Rape, Reservation and the Rule of Law

Why would women falsely accuse men of rape? Why would a dalit (someone from the lower-caste) falsely accuse those from the upper-caste for mistreatment? There are far too many abuses in India, of women and dalits. Does it not make sense to provide to them special reliefs?

The concept of “the rule of law” originated in 16^th century Britain. It was a unique concept that equalized kings, rulers, and judges in front of the law. Lady Justice—the goddess of justice in Roman mythology—started to be depicted with a blindfold. Justice became blind. The judiciary was no longer to conduct its business based on the status, position, or power of those standing in the witness box. The scale in the hand of Lady Justice signifies objectivity. It isn’t justice when a ruling is based on hunches, hysteria, mob-verdict, or emotions.

Lady Justice’s statues adorn many courthouses around the world. The statue is a daily reminder that even a minor deviation from objectivity and impartiality is a serious deviation from the rule of law.

India legally enforces “reservation” (affirmative policy) for dalits and has a provision for non-bailable arrest of anyone who is alleged to have mistreated them. Similar laws exist in favor of women who claim to have suffered dowry demands, rape, molestation, teasing, or stalking.

When I went for my engineer degree there were a large number of people who had entered the course because of the reservation of seats. We sat in class with people who had been repeating the same class for many years, in some cases more than a decade—they simply did not have the background to be studying engineering. We were forced to do project work and share residential rooms based on how the management sitting in its ivory-tower wanted us to.

I soon realized that a false case filed by a dalit would land me in prison, getting me beaten up by the police, and get me tagged with a label of “criminal” for the rest of my life. I started to keep my distance from dalits.

Politically active dalits relished in maximizing resource acquisition using real or false cases. If they failed the examinations, they claimed that the higher-class teachers purposely did so. To avoid being seen as anti-dalit, the teachers tried their best to pass dalit students. Does that make me think twice before I approach a dalit medical doctor? Yes. It does.

Fake dowry and rape cases have proliferated since the time it became possible for women to get an immediate upper hand if they filed a case with the police on such pretexts. It is not unknown for a girl to have lived with a man for many years and then claim rape. Fake cases have flooded the legal system, making it extremely difficult for legitimate rapes and dowry cases to be processed.

Today, a girl can report stalking or molestation without having any proof. There are feminist lobbies in India that are asking for women to be fully and always trusted by the law.

Businessmen worried about the extra risks of incrimination prefer as much as possible to avoid hiring dalits and women. Having compromised on the rule of law, such regulations have not only failed to achieve their objectives, they have imposed suffering on exactly those they wanted to benefit.

The irony of India is that there aren’t many women who want the law to be fair to men, and there aren’t many dalits who want the law to be fair to non-dalits. At the very least, should they not been asking strict punishment for those who file fake cases? They fail to recognize the harm their tribal self-centredness is doing not only for their stated causes, but also to the rule of law by figuratively removing the blind from the eyes and the scale from the hand of Lady Justice.

Once the rule of law is gone, alas, we will be left with the rule of man, the rule of might is right.