By Dr. K. Javeed Nayeem, MD

In a move which is perhaps the first-of-its-kind in our country, a Judge of the Allahabad High Court is on the verge of being impeached and the process of collecting the signatures of our legislators, necessary for the purpose, is already underway. This has been necessitated because of the refusal of the said Judge to resign from his high post on his own, despite being offered a chance to retain all the perks and benefits that come with normal retirement from service.

The man has been implicated in a case where a very huge stash of cash was discovered in his official residence, by fire force personnel who were in the process of dousing a fire there. It is a different matter that the incriminating evidence which the fire could not destroy, was attempted to be destroyed albeit unsuccessfully, by one of the senior fire force officers who tried to brush off the incident as a figment of the imagination of people who propagate fake news.

But his desperate defence of the Judge, for whatever reasons, was just too tattered against the widely circulated incriminating images of the piles of half burnt currency notes. Yes, money can talk and it does, sometimes for and sometimes against the offender too! 

It is not surprising that this incident is thankfully being viewed with utmost seriousness by our government, which is naturally duty-bound to show its uprightness and impartiality in all matters that are likely to tarnish the image of our judiciary and justice system. Impeachment proceedings against Judges, including one from the Supreme Court, have taken place in our country earlier too, about half a dozen times in the past.

But going by the tide of events so far, this is for the first time that they are likely to go all the way to their logical end. In all the other instances, the candidates, threatened with imminent impeachment had chosen to relent and resign on their own, thus avoiding the stigma and dishonour that comes with impeachment. Because any Judge, however high or low, is considered to be an example of undisputable honesty and impartiality, impeachment for inappropriate conduct, is indeed the ultimate dishonour.

Although I’m very satisfied with the progress of the due process of law, one thing raises some uncomfortable questions in my legally unlettered mind. I read a press release some days ago which said that if a Judge accused of misconduct chooses to avoid impeachment and resign on his or her own, he or she will be entitled to pension and all other benefits entitled to them upon regular retirement. The question that comes to my mind here is whether this is only the privilege of our Judges or if it applies to all government functionaries, who upon being accused of misconduct or corruption, decide to resign voluntarily instead of facing dismissal from service? Will there be no criminal proceedings against them after they resign?

As far as I know and from what I have seen, dismissal from service usually means that the persons get deprived of most of the benefits due to them and also face due process of the law. Or is there a separate set of rules for different classes and categories of government employees, with some being more elite than the others? And, if there is one, should it be so? Should misconduct go unpunished just because the accused choose to voluntarily relinquish the posts held by them?

A most distressing discovery

A recent response to an RTI enquiry has stated that in Mumbai alone, one third of the victims of deaths on the railway tracks go unidentified and their bodies are thus never claimed by their kith and kin.

Tragically, Mumbai is perhaps the undisputed capital of deaths on railway tracks, due to many factors which are very peculiar to the lifestyle and the pressures people there are subjected to.

It is said that a staggering 45,000 people have thus lost their lives, over the last fifteen years, out of which nearly 15,000 bodies have remained unidentified and unclaimed too. These had to be disposed of by the Railway Police after varying periods of preservation, depending on the facilities available to them at hospitals and mortuaries around them.

It may come as great shock to us non-Mumbaikars but it has been estimated that on an average, about eight people die on the railway tracks there, each passing day, either due to suicides or accidents.

In an interview on YouTube, I recently saw a lady Mumbai local train driver saying that she has to just helplessly watch her train running over at least one person every month. She said there is nothing she can do, except gasp and close her eyes for a millisecond, when a person standing next to tracks, like the thousands who do, decides to step onto them, in a bid to end his or her life.

While the enormity of this daily occurrence is bad enough to shake our senses, what is more painful is the fact that nearly a third of those who die on tracks go unidentified and unclaimed. Many reasons have been cited for this with the main one being that a good many of bodies are mangled beyond recognition. But this cannot be the leading reason because there is always some means of identification like clothes or some other proof of identity, like a mobile phone or an identity card that may survive the ghastly impact of accident.

Police say that despite their best efforts at cross checking all missing person reports against the bodies found on the tracks, there is always a mismatch of numbers, which is what makes up for those that remain unidentified and unclaimed.

What is most painful is that so many people whose lives are snuffed out like candles in the wind, either accidentally or intentionally, in desperation, have no one who misses them when they are gone. Just no one waiting at home for them to come back, at the end of the day and no one to mourn their dying. Imagine no one lodging a complaint with the police or going out looking for them when they fail to come back, for days on end. I think there just cannot be a greater tragedy to life and living, than this!

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