UNDERSTANDING LAWS

 

CLASS- VIII    SPL-III

04.    UNDERSTANDING LAWS

Do Laws Apply to All?

·       Members of the Constituent Assembly were agreed there should be no arbitrary exercise of power in independent India. They, therefore, instituted several provisions in the Constitution that would establish the rule of law. All persons in independent India are equal before the law.

Background

·       No one can be above the law. Neither a government official, nor a wealthy person nor even the President of the country is above the law.

·       Any crime or violation of law has a specific punishment as well as a process through which the guilt of the person has to be established.

·       In ancient India, there were innumerable and often overlapping local laws. Different communities enjoyed different degrees of autonomy in administering these lawsamong their own.

·       In some cases, the punishment that two persons received for the same crime varied depending on their caste backgrounds, with lower castes being more harshly penalised. Slowly it changed during the colonial period.

·       The arbitrariness that continued to exist as part of British law is the Sedition Act of 1870- any person protesting or criticising the British government could be arrested without due trial.

·       With the adoption of the Constitution, this document served as the foundation on which our representatives began making laws for the country.

·       Every year our representatives pass several new laws as well as amend existing ones.

How Do New Laws Come About?

·       The Parliament has an important role in making laws.

·       There are many ways through which this takes place and it is often different groups in society that raise the need for a particular law. An important role of Parliament is to be sensitive to the problems faced by people.

·       The role of citizens is crucial in helping Parliament frame different concerns that people might have into laws.

·       From establishing the need for a new law to its being passed, at every stage of the process the voice of the citizen is a crucial element.

·       This voice can be heard through TV reports, newspaper editorials, radio broadcasts, local meetings - all of which help in making the work that Parliament does more accessible and transparent to the people.

Unpopular and Controversial Laws

·       Sometimes the Parliament passes laws that turn out to be very unpopular.

·       Sometimes a law can be constitutionally valid and hence legal, but it can continue to be unpopular and unacceptable to people because they feel that the intention behind it is unfair and harmful.

·       Hence, people might criticise this law, hold public meetings, write about it in newspapers, report to TV news channels etc.

·       In a democracy like ours, citizens can express their unwillingness to accept repressive laws framed by the Parliament. When a large number of people begin to feel that a wrong law has been passed, then there is pressure on the Parliament to change this.

·       People who think that the law is not fair can approach the court to decide on the issue. The court has the power to modify or cancel laws if it finds that they don’t adhere to the Constitution.

Upshots

·       Our role as citizens does not end with electing our representatives. Rather, it is then that we begin to use newspapers and the media to carefully chart the work that is being done by our MPs and criticise their actions when we feel it is required.

·       Thus, what we should bear in mind is that it is the extent, involvement and enthusiasm of the people that helps Parliament perform its representative functions properly.

                                                                        ……….. the end ……….