Travesty of Justice

Raj Tlackerey says here

"I am only asking for the implementation of the law. The law says shops and establishments have to put up signboards in Marathi. This was not done."

Yeah, you heard it right. There is a law in this country that says shops and establishments should have their signboards written in a regional language. Anyone with a decent sense of fairness will tell you that it is no business of the Government to decide how private businesses should have their sign boards written. Laws like these are one step short of forcing us to name our children on the whims of our lawmakers.

If you are wondering where this law has gone wrong, we should touch upon the basics of justice for a bit. Here is a bullet pointed crash course,

Rights: You are born with three indisputable rights; right to live as you choose, right to pursue happiness as you deem appropriate and right to poses what you earn. In short - right to life, liberty and property. Justice: Justice is said to be done only when these three individual rights are successfully defended. Just as your freedom to swing your fist ends where my nose begins, justice is restricted to defending your rights as long as they are not in violation of my rights. Force: It goes without saying that you can uphold justice by defending your rights even by force. If you can defend your rights by force, then it can also be justified that you can take my help in forcefully defending your rights. Law: If solicitation of my force is justifiable, then a group of well meaning individuals can join us and offer their combined force in defense of your individual rights. This collective organization of common force to defend individual rights is called law.

Therefore the reason for existence of law is solely based on individual rights. So just as one individual cannot deny another individual his right to live his life as he pleases, the law cannot force citizens to do stuff that they don’t want to do on their own.

Now, how do we know if a given law is sincerely defending justice or just being meddlesome? Well, here are the thumb rules.

1. If it is justifiable that you as an individual cannot force a roadside restaurant to have your grandfather’s name written on their signboard, then it is also not justifiable for the law to tell the restaurant how to name its business. 2. If it is justifiable that you as an individual cannot forcefully stop your neighbor from criticizing your dangerous delusions, then it is also not justifiable for the law to punish people for scrutinizing the possible delusions of their neighbors. 3. If it is indecent for you as an individual to intrude into the sex lives of your neighbors, then it is also lewd and rude for the law to dictate people on how to have sex.

Another serious problem with such meddlesome laws is their constant contradiction with our moral values. When law and moral values contradict each other, people are left with the dangerous pick of either losing their moral sense or losing their respect for law.