Monday 29 June 2015

The Great Dissent


 It takes great courage to stand up alone for what is right .

 In Plessy vs. Ferguson, 163 U.S.537 ( 1896 ), Justice Harlan was the sole dissenting Judge against the shameful majority verdict of the U.S.Supreme Court propounding the devious doctrine of ' separate but equal ' which put a badge of inferiority on the black man in USA, and validated a dreadful system of apartheid for over half a century in America.
In his historic judgment Justice Harlan said :

"  In the view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens.  There is no caste here.  Our Constitution in color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.  In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law.   The humblest is the peer of the most powerful.  The law regards man as man and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.

The arbitrary separation of citizens, on the basis of race, while they are on a public highway, is a badge of servitude wholly inconsistent with the civil freedom and the equality before the law established by the Constitution.  It cannot be justified upon any legal grounds

If evils will result from the comingling of the two races upon public highways established for the benefit of all, they will be infinitely less than those that will surely come from state legislation regulating the enjoyment of civil rights upon the basis of race.

 We boast of the freedom enjoyed by our people above all other peoples.  But it is difficult to reconcile that boast with the state of the law which, practically, puts the brand of servitude and degradation upon a large class of our fellow citizens, our equals before the law.  The thin disguise of "equal" accommodations for passengers in railroad coaches will not mislead anyone, nor atone for the wrong this day done. "

4 comments:

  1. I totally agree with Justice Katju's views. We have equality before law and equal equal protection of the law but only in the Constitution. Judges interpret it as per their convenience, upbringing and social and political leanings.

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    1. Saya ingin menyampaikan kepada seluruh TKI yang bekerja di negeri orang saya ibu hermawati seorang TKI DI MALAYSIA pengen pulang ke indo tapi gak ada ongkos sempat saya putus asah apalagi dengan keadaan susah gaji suami itupun buat makan sedangkan hutang banyak kebetulan suami saya buka-buka internet mendapatkan nomor MBAH RONO katanya bisa bantu orang melunasi hutang melalui jalan TOGEL dengan keadaan susah jadi saya coba hubungi MBAH RONO dan minta angka bocoran MALAYSIA angka yang di berikan 4D TOTO ternyata betul-betul tembus 100% bagi saudarah-saudara di indo mau di luar negeri apabila punya masalah hutang sudah lama belum lunas jangan putus asah beliau bisa membantu meringankan masalah anda hubungi MBAH RONO di nomor (_085_340_489-469_) ini asli bukan rekayasa atau silahkan buktikan sendiri...










      Saya ingin menyampaikan kepada seluruh TKI yang bekerja di negeri orang saya ibu hermawati seorang TKI DI MALAYSIA pengen pulang ke indo tapi gak ada ongkos sempat saya putus asah apalagi dengan keadaan susah gaji suami itupun buat makan sedangkan hutang banyak kebetulan suami saya buka-buka internet mendapatkan nomor MBAH RONO katanya bisa bantu orang melunasi hutang melalui jalan TOGEL dengan keadaan susah jadi saya coba hubungi MBAH RONO dan minta angka bocoran MALAYSIA angka yang di berikan 4D TOTO ternyata betul-betul tembus 100% bagi saudarah-saudara di indo mau di luar negeri apabila punya masalah hutang sudah lama belum lunas jangan putus asah beliau bisa membantu meringankan masalah anda hubungi MBAH RONO di nomor (_085_340_489-469_) ini asli bukan rekayasa atau silahkan buktikan sendiri

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  2. Equality amongst all the citizens of the country as provided in law can not be ensured unless we put off the reservation on the basis of caste or religion. Now, we must consider reservation on the basis of merits only.

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  3. The Caste problem can be solved by embracing it and modifying it into a different form. The Indian society has been held together by the Varna system. Though it would be nice to a casteless society we need to see the practicality of such an utopian dream. Even rising income has not been able to break the caste barriers when it comes to marriage etc. I think the way forward would be to link social levels with the Varna system. If there was a rule that to be considered within the Varna system, you needed to have a toilet in your home, the problem of open defecation would be solved faster, since people would clamor to both preserve and gain status. Also, I believe that the Varna can be used as India's soft power whereby foreign students, workers (especially Africans) coming to India can be given a Varna card, thereby integrating them into the Indian society. Else, with the recent emphasis on skin color in our country, we might have to face a race problem in the future as India grows economically and foreigners start coming in, slowly becoming Indians. If we are not prepared, we might have to do it according to what the Western institutions dictate us to do.

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