"Your bank balance may depreciate but your good deed will never be vanished" says the Minister of Law and Justice and Minister for Information and Technologies when he inaugurated the campus function. H.E Shri Kapil Sibal was the guest of honor and first of its kind to visit the campus and deliver such an inspiring speech.
The minister was the first guest lecturer to visit our law faculty. His excellency was the alumni of the Campus Law Centre and has strong sense of attachment with the campus. Shri Kapil Sibal was a senior advocate and very prominent figure in India's courts before joining politics. He was being referred as one of the few advocates that had transit the healthy and tight legal systems in the country.
The auditorium stood in silence as His Excellency entered the hall. The day began with the lighting of lamp by the Hon'ble chief guest and other dignitaries. The hall stood in silence as the guest occupied the podium. The actual session roared and our guest gave his very best encouraging words on how to overcome challenges and become a successful lawyer. H.E encouraged the young bloods to take up the challenging profession. He never denied the difficulties faced being a lawyer. However, he also remarked on the knowledge and satisfaction that one earns by becoming a lawyer.
Though i was exhausted with classes, his aspiring words made me energetic and attentive. His Excellency talked about his early life and not forgetting the hardships he faced as a lawyer. He mentioned few of many lawyers succeeded when they are optimistic and ready for challenges. He said law profession as different from many other professions. However, success follow when you work hard, read and be brave to face challenges.
I remember his excellency talking about how he took his first case and argued before the Supreme court of India. It was his first case and first to appear before the apex court. I could recollect H.E mentioning that he spend months in gathering evidence. The actual trial took more than 8 months and his first case decided his future in the field of law. He says the case was an election dispute that arose by way of giving bribe. The petitioner was his friend who was not given the opportunity to contest for elections from his constituency. The ironic and funny thing his excellency shared was not being paid for his work. Though not happy from inside but acceptance was the ultimate thing you can ask for, he said.
Another point i took a note was to render free legal service who are ignored of law. This service of free legal to the society as suggested by the guest began to feel me uneasy. The fundamental principles of natural justice was to treat everyone equal before law. Equality doesn't mean to treat everyone equal with wealth and power but most importantly to treat poor people equally and treat rich differently. Even the Constitution and Code Procedure gives every citizen a right to free legal aid. The only question that remain is are we actually following the principles laid in law?? In other words, are free legal aid provided to those who are not in position to hire their own lawyer??? My answer always remained in negative regardless of provisions reflected in law.
In this materialistic world nothing is free, all that matters is money. The desire backed by greed never let the humanity help poor. The desire to accumulate more and source of not getting as desired always let the human suffer. The task as said by our guest was true that most are ignored of law but who are ready to hold their hand and give justice. The laws in book provided sections for free legal aid but the practitioners seem to forget about rendering it. The simple answer would be, if we know the basic purpose of life. However this simple question remained as one of the biggest unsolved one in legal jurisprudence.
His excellency also touched upon how to present your case. A suit according to him was like a garden for lawyers where so many fruits are grown. The principle of law is to have free trial and convict the offender or otherwise, to have fair and justice, a fair trial followed by justice. Fair and Justice is said to be achieved when a lawyer presents his case in a very healthy way. Presenting a very good case before the judge stands very important as the judgment will be affected from the facts of the case.
I also remember his excellency reminding us not to upset the judge. A smile within followed as this sparkled into my ears. A similar if not exactly, encountered with me while representing a government case in Bhutan. With limited law knowledge and presenting corruption case before the court was the toughest task. A scream by a judge or rejecting our submissions hated the job at times, if not always. I remember quarreling with one of the judge and my response annoyed him the most. Thank god! I escaped the punishment for not maintaining the ethics and Code of conduct. It was always with the judge to dismiss our petition and punish us for Contempt of court but provided with reasonable justifications.
The other interesting topic was to accept own fault. His excellency cited one of his famous case in this regard. He remarked the saying of one judge in that case " when a judge knows he made a mistake, he should accept his mistake," This was such a remarkable thing i mummered. How far and how many of us in reality accepts our own fail? How far do judges accept their mistakes. A mistake by judge will ruin the lives of innocent people. I just wished if judges are welcoming enough to accept the mistake for betterment of some innocent people. Nobody is perfect that's why law came to our rescue but what, if that way is grabbed?
Finally, the law minister encouraged all the enthusiastic young lawyers to cultivate good things and become good human being. He talked that being good human does not necessarily involves giving every thing, but to the contrary the biggest gift you can give is JUSTICE. His excellency repeatedly advised us to help those poor and needy people. He said,"you may not have good bank balance or almost nil but your good deed will never be vanished." The biggest wealth you can give to human is justice. The innocent people suffer because of some act by miscreants. He said to be very smart and keep learning. The hour long talk gave rays of hope to young lawyers who will be practising soon.
Amongst many remarks thrown in the hall, i try to build all my life is to help others. The concept of helping other and being kind is one of the basic teachings of Buddha. Bhutan, being a country blessed by the teachings of Buddha we are taught to help others. But to everyone's surprise, this context just remained as an illusionary concept. Desires, greed, ignorance and many other factors seemed to have destroyed the true concept.
The materialistic world always keep us thinking on how to acquire more wealth and thus, becoming more cruel. I shall learn to live the world with limits and treasure good deeds. This concept of helping others not only keep ourselves within the paradigm of teachings of Buddha but also upholds the basic concept of law. Cultivating to help other in Buddhism and rendering fair and justice in law both have same ending. Religion controls the inner acts while law controls the physical negative act. A country is strong when there is strong law and strong judiciary. There can be a free society if laws are strong. The law however should not differentiate, doing so, do not fulfill the nature of law. The law is not law until through fair proceedings justice is justified keeping in line the rule of law.
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