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Curbs on panchayat culture
 A
woman telecom officer, a mother of two children, was forced to prostrate before
the panchyatdars countless times and then made to pay a fine of Rs. 19,000. The
panchayat also asked the officer to hand over possession of her two children to
her husband. Based on a complaint given by this woman officer to the police, a
case has been registered. While disposing of the anticipatory bail petitions
filed by the seven panchayatdars, the judge had suggested that the government
should promulgate an ordinance curbing such unassumed powers of the panchayat
system.
No right-thinking citizen would
support the acts of those panchayatdars in humiliating a woman and trying to
deprive the mother of her children. No doubt, these panchayatdars have exceeded
their limits. However, in any system, there is bound to be some sort of misuse
but to place curbs on the entire village panchayat system seems out of place.
The country's village panchayat
system has a tradition which goes back several centuries. In fact, it is seen as
a precursor of the present judical system. Of course, a village panchayat is a
non-constitutional entity which has no legal sanction at all. However, the
system has been in existence right from the rule of the monarchs and even after
the dawn of democracy.
The society will acknowledge
that these village panchayats had contributed a great deal to peace and harmony
in the villages. In many villages, panchayats had taken a stand against the
illicit liquor business and prevented distillation in their areas. Offenders who
defied the orders of the panchayats were even punished by the panchayats and
such persons were kept away from the villages.
It is true that many of the
village panchayats had banned the opening of liquor shops in their villages.
Some panchayats even banned consumption of liquor. Sex workers too had no place
in their villages, thanks to the vigil of the panchayats. Whenever the elected
representatives failed to deliver what they had promised, these village
panchayats sometimes asked the villagers to boycott the polls in protest against
the denial of basic amenities.
Just as there are some bad
panchayat leaders, there are also any number of good panchayat leaders in many
villages. There are stories galore of village heads who rendered justice,
strictly going by the principles of fair play and justice. Many property
disputes, which would have gone for years in courts, had been amicably settled
by these panchayats in a single sitting. The zero crime rate and the existence
of discipline and culture in most of the villages can be directly attributed to
the influence of these village panchayats.
There may be the odd selfish
and mischievous element holding office but by and large the system had made
immense contribution to peace and harmony in the villages.
As
long as there is police inaction and slow disposal of cases, the panchayat
system continues to have a vital role. We cannot place a stumbling block unless
corrective measures are taken to improve the regular legal and judicial fora. A
poor man in a village gets a remedy for his problems at virtually no cost from
these village panchayats. Is this possible in our legal system? The village
panchayat system gives a speedy and on-the-spot judgment, taking into account
the severity of the offence, the characters of the persons involved and the best
form of punishment or reward as the case may be. There is no case of indefinite
postponement of trials, prolonged hearings, no tampering of witnesses and
evidence and above all no appeal to several courts. Such a thing is not possible
in the existing legal system.
If at all the village panchayat
system has to be curbed through legislation, the views of the villagers should
be taken into account. The urbanites, sitting in ivory towers, cannot
unilaterally decide their fate, based on some stray incidents. Already lakhs of
cases are pending in various courts in the country, including in Tamil Nadu.
These cases have piled up for years and years. If the system is scrapped and if
all of them have to approach the court of law for redressal of their problems,
the courts would be further saddled.
The village panchayat system,
for all its faults, should never be scrapped as they provide service to the
village folk. These panchayats have helped maintain discipline in the villages.
Let us not destroy the houses while attempting to destroy the bugs.
Harvey
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