Declared constitutionally invalid

Imagine someone telling a woman ldquoYou should be more understanding of patriarchy There is a rationale behind it It is for the larger good Itrsquos part of our culture you see Let the men decide whether they want to do away with gender inequality Until then you must submit to the lawrdquo This would outrage me Imagine someone telling a Dalit ldquoYou should be more understanding of untouchability There is a rationale behind it It is for the larger good Itrsquos part of our culture you see Let the privileged castes decide whether they want to do away with this custom of theirs Until then you must submit to the lawrdquo This would outrage me Illustration Devdutt Pattanaik Now imagine someone telling a homosexual ldquoYou should be more understanding of IPC Section 377 There is a rationale behind it It is for the larger good Itrsquos part of our culture you see Let the heterosexuals decide whether they want to do away with this law which criminalises you Until then you must submit to the lawrdquo This outrages me For this is the spirit of the Supreme Court verdict that recriminalises homosexual acts expressed in private between consenting adults At least my reading of it That being said I wonder is this rather contemptuous and condescending judgment just the opinion of two judges or just one single judge part of his lsquoanticorruptionrsquo legacy Or is the opinion of the Indian judiciary Is it an individual opinion or an institutional one Those who are angry with the judge need to remember he is part of an institution and in criticising him they are criticising the institution which may be deemed inappropriate in the Republic of India Modern society is based on a belief institutions are greater than individuals Individuals can have prejudices Institutions cannot Institutions were created to ensure prejudices are destroyed and a fair object decisions are taken In a democracy institutions were established to protect and nurture minorities who would otherwise be overwhelmed by the majority This idea of the institution emerged in the West In ancient Rome the idea of Rome was greater than any Roman In the Holy Roman Empire the Church was greater than any king or clergy In nation states the state was greater than any politician bureaucrat judge or soldier or citizen In corporate houses the board is expected to be greater than the CEO Underlying this trend is lack of faith in humanity mdash humans cannot be expected to be noble and so a set of rules and procedures need to be created to ensure human society is noble But beliefs emerging in Indian scriptures are very different Mahabharata informs us how rules can be twisted to create injustice the disrobing of Draupadi Ramayana informs us how upholding rules can create injustice the banishment of Sita Thus are we warned of depending too much on impersonal rules In the puranas Swarga is created by Indra Kailash by Shiva Vaikuntha by Vishnu Ayodhya by Ram The kingdom is an expression of a kingrsquos personality The kingdom does not exist independent of the king A judiciary does not exist independent of the judge To create a noble society the kingjudge has to work on his nobility elevate himself to be inclusive and affectionate He cannot shrug his shoulders turn away from the oppressed and point to the rules of the land The author is Chief Belief Officer of the Future Group and can be reached at devduttdevduttcom The views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paperu00a0