{"id":28865,"date":"2024-09-03T18:26:45","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T12:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=28865"},"modified":"2024-09-03T18:26:47","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T12:56:47","slug":"supreme-courts-words-against-bulldozer-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/03-09-2024\/supreme-courts-words-against-bulldozer-justice","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court&#8217;s Words Against Bulldozer Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Polity and Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Supreme Court has expressed disapproval over &#8220;bulldozer justice&#8221; where houses of accused individuals are demolished.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is \u2018bulldozer justice\u2019?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u2018Bulldozer justice\u2019, also known as bulldozer politics, refers to the practice of <strong>using the heavy-duty piece of machinery to demolish houses of alleged criminals, <\/strong>communal violence rioters and accused criminals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>As part of \u2018bulldozer justice\u2019, houses, shops and small establishments have been bulldozed across India, especially in the states of <strong>Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam and Maharashtra.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Supreme Court Ruling<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Supreme Court stated that <strong>no property can be demolished <\/strong>just because the accused is involved in a criminal offense.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Even if he is a convict, still it can\u2019t be done without following the procedure as prescribed by law.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The court underscored the importance of <strong>due process and natural justice<\/strong> before any demolitions are carried out and expressed the need for nationwide guidelines to address this issue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Issues with Bulldozer Justice<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Targeting Marginalized Communities:<\/strong> Bulldozer justice disproportionately impacts marginalized and minority communities, perpetuating existing inequalities and social divisions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Undermining the Rule of Law: <\/strong>Bulldozer justice bypasses established legal processes, undermining the principles of rule of law and due process, which erode public trust in political institutions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Violation of Human Rights: <\/strong>The practice of bulldozer justice often violates basic human rights, including the right to shelter and protection from arbitrary state action.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The lack of resettlement or compensation for those evicted raises serious ethical concerns.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ethical issues: <\/strong>\u00a0Bulldozer justice conflates the roles of judge, jury, and executioner, leading to unjust outcomes. Punishments should be proportional and directed at the guilty, not innocent family members.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Psychological Trauma: <\/strong>The sudden and often violent nature of demolitions can cause significant psychological trauma, not just for the individuals directly affected, but for entire communities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Bulldozer Justice creates a <strong>culture of fear and retribution,<\/strong> where people are punished without a fair trial in which they can defend themselves.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This approach is fundamentally <strong>at odds with the principles of justice and the rule of law, <\/strong>the ethos India&#8217;s founding fathers considered to be an essential component of a civilized democracy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In a democratic society, justice should not be about retribution, and punitive measures should be aimed at <strong>reforming the guilty.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>What is Retributive justice?<\/strong><br>&#8211; It is a theory of justice that emphasizes punishment as the primary response to wrongdoing.\u00a0<br>&#8211; According to this theory, when someone commits a crime, they deserve to be punished in proportion to the severity of their offense.\u00a0<br>&#8211; The underlying principle is that punishment should be morally appropriate to the crime committed, reflecting a balance between the harm done by the offender and the suffering they are made to endure as a consequence.<br><strong>Challenges with the Retributive Justice<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Backward-looking: <\/strong>Unlike other theories of justice that focus on future outcomes (such as deterrence or rehabilitation), it focuses on responding to past wrongdoing.<br>&#8211; <strong>Harsh Punishments:<\/strong> If not carefully implemented, retributive justice can lead to excessively harsh punishments, especially in cases where the concept of proportionality is not well-defined<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/political-pulse\/bulldozer-justice-sc-state-governments-9546391\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>IE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Supreme Court has expressed disapproval over &#8220;bulldozer justice&#8221; where houses of accused individuals are demolished.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28865"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28866,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28865\/revisions\/28866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}