Q 1
Write in your own
words what you understand by the term ‘rule of law’. In your response include a
fictitious or real example of a violation of the rule of law.
Ans. Rule of law means that the laws
apply equally to all irrespective of caste, religion, colour, sex etc.
Ø
Two people jump the signal red light and are
caught by the traffic policeman. One of them pays a bribe and go scot-free.
Whereas the other, who did not or could not do so, had his license confiscated
and a challan issued to him.
Ø
The traffic policemen as well the first person
both violated the rule of law.
Q 2
State two reasons
why historians refute the claim that the British introduced the rule of law in
India.
Ans. Historians refute the claim
that the British introduced the rule of law in India because colonial law
was arbitrary, and the Indian nationalists played a prominent role in
the development of the legal sphere in British India.
Q 3
Re-read the
storyboard on how a new law on domestic violence got passed. Describe in your
own words the different ways in which women’s groups worked to make this
happen.
Ans. Domestic violence against
women was very common in India in the early 1990s. Throughout the 1990s,
the need for a new law was raised in different forums like Public meetings and
women’s organizations. In 1999, Lawyers Collective, a group of lawyers,
law students, and activists, after nation-wide consultations took the lead in
drafting the Domestic Violence (Prevention and
Protection) Bill. This draft bill was widely circulated.
Meetings were held all over the country supporting the introduction of this
Act.
The Bill was first introduced in
Parliament in 2002, but it was not to the satisfaction of all. Several
women’s organisations, like the National Commission for Women, made
submissions to the Parliamentary Standing Committee requesting changes in the
Bill. In December 2002, after reviewing the request made by the National
Commission for Women, the Parliamentary Standing Committee submitted its
recommendations to the Rajya Sabha and these were also tabled in the Lok Sabha.
The Committee’s report accepted most of the demands of the women’s
groups.
Finally, a new Bill was reintroduced
in Parliament in 2005. After being passed in both houses of Parliament,
it was sent to the President for his assent. The
Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act came into effect in 2006.
Work of women groups on getting the
law of domestic violence passed:
Ø
Hearing complaints by the victims of domestic
violence.
Ø
Need for new law was raised at different forums.
Ø
Lawyers collectively with law students and
activities drafted the Domestic violence. (Prevention and Protection) Bill.
This was widely circulated.
Ø
Women’s movement for the introduction of the
Bill in Parliament.
Ø
Introduction of Bill in Parliament.
Ø
Opposition to the Bill.
Ø
Referred to Parliamentary Standing Committee.
Ø
In December 2002, recommendations of the
Standing Committee after incorporation of amendments as per women’s groups.
Ø
Reintroduction of Amended Bill.
Ø
Passed by both the houses.
Ø
Assent of the President of India.
Ø
Protection of women from Domestic Violence Act
came into effect in 2006.
Q 4
Write in your own
words what you understand by the following sentence on page 44-45: They also
began fighting for greater equality and wanted to change the idea of law from a
set of rules that they were forced to obey, to law as including ideas of
justice.
Ans. The Sedition Act of 1870 was a
turning point in the struggle for freedom in India. According to the Sedition
Act any person protesting or criticising the British government could be
arrested without due trial.
Indian nationalists began protesting and
criticising this arbitrary use of authority by the British. They also began fighting
for greater equality and wanted to change the idea of law from a set of rules
that they were forced to obey, to law as including ideas of justice. By the end
of the nineteenth century, the Indians started asserting themselves in the
colonial courts.
The Indian Legal profession began
emerging as a force to reckon with and the Indians demanded respect in the
courts. Indians started using law to defend their legal rights.
Indian judges began to play a greater
role in making decisions.
Thus the Indians played a major role in the
evolution of the rule of law during the colonial period.
Ø
The Indian Nationalists advocated for greater
equality for Indians before the law.
Ø
They also advocated bringing changes in the law
which were derogatory and which were forced on Indians.
Q 5
How was the
Rowlatt Act an example of British arbitrariness?
Ans. The Rowlett Act was an example of British government
because this law allowed the British government to imprison people without due
trail.
Indian
nationalist including Mahatma Gandhi were vehement their opposition to the
Rowlatt bills. Despite the large number of the protests, the Rowlett Act came
into effect on 10 March 1919.
In Punjab,
protests against this Act continued quite actively and on April 10 two leaders
of the movement, Dr Satyapal and Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew were arrested. To
protest these arrests, a public meeting was held on 13 April 1919 at
Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. General Dyer ordered the troops to fire. Several
hundreds of people died in this gunfire and many more were wounded
including women and children.
Q 6
Would it be more
appropriate to call women who are subjected to violence or abuse as
'survivors'?
Ans. Often women who face violence or
are abused are seen as victims. But women struggle in several different ways to
survive these situation. Therefore, it is more accurate to refer to them as
survivors rather than as victims.
Q 7
How the Civil
Rights Act came into force in USA? What were the major provisions of this act?
Ans. An African-American women,
refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man on 1 December 1955. She was
protesting the law on segregation that divided up all public spaces, including
the streets, between the whites and the African-American. Her refusal was a key
event that marked the start of the Civil Right Movement, which led to the Civil
Rights Act in 1964, which prohibited discrimination on the basis of race,
religion or national origin in the USA.
Q 8
Glossary (शब्द संकलन) :
(i)
Criticise (आलोचना): To find fault with or disapprove of a person or
thing. In the context of this chapter, it refers to citizens finding
fault with the functioning of government.
(ii)
Evolution (विकासक्रम):
Process of development from a simple to a complex form and is
often used to discuss the development of a species of plants or animals.
In the context of this chapter it refers to the way in which protecting women
against domestic violence developed from an urgently-felt need to a new law
that can be enforced throughout the country.
(iii)
Sedition (राजद्रोह): This applies to anything
that the government might consider as stirring up resistance or rebellion
against it. In such cases, the government does not need absolute evidence in
order to arrest persons. Under the Sedition Act of 1870, the British
had a very broad interpretation of what constituted sedition, and what this
meant was that they could arrest and detain any person they wanted under this
Act. The nationalists considered this law arbitrary because persons were
arrested for a variety of reasons that were seldom clarified beforehand as well
as because those arrested were often kept in jail without a trial.
(iv)
Repressive (दमनकारी):
To control severely in order to prevent free and natural
development or expression. In the context of this chapter it refers to
laws that brutally control persons and often prevent them from exercising their
Fundamental Rights including Right to Speech and Assembly.