Falter the Love

I inscribed the task to dodge the love;

But, my soul dumps to indicate it.

I may not hesitate to turn up the rear;
But, my heart is feeble to accept it. 

My physique is, but soaring high;
Yet my scruples don't embrace it.

I may discern my feelings too;

But, the reasons in mind tumble for it.

I want to explore the shining bits;

Still, I'm fearful to finish in it.

Every movement I see, I fall;

Yet, I am inept to render it.

I fixed to avoid the turmoil;

My soul rebuffs to verve thru it.

Oh! My soul let you decide my fate;

Until that my heart will indicate it.

I won’t repent to abandon it;

But, if I may have a drop of it.

      

The Journey of Five Years at Central University of Kashmir (Some Pleasing and Bitter Experiences…!)

During the days of my high school I was very much anxious to join the college level of education, since I had perceived from elders about the impression and compassion of college life. People used to tell me that college life is filled with lot of charm, excitement, fun and it gives us an opening to live an independent student life. Heedless of this when it comes to University life; Oh gosh! They would speak that in University there is solemnity on the part of students and people distillate mostly on the studies than on any other undertakings. Not only this, University life is the life where people hardly remain societal. But astoundingly, what I experienced in university life throughout my five years of experience went all against the taboos-of which I had earlier heard about. Undoubtedly, I missed the fun wrapped life of college and it gave me a sort of disdain too but wait… let me complete; I must mention that auspiciously the same gap is filled by my direct admittance into university from school which presented me the loads of glorious movements to remember and to share with other people for rest of my life.

Flashing back to year 2011; the year I began my course of law at Central University of Kashmir. I was quite enthusiastic about my admission in the university and so much enchanted for the picturesque which my mind had formed about the varsity of university campuses, that they are so much enormous and thousands of students cum scholars study there. Thus I was eager for joining the class work which was to begin in the month of August that year. Being so much impatient, on the very first day of same month, I left for the university which at that time was placed at Magarmal-Bagh Srinagar. Searching for the University campus with so much vehemence for quite a long time, what I found was a white-coated rented building based on three floors with a big billboard (displaying Central University of Kashmir) held on its rusted and spoilt gate. Ash! This entire scene shocked me, because I hadn’t realized my university campus like the nest of a bird. Subsequently there was only one building of this kind, thus I thought it was reserved only for one department, but then from the gate keeper I came to distinguish that the building was reserved for five departments with two rooms for each. Someone showed me the rooms available for ‘School of Legal Studies’ and in the mean time I found that the building was jam packed by students of all five departments, who like me also seemed dejected by their (big!) campus. With this my journey of five years integrated law at Central University started, besides I silently buried my expectations of ‘Fantasy University Campus’ on the gate of that block of University. Being the high school pass out I was quite zealous about the versatile University campus but what I got was like the same school building, where I hit the road for bigger dream of the University and this made me feel like I have been promoted to new class in my school….!!!

Although being upset for not getting what I had expected, I got something more mesmerizing and undreamed-of. Absolutely… and that was the genus of gift which was endowed to me in the form of tutors and my own batch buddies of the School of Legal Studies, CuK. Perhaps, this gift was bequeathed to me for being aggrieved of the amenities which are vital for the university level students.  I didn’t get what I had anticipated but what I got was & is acceptable replacement for all that I looked-for. The teachers here I got were perfect for my guidance and hardly anyone can replace their adoration towards the students. Wow! I can fairly recall the scene of our first year; that startled environment of our class and the acute supervision of our teachers which at that time made us to beat the time also. Oh! How can I forget to comment upon that motherly assertiveness of our beloved ma’am “Asst. Prof. Gul-Afroz”, who used to teach us three subjects and in each session she was having the apt avatar. Bravo! It provides me an immense pleasure to inscribe about our other teachers too. They were great and solely resilient towards our learning. They used to motivate us each and every time by every possible approach. Occasionally they make us to watch documentaries, even in the class room. I can still dredge up every such thing, but trust me it makes me emotive every movement I think of those times and I wish to live them again, as now I realize the significance of those priceless days.

With the passing of first year and shifting of the University block to Zanakote, some things got thinned down. Because, now we were the seniors and our attitude towards the studies has reformed. Perhaps, now we comprehended ourselves as University students. May be, it was because the building we were recently shifted-to was big, and here in Zanakote, our 2^nd university-block was surrounded with paddy fields or here library was a slight bigger than the first one. One more horrible stance with this block of University is the accident of my few batch mates on the passing-by national highway, which still makes me scared and at that time made me felt like we won’t survive until the last semester. Apart from this, often times students used to stuck in the traffic jam and eventually reach late to the classes. Due to the escalation of burden of studies (don’t be stunned!), and University campus being situated in the out skirts of city, I felt like our three semesters at Zanakote passed more quickly than first year of our degree.

As soon as our campus moved to Nowgam, where everything as related to aforementioned blocks was much satisfying, however… not as much worthy that it could wipe-out my memories of previous places. Impulsively at Nowgam block, I started to become conscious about the passing of halfway journey of our degree, but time here also went too fast and I till the last semester of my degree could not feel that soon I have to leave the family which was worth a gift to me for last five years. It may be because I tried to gear up myself to handle the different assignments necessary for my course of law. But wait... how it is possible? For, I could not easily gather my serenity to daunt of our teachers like ‘Burhan Sir’. He off and on used to scold us in order to see the improvisation on our part. I would love to listen to him again but I know time will never allow me a one more chance, even if I wish to. I could not get enough time to be guided under the patronage of our respected Head of Department ‘Dr. Sheikh Showkat’. At the verge of my degree, now I realized the importance of being the student of ‘Mubashir Sir’, ‘Mashooq Sir’, and ‘Dr. Mudasir Sir’. I still wish to take the prolific words of advice from ‘Dr. Rehana Ma’am’ and ‘Unanza Ma’am’. It was always nice to get encouraged by the ‘Hilal Sir’. Actually due to this keen attention & sober attitude of our teachers I always felt like I study in a preparatory school and not in a University.

Last but not least; as is said that people come and go, like the waves of ocean; but there are some whom you want to retain in your life. And, those whom I wish to retain in my life are my batch mates. Yes, you read it right…. They always were grateful and humble to me. In fact, they form the family of mine. I learnt innumerable things from them; they all are wise and unique in persona. They made me felt the value of collectiveness and how it looks to be social. I acknowledge that sometimes there were some differences but at the same instance I always felt their truthfulness to each other. I have always observed that whatever riffs there happen to be were all immaterial. These guys were unified, gutsy, compassionate, sympathetic and mostly amusing enough to become everyone’s favorite. Wish I should not leave this family, but I know it is the established precedent of life that we have to move on to continue the journey of life. I cannot stop anyone of them even I cannot pray that they shouldn’t leave me. I hope the moments we lived together remain olive forever. And always stay blessed wherever they go. I pray to my Almighty Allah! to confer my batch mates with bigger triumphs and long endurances.                                                                                                                 …………….Cheerios...!!!

Regards…..

Mashooq Yousuf Malik

Batch: 2011-2016

Email: mashooq.law@gmail.com

Changing Perspectives of Gender Prejudice……

A woman is an ingenious gift and the sensitive art of nature without whom the world is
incomplete. Despite the fact that women constitute almost half of population of world, they are also the largely suffered section in every society. Everything has developed in the contemporary times of globalization, but position of women continues to be astonishing and worse. From times immemorial a woman is treated as a commodity, a slave who is submissive for household, bound to look after the children & to stay indebted to the orders of her spouse without any sigh of relief, even sometimes contrary to her will. To rouse up early in the morning she has to prepare breakfast, drop the children at school, and till the end of day has to endure with domestic labor. Still the reward given to them is-they do not work. It is accredited that women are the honor & prestige of family, but it is very ill-fated that their interests are being looked down in a disheartened and disgraced manner. In case of education she is either totally snubbed or given improper education i.e. to represent her as literate but not educated. Studies divulge that in rural areas a girl is seldom allowed to opt to a job and that too
should be nothing other than a moderate job. In the modern parlance once the girl brings to an end her course of college education, she is abandoned to go out, and reluctantly arrangements for her marriage are commenced. In this way her life & liberty is shortened to the four walls and thus condensed in a well fashioned manner.

The system of relegating the women starts right from her birth. Conventionally in Kashmir, when a newly baby takes birth, first thing being queried is ‘what is the sex of child’, if it is girl child, the head bows down and humiliation is expressed. While as for a male child the blessings, gifts and presents come from everywhere. It is very pity that even father of a girl child introduces himself as ill-starred and heirless. No sooner the girl starts crawling, instead of bringing playing toys, parents start depositing securities for her marriage. When begins to understand the people around her, she is being reminded of her identity. A girl cannot rule, perhaps she has born to be ruled. In the parental home, she follows her parents and is dominated by the brother(s), similarly after marriage trend to follow never gets offshore.

At the intellectual level seminars, debates, conferences and discussions are held to
subsidize this irregularity. Fatefully, this discussion obsoletes until those lunches & suppers,
which take place in such conference halls under the shelter of women empowerment. Irony is that the people who mostly talk about it, become perpetuates of same in one or other way. At large, women empowerment is advocated in the jam-packed courts of law. But experience and study reveal that the gender bias has immanent in these courts too. Even the lawyering of women is discouraged at its best. On the papers every civilized society has drafted a framework for the respect, equality & dignity of women. The constitution of India as well as constitution of J&K consists of principle provisions in terms of Preamble, Fundamental rights, Fundamental duties and directive principles which enshrine and safeguards the rights of women. Per constitutional provisions given within these heads, States are empowered to adopt the measures of positive discrimination in favor of the women, for the mere purpose of intensifying the status of women. However, taking the note of these constitutional
safeguards, on one side it looks that drafting committee has left no leaf unturned to prevent the women from falling prey to the exploitation and violence. But on the other side position at the ground level in honoring these safeguards has always been an outrage, which is more clearly displayed by the heavy increase in day-to-day foul plays like sexual assaults, acid attacks and domestic violence. It looks that ‘we people’ generally being the members of ‘civil society’ are ready to rectify the interest of women, but at individual level we never are ready to fall all over oneself. It shows that our patriarch freedom is intimidated in such spine-chilling and terrible way that it puts no constraints on individuals (men) while they resort to the disgusting acts against this victim (women) folk.

Irrespective of the factual certainty that females contribute in every sector of the state, yet the position of women in our society is deplorable at its best and cruelty against them is at its worst. Till present, women are unable to attain the environment of exactness; where there could be no more teasing and sexual harassments; where there could be respect and dignity for them; and where women could no longer be treated as commodities and shall be free to room in safe and secure way. Alas! Instead of coming out of it, the paradigm of ill-treatment for women has shifted from one form to other. Earlier it was quite informal now it is purely organized. One such illustration is the projection of negative & degrading images of women in the mass media. As of general perception that violence against women in State of Jammu and Kashmir as compared to other parts of India is rarely prevalent. But, continuing heavy armed struggle has affected the lives of whole people in general & women of the Kashmir in particular. It demoralized, degraded & debased the women folk, simultaneously resulted in the issues of half widows, destitute and sexual abuse, which paved the way for their traumatic disorders.
Without stretching & embellishing the words further it is to be concluded that modern scenario does not ask us to educate the educated, or produce the papers to fetch the degrees under the banner of women empowerment. Nor it is time to keep defining theoretically the status of women, moreover it is time to redefine pragmatically what from decades has been incorporated & enacted for the betterment of women.

 (Mashooq Yousuf Malik studies law at School of Legal Studies, Central University of Kashmir.
Feedback at mashooq.law@gmail.com )

Police and Prosecution

World over and across the legal systems, every act which the law makes an offence is so not against an individual who is affected by it but against the state. So, as a part of justice dispensation in such an eventuality, the Police act as a law enforcement agency of the State. They simply prosecute criminals; therefore, perform the role of investigation and collection of evidences in a particular case. They can register and investigate the complaints made by the victims or any other person on this behalf. Investigation includes the registration of FIR u/s 154 and the recording of statements of witness’s u/s 161 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC). On the basis of investigation, a charge sheet is filed in the Court. If the magistrate is satisfied that a prima facie case is made out, cognizance of the same u/s 192 is taken. However, if he is not satisfied, he may send it back to the Police for reinvestigation.

Put simply, given the role police have in the law enforcement, particularly in ensuring the criminal justice, the duty of an investigating officer is to reach to the depth of a particular case in order to excavate the reality of issue at hand. However, ironically, it has become the common knowledge now, that after a criminal case reaches in a court of law, the prosecuting agencies fail to prove their case and, resultantly, the accused is acquitted owing to the faulty investigation by the police (prosecution). This rings true of all the States in India with Jammu & Kashmir no different.

Recently, during a brief internship in a city criminal court, as a part of my undergraduate program in law, I came across one such glaring instance where the prosecution could not defend what they had stated in the charge sheet. That is why main accused in the case escaped the net of law. This leads to the conclusion that the investigation by police is deeply faulty.

The internship also afforded me an insight into-why investigations by the police are flawed and what needs to be done to get away with the malady. The bud of problem lies in the absence of special expertise of investigation in police. The Police Department all over India has become a mess without a proper division of domains. A Policeman on duty in a street is also a investigating officer. Interestingly, the Supreme Court of India has long dealt with the issue in 2006 in Prakash Singh and others vs Union of India and others. The court observed in this case that “the investigating police shall be separated from the law and order police to ensure speedier investigation, better expertise, and improved rapport with the people.  It must, however, be ensured that there is full coordination between the two wings”. “The separation, to start with, may be effected in towns/urban areas also”, the court said. However, so far, hardly has any state in India implemented the guidelines laid down in the case. Thus Jammu and Kashmir is not an exception. It is submitted that the state government may act upon the aforementioned judgment as soon as possible.

 Secondly, even as we live in an age of technology, rarely is the police establishment of our state (in fact, the whole of India) equipped with modern day information technology tools. Now, if the information tools are available with the police, they have little knowledge of how to better or mere operate it. Therefore, the police needs to be given the special training regarding the technological aspects.

Thirdly, there is lack of forensic and other technical facilities in the police establishment. Fourthly, an important factor that otherwise doesn’t seem grave but contributes to the overall collapse of the system is the financial constraint. Financial constraints restricts the police forces ability to acquire mobility resources like vehicles, motor-cycles, etc. that might be important as part of the larger pattern of investigation.

Having said all this, the government must note of the gaps in criminal investigation by the police and fill them at the earliest. The stronger the investigation, the more efficient is the criminal justice system.

(Mashooq Yousuf Malik is a Student of Legal Studies at Central University of Kashmir & Can Be Reached at mashooq.law@gmail.com)