By Syed Mashaal Hussain
Dr. Javed Jamil, currently Chair in Yenepoya (Deemed to be) University, Mangalore, can very well be regarded as a ruthless crusader against the philosophies of the modern world order. For more than two decades, he has been tirelessly busy unveiling the designs of the forces of economics and their devastating effects on health, peace and social order. His last book, “Economics First or Health First?” was centred on the health system prevalent in the world highlighting how “Economic Fundamentalism” was dictating the international system of health. His latest book, “Justice Imprisoned” is centred on the international system of law and justice.
This is an undeniable fact that we are living in a time when crime has become the order of the day, and as Dr. Jamil puts it, “justice, rather than being chosen to lord over the human society, has been sentenced to life imprisonment in the so-called Civilized World” He has reproduced huge statistics to show how big a failure the legal system is.
Dr. Jamil is already well-known for his all-enveloping theory of “Economic Fundamentalism”. His argument that the world is dominated by the forces of economics, which in league with the political powers, are busy using all the strengths, needs and susceptibilities of human beings, cannot be faulted even by the very same forces. In the present work, he has argued that both problems and solutions are sought to be “commercialised” to the hilt with the result that weapons, law machinery, litigation and even the prisoners have all become the money-machines. The interests of the forces is not in minimising the crimes but in using the crimes, the weapons of crimes and the criminals for the economic rise. Even the title of the book is suggestive in that even the prisons have become a huge industry and to sustain its growth, the legal machinery is busy in sending and keeping as many people as possible and for as long as possible in the prisons. Their campaign against Capital Punishment in the last two centuries was meant not for the stated objectives of not letting any innocent killed by law but for increasing the population of prisons. Prisons, not death sentences or quick punishments help the industry. He says:
“Despite trillions of dollars involved in the system of law and order, despite tens of millions performing the law enforcing duties, despite the tens of millions of counsellors that vouch to defend justice, despite millions of judges that preside over tens of thousands of courts, despite tens of thousands of prisons that are housing tens of millions of the alleged and convicted criminals, lawlessness and crimes are zooming horrendously with every passing day with billions of men and women being subjected to numerous kinds of serious crimes including murderous and sexual assaults every year. How can then we call it even a satisfactory, what to speak of an excellent system of law and justice?.”
Dr. Jamil has rightly argued that when there is neither fear of God, nor Fear of Law, nor fear of society, how can society hope to be free of crimes?
Dr. Jamil has been extremely severe on the system of litigation, which has become hugely long and painful for the people. He has narrated a few stories where even the cases of divorce took several decades in deciding. In one case, the husband died after more than 30 years of separation from wife with the case still pending in the court. He argues that judges are expected to pronounce judgments on the basis of the arguments of the two contending parties of lawyers none of whom is stating the whole truth.
The foreword of the book has been written by eminent expert of law, Vice Chancellor of NALSAR University of Law, Prof. Faizan Mustafa who, while showing his appreciation for the work, has also not expressed some academic disagreements with the author on several points. The author has also briefly replied to his arguments in his “Preface”.
There is no doubt that the book is an eye opener and perhaps one of the most fascinating critiques of the modern system of law in recent times. It is “Must Read” for everyone who wants to understand the functioning of the modern world order, especially it system of law. As a writer, Dr. Jamil excels in combining his investigative and creative skills. On one hand, he has produced huge facts and figures in support of his arguments; on the other, he has used his poetic talents to make the work a perfect reading. It will be worthwhile to end this preview with a few quotes from the book,
“A just, swift and effective legal system is a must to ensure social order. A good legal system must be able to drastically lower the crime rate…. If a system fails to achieve the results for which it was created and instead it increases the problem with numerous adverse effects on the people, it needs to be dismantled without delay.”
“What a travesty of justice! Injustices perpetrated on the system of justice! The system has been made defunct, its morality has been raped, its riches have been plundered and its sanctity has been ravished. The system has helped every other cause but justice. It has made the officers of the court and the law implementing agencies greatly richer; it has saved the criminals from the punishments proportionate to their crimes; it has opened the floodgates for the corporate for accumulating the wealth; and it has helped the people becoming addicts of various substances and practices. The institution of justice is not any more the system that delivers justice and ensures social order; it is now the industry that generates wealth.”
“It is pretty certain that incarceration too has become a part of the global business. Obviously, factors related to problems, problems themselves and their solutions – all feed one another. There is therefore hardly any need to try to build a system free of crimes. This is what the international system of justice is all about.”
“The fact that the US has one of the highest murder rates and the highest incarceration rate can be regarded as ample proof of the rising criminal tendencies of the American people. But more than that, it is the proof of the total failure of American judicial system, and still more the proof of the negative impact of social, political and economic policies, which ultimately branch out from the root of economic fundamentalism.”
“The statistics again point out to the fact that being big powers having nukes and highly advanced technology accompanied with advanced infrastructure does not mean civilization, the level of which is dependent instead on the socioeconomic policies and the legal and justice system of the country. The tables related to crimes, incarceration rates and total number of prisoners are bigger indications of the level of civilization. But in a world dominated by the economic fundamentalists and hegemonies, who will accept this argument?”
In nutshell, Dr. Jamil believes that the current international system of law is highly advanced in method but a colossal failure in the result. Instead of trying to hide the facts stated in the book, let the world debate them and overhaul the system of law in a way, which looks advanced not just in method but also in result. The book has been published by Yenepoya Printers and Publishers.
Price; Rs 480/- in India and $21 in other countries.
Dr. Javed Jamil can be contacted at doctorforu123@yahoo.com
Insha’Allah, I’ll buy the Book