Public Administration through Indian Religious Penal Code (IRPC)

  


All religions expect blind faith not only in the principles that they enunciate but also in the men (purohits, sadhus, priests, granthis, mullahs and other holy men) who dispense the religion to lesser mortals like us. Each religion thus possesses valuable brand equity and every follower exhibits fierce brand loyalty – a thing for which a marketer would give his right arm. We have seen many ugly consequences of this fierce loyalty that is nurtured by written and unwritten fatwas (edicts) issued by these men of religion. In some countries, these edicts have greater importance than even the existing judicial system. Whether we like it or not, we have to admit that religious fatwas have far more social acceptance than the laws made by the parliament.


Why can’t we use these fatwas to tackle problems that otherwise appear intractable? Let us discuss some of these situations.


Banning dowries.

For many years now, we have had laws trying to control this evil practice. These have met with only limited success. “Bride burning and dowry demands” continue to make us hang our head in shame in the domestic and international arena. Imagine if a religious edict was issued excommunicating anyone who practiced this evil form of subjugation. Things would improve dramatically, won’t they? People may want easy money through dowries but if they can no longer retain their religious identity, the “cost” may just be too high. Surely no religion agrees to this practice, in spite of hundreds of such instances mentioned in their mythological texts.


Aborting female foetuses.

Never has a technological advancement been so cruelly used as this technique which determines gender of the baby in the womb so that parents (or shall we say tyrants) can snuff out its life, if it happened to be a girl. What is more shocking is that no religion is ready to condemn this practice. Recently a helpless government convened an “all religion summit” at Delhi to get a fatwa issued against this inhuman practice. Nothing concrete has emerged out of it yet. Do the keepers of religious values require someone to goad them into condemning such barbarity in the strongest possible manner when they otherwise loftily keep issuing directions about mundane matters like, when the presiding deity in a temple will “sleep” and “bathe” and so on?


Manipulating gender of the child before birth.

An even more repugnant practice that seems to be catching on in a progressive state like Punjab is to separate in the laboratory, the “X” and “Y” chromosomes in the male semen and then promise a “boy” to the eager couple by manipulating the fertilization of the female egg. The recent census indicates that there are only about 787 females for every 1000 males in Punjab. Demography experts and social scientists are aghast at the repercussions that are in store for the human race if this continues. The silver lining (if I may say so) in the cloud is that in some decades from now, it will be the boys who will be getting burnt for not bringing enough dowry for their wives. It may also become acceptable for a girl to have two husbands – all due to that simple principle of demand and supply. No religious authority has said anything on this, to date. Why can’t they condemn this in the strongest possible words and exhort their followers not to be a party to such practices?


Controlling population

Governments who have identified this as the biggest problem on earth seem to be getting no help from “religious” quarters. Surely the religious authorities recognize that a smaller population will bring the promised “salvation” much faster. For reasons best known to themselves, some religious heads don’t even approve of methods of birth control. Arguments about not blocking GOD’s “will” are put forward to justify these policies. GODs will is of course conveniently forgotten while discussing non-vegetarianism. Imagine how effectively population can be controlled if a religious fatwa is issued to restrict a family to two children or to one, as done in China.


Punishing “corruption”

The scourge of corruption is too well known and it will be naïve to conclude that it can be removed by deft administration alone. But I have not yet heard of any religion declaring that if one of its followers were to be found to be indulging in corrupt practices, it may decide to excommunicate him or her until proper “repentance” is gone through. Instead, we have the sad spectacle of scoundrels and crooks (under a gentlemanly exterior, of course) making trips to holy places to eagerly wash away their sins or even to pray for greater success in whichever black deeds they are indulging in.


Most persons fear religious sanctions far more than legal sanctions for the simple reason that religion promises much greater retribution in the court of GOD. The fear that religion can induce is omnipresent and is therefore always carried by the person in his conscience while the fear induced by law may cease to exist when the policeman vanishes round the corner. An IRPC (Indian Religious Penal Code, if we formulate one) could thus be far more effective than the present IPC (Indian Penal Code). Are those who matter in matters of religion, listening?


"Mr. Prakash Shesh, the author, has done his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad after his Masters in Physics from I.I.T. New Delhi. You may send your feedback to him by choosing an option at the top right corner of this page." He can be reached at creative_ngp@sancharnet.in