{"id":383,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:40","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=383"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:40","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:40","slug":"073-british-justice-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/01-bande-mataram-volume-01\/073-british-justice-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-073_British Justice.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nBritish Justice<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n    
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>          
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>T<\/font><\/span>HERE<\/b>
\nhas been much to<\/span> edify and instruct in the recent antics of the
\nbureaucracy and, in the light of the object lessons they present, the people of
\nIndia have been revising old ideas and out-worn superstitions with a healthy
\nrapidity. The belief in British liberalism, in the freedom of the Press, in the
\nfreedom of the platform, in the Pax Britannica, in the political honesty of Mr.
\nJohn Morley and many other cherished shibboleths have departed into the limbo of
\nforgotten follies. But the greatest fall of all has been the fall of the belief
\nin the imperturbable impartiality of British justice. There are two kinds of
\nstrain which no empire, however firmly bound in triple and quadruple bands of
\nsteel, can long bear; the strain of a burden of taxation which the people no
\nlonger find bearable and the strain of a series of perversions of justice which
\ndestroy all faith in the motives of the governing authorities. Justice and
\nprotection between man and man, between community and community, between rulers
\nand ruled is the main object for which States exist, for which men submit to the
\nrestrictions of the law and to an equitable assessment of the expenses of the
\nmachinery which provides for protection and justice. But if the assessment of
\nthe expenses is grossly unjust, if the expenses themselves are exorbitantly
\nhigh, if the revenue is spent on ways of which the taxpayers do not approve,
\nthen protection and justice are bought at a price which is not worth paying. And
\nif in addition the protection is denied and the justice withheld, then the very
\nobject of the existence of a State ceases to be satisfied and from that moment
\nthe governing power, unless it can retrace its steps, is doomed by the
\ninevitable operation of nature.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The bureaucrats who misgovern us at the present moment have totally
\nforgotten these simple truths. Otherwise we would not have witnessed such
\nscandalous scenes as are now being enacted at Rawalpindi or the gross
\ninfringements of equity and justice<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-431<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nwhich
\nare of frequent occurrence in Bengal. The amazing incidents of the Rawalpindi
\nriot case are such as have hardly been paralleled in British India. The refusal
\nof bail, which was the first scandal, has evidently become a part of
\nbureaucratic policy. It is a sound principle of procedure that bail should not
\nbe refused except under exceptional conditions, such as the probability of the
\naccused absconding; otherwise in a protracted case an innocent man may suffer
\nseriously for the sole offence of being accused. In the Rawalpindi case there
\nwas not the least possibility of men like Lala Hansraj, Gurdas Ram or Janaki
\nNath absconding from justice and the apprehension of further riots in a city
\ncommanded by siege-guns and crowded with military was a contemptible and hollow
\npretence. Yet without hearing the case, on the mere statement of the prosecuting
\nofficials, the Chief Court of the Punjab, supposed to be the highest repository
\nof impartial British Justice, prejudged the accused, declared them guilty and
\nrefused bail. This is British law and British justice! Again in the course of
\nthe present trial, although it was proved beyond dispute that the prisoners were
\nsuffering terribly in health as the result of a detention in which they are
\nbeing deliberately subjected to unnecessary discomfort and privation, although,
\nif
\nthere was ever any shadow of justification for the refusal of bail, even that
\nshadow had by this time utterly vanished; yet on the strength of the airy
\npersiflage of a Civil Surgeon, the relief to which they were entitled was
\nrefused. This gentleman held the view that the sufferings of the accused were
\nnot due to their detention and seems to be of the opinion that men of means and
\ngentle nurture are rather in the habit of shedding several pounds of flesh off
\nand on without apparent cause. And so the unfortunate martyrs, for the crime of
\nbeing patriots, are punished with a long term of imprisonment before any offence
\nhas been proved against them. This too is British law and British justice. From
\nthe point of view of the executive it may no doubt be said that since the
\naccused have to be punished whether they are guilty or innocent, it does not
\nmuch matter whether their punishment begins before or after their conviction.
\nThat is good reasoning from the point of view of a bureaucratic executive, but
\nnot from that of a judicial authority. The refusal of bail to the Rawalpindi<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-432<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\npleaders
\nis one of the most deadly of the many wounds which the bureaucracy have been
\nrecently dealing to their own moral prestige and reputation for justice. The
\nsame spirit has been shown in the refusal of bail to Pindi Das, editor of
\nIndia<\/i>,
\n<\/i>and to Lala Dinanath of the Hindustan<\/i>. <\/i>In the latter case there is
\nabsolutely no excuse whatever for the refusal, except the vindictive fury of
\nbureaucratic persecution which will omit no means however petty and base to make
\nits opponents suffer.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>But the most glaringly, paradoxically unsound case of all has occurred in
\nour own midst: Srijut Girindranath Sen received at the hands of British justice
\na sentence of monstrous severity for a trifling offence. This same British
\njustice, being moved to set aside the conviction and sentence, was graciously
\npleased to give the accused a chance of disproving the offence, but at the same
\ntime, in the plenitude of its justice and wisdom, refused to give him bail. In
\nother words it admitted that the accused might be innocent, but at the same time
\ndecided that he must undergo a monstrously disproportionate punishment for a
\ntrifling offence of which it was admittedly doubtful whether he ever committed
\nit! And then when the punishment had been served out, British justice lent a
\ngracious and leisurely ear and admitted that this Swadeshi Volunteer Captain was
\nvery probably innocent, but as he had suffered punishment for his innocence, it
\nwas not necessary to go any further into the matter. This too is British law and
\nBritish justice. If all this does not convince the Indian people that the
\nBritish sense of justice is most marvellous and unique and sui generis <\/i>and
\nwithout any peer or parallel in the world, it must indeed be hard-hearted and
\ndull of soul. For our part we are ready to acclaim British justice with hymns of
\nadoration and praise. Hail, thou ineffable, incomprehensible, indescribable,
\nunspeakable British Justice! Hail, thou transcendent mystery, <\/font>
\n
\ntubhyam bh\u00fb<\/span>yisth\u00e2<\/span>m
\nnama uktim vidhema<\/i>.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\nThe
\nMoral of the Coconada Strike<\/font><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\nThat
\nthe weapon of passive resistance is sometimes a match even for sword and
\nbayonet, not to speak of milder instruments of<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-433<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nrepression,
\nis being evidenced in the strike of the shipping coolies at Coconada. We may
\nhave to resort to this means of protest for some time to come until the
\nBritishers so far forget themselves as to begin firing on strikers and
\nboycotters \u2014<\/span>
\na contingency for which the country should now learn to be prepared. If the
\ndespot still entertains some doubt as to the working of the time-spirit, it
\nshould be set to rest by the instinctive resort of the Coconada coolies to a
\nwholesale strike as an effective protest against the arrest of some of their own
\npeople for alleged participation in a riot. The drafting of the military and the
\npunitive police to the locality has perhaps strengthened their firmness. The Englishman <\/i>while alarmed at this unexpected combination among the lower class,
\nhopes that the strike is not political in its character. This comfortable
\ndeduction has provoked a sort of subdued laughter from the Madras Hindu<\/i>. <\/i>Events
\nalone make men wise. The opinion that is today punished and ridiculed as mere
\nheresy, has its ratification tomorrow in experience. Our moderate contemporary
\nnow sees eye to eye with the Nationalists when it says: "If once the lower
\nclasses of the people begin to know and feel their real strength and power, it
\nwill be difficult to predict the results that would follow. No prudent
\nadministrator would, in our opinion, tempt the bringing into play of the
\ncapacity for combination which the lower strata of people have. They cannot be
\ncowed down into submission with half the ease and celerity with which the
\neducated classes can be brought down by the display of military strength."
\nThe whole plan of Nationalist campaign rests on the basis of this potential
\nstrength of the people which does not require for its re-awakening years of
\nmass education as is contended by the Moderates, but only tangible instances of
\nbureaucratic high-handedness. Education in the ordinarily accepted sense is not
\na very effective means of national regeneration, as the Hindu <\/i>itself
\nadmits. The responsiveness of untampered and unsophisticated nature, its want of
\ncalculation and its speedy decision have to be turned to advantage.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Thus the Coconada strike comes handy with its moral to dispel another of
\nour superstitions.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n*<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-434<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n


\nThe "Statesman" on Shooting<\/font><\/a><\/h3>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhile
\nMr. John Morley was being cross-examined by the Nationalist and Labour members
\nin Parliament and was answering in his usual style of Demigod plus <\/i>Aristides
\nthe just plus <\/i>Louis XIV of France plus <\/i>the Archangel Gabriel, the
\ntiger qualities of an imperial race suddenly awoke in the breast of Sir Howard
\nVincent and roared out "Why not shoot Lajpat Rai?" In that single
\ntrenchant sentence the war-like Knight gave a sudden illuminating expression to
\nthe heart’s desire of all Anglo-India and two-thirds of England. It was not
\ndecorous, it was not politic, but it was frank and sincere. Yesterday the Friend
\nof India noticed the incident with great sympathy for Sir Howard Vincent’s
\nfeelings, but it could not altogether approve of applying his panacea just at
\npresent. The Friend<\/i>, <\/i>however, looks forward to a day when the shooting
\nwill begin; it invites the attention of the Indian reactionaries \u2014 whoever
\nthey may be \u2014 to this blood-curdling Howard Vincent war-whoop and warns them
\nthat this is the prospect before them if a Tory Government comes into power
\nwhile the present unrest continues. By its Indian reactionaries the Friend <\/i>probably
\nmeans not Nawab Salimullah and the Mihir Sudhakar<\/i>, <\/i>but the Democratic
\nNationalist Party in India; for the Friendly language must be usually
\ninterpreted by contraries, and it is quite natural for one who calls the Statesman
\n<\/i>a friend of India to call democracy and nationalism reactionary. Let us
\nassure the Friend <\/i>however that the Nationalist Party have from the
\nbeginning envisaged the possibility of the shooting being started; they did not
\nneed a Howard Vincent to open their eyes to it. The defenders of the established
\norder of things have attempted almost every form of Russian repression except
\nthe taking of life. Deportation, condemnation without trial, punishment before
\nconviction, flogging, the gagging of press and platform, police hooliganism, the
\nemployment of a Black Hundred, brutal personal persecution in jail and Hajat,
\nhave all been attempted though not as yet on the Russian scale. When all these
\nmethods have been found ineffective, it is quite possible that the order,
\n"do not hesitate to shoot" may go out; already in the Punjab the
\nthreat has been used to prevent public<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-435<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

meetings. The Friend of India is greatly mistaken if he
\nthinks that his menaces will have any better effect than his abuse and cajolings;
\nit is a wild dream for him to hope that any power can make Indian Nationalism
\nfall down and kiss the feet of Archangel John.<\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font>June 21, 1907<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-436<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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