, the incidence volume of crime related to ‘Liquor and Narcotic Drugs’ came out at 8,63,696, accounting for 65.3 % of the crime rate.
The authors explore the relation between chronic alcoholism and criminal responsibility in India in the Research Paper titled, “ALCOHOLISM AND CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY IN INDIA – Tallying Biological effects of alcohol consumption in influencing criminal activities.” They conduct a survey, and relate the data with biological effects of alcohol on human body post-consumption of alcohol to substantiate the reality brushed under the carpet.
