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· To facilitate
and support the application of moral values
and ethical behaviour within the legal and
judicial systems.
· To foster lawfulness in the general public
through education in spiritual and moral
values.
· To promote love and logic in the
dispensing of justice.
Historical
shifts in socio-economic and socio-political
thought during the 20th Century have
provoked tremendous changes in law and
legislation worldwide. However the
increasing clamour for justice, liberty,
equality of opportunity and protection of
fundamental human rights have unfortunately
been equalled by increasing crime and
litigation. All of our courts of law and
penal systems have failed to thwart human
rights violations, deter crime or bring
swift and affordable justice within the
reach of the ordinary individual.
The legal system and the profession of law
today are themselves handicapped by many
internal injustices. Litigants commit
perjury on oath, often at the advice and
guidance of their advocates. Lawyers
practise law as though playing a sport,
using delaying tactics, influencing
witnesses, and putting obstructions in the
process of law in order to win their cases.
On the one hand there are judges who are
sticklers in upholding the letter and
grammar of the law; on the other hand there
are judges who ignore the principles of
justice and allow their decisions to be
influenced by popular opinion. The judiciary
process is lengthy and fraught with
interpretations of evidence and incessant
appeals. The clever and the rich slide
through legal loopholes provided by outdated
precedents that have no real bearing on
present circumstances.
Society is becoming increasingly criminal,
whether or not the crimes are of subtle
theft or of gross terrorism. Why are our
systems of justice and jurisprudence unable
to make an effective contribution to the
safety and stability of society? Why inspite
of a plethora of advocates, vast libraries
of legal books, mountains of cases heard and
decided, lakhs of the taxpayer's money being
spent to sustain police officers and penal
institutions is crime more than ever on the
rise? The obvious causes of the rise of
crime are economic disparity, ethnic,
religious, and racial hostility, and mental
and emotional imbalance. Astute observers
will perceive that underlying these apparent
causes can be seen the triumph of greed,
anger, lust, ego and possessiveness over the
innate goodness of the human soul.
The Call of Time across the legal landscape
is for a spiritually empowered
jurisprudence, i.e. one that is tempered by
spiritual prudence. In fact, both
jurisprudence and spiritual prudence have a
common aim: the promotion of truth and
justice and the reduction of crime. Both
believe that people suffer because of their
own evil actions. One calls it 'crime', the
other calls it 'sin'. Both view crime as
deviant behaviour resulting from emotional
trauma, or mental stress or depression,
compounded by lack of self-control. It is in
the attitude towards and treatment of
offenders where spiritual prudence and
jurisprudence part company.
Jurisprudence throws the offender behind
bars, condemns him to stiff sentences, hard
labour or capital punishment, and makes of
him a public spectacle in the name of
deterring further crimes. It is not hard to
see that the ultimate manifestation of such
jurisprudence is a police state or a
military regime.
Spiritual prudence adopts methods to awaken
and enlighten the core consciousness of the
offender, teach him the practice of
meditation so as to free him from stress and
trauma, and enable him to live a meaningful
and productive life.
If the Law, the lawyer and the judge take
this view of the criminal, then
jurisprudence will become a healing art, the
police and the jailer will not adopt
third-degree methods, jails will become
reform centres and judges will become social
engineers and spiritual doctors. Of course,
society must be protected from the unlawful
acts of criminals until such time as their
reform has taken firm and evident root in
their character and conduct. But spiritual
prudence considers that such reform is a
worthwhile and achievable effort because it
believes in the original divinity and
ultimate redemption of every human soul. It
holds that people have an inherent
inclination and predisposition to be lawful
and that the very existence of conscience,
however eclipsed it may be, is evidence of
this. If this were not the case, then there
would be no point in working towards the
creation of a culture characterised by
peace, social well- being and law-abiding,
righteous citizens.
Spiritually empowered jurists will be moved
by the spirit and not merely the letter of
the law. They will, "See the motive, not the
move; the heart, not the words." They will
offer solutions, not judgements, restore
clarity in misunderstandings, foster love
where hatred festers. They will suggest
measures which prevent repetitive cycles of
crime, punishment, release and crime again,
and thus save at least the first-time
offender from adopting crime as a career.
When jurisprudence reflects a legal mindset
that is balanced by love, society will then
make headway towards the ideal of a
crimeless society and a culture of peace.
The Jurists' Wing proposes a new science of
law called 'Om Shanti Jurisprudence'. Based
on an understanding of natural and divine
laws, this spiritually empowered juris-
prudence takes a fundamentally holistic view
of the universe. It requires an
understanding of how a human being can be
transformed so that whatever he or she does
is righteous, that is, the right thing to
do. This new jurisprudence will include
preventive measures that increase the
psychological and spiritual immunity of
people to stress, temptation and the
passions. It will also include remedial
measures proven effective in reforming
persons with criminal tendencies.
The large number of members and associates
of this Wing, including judges, lawyers,
chartered accountants, tax advisors and
consultants, judicial officers, taxation
officers and law enforcement personnel, are
devising ways in which the legal fraternity
can bring about a balance between law and
love in their professional lives as well as
taking up responsibility for rediscovering
true justice.
The Wing regularly organises a number of
dialogues, seminars and conferences for
legal professionals in different parts of
India which have drawn participation from
eminent jurists such as the former Chief
Justice of India, Hon'ble Justice Ranganath
Mishra; Judges of the Supreme Court of
India, Hon'ble Justice P.B. Sawant and
Hon'ble Justice S. Mohan; and the former
President of the International Court of
Justice, Hon'ble Justice Nagendra Singh. The
Wing enjoys the support and patronage of
internationally acclaimed jurist, the
Hon'ble Mr. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer.
The Wing's major activity in 1999 was the
organisation and hosting of a conference on
Law & Spirituality in the 21st Century, held
from 31st May to 2nd June at the
Institution's Shantivan complex in Abu Road.
Inaugurated by H.E. Bro. Anshuman Singh,
Governor of Rajasthan and addressed in the
3rd Plenary session by H.E. Bro. Bhai
Mahavir Ji, Governor of Madhya Pradesh, the
conference attracted many eminent justices
and advocates: renowned Supreme Court Judge
Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer (retd.), Justices
I.M. Qudeshi, K.D. Shahi, and Retd. Justice
R.K. Shukl of the Allahabad High Court;
Justice J.N. Bhatt of the Gujarat High
Court; Senior Advocate Magan Bharat of the
Gujarat High Court; Advocate BK Amar Singh (Bharatpur)
and Advocate and Solicitor, Mr. P.C. Waghani
(Mumbai). Many distinguished executives of
bar associations and representatives of
other legal-related organisations also
participated: I.G. Patil, Vice Chairman, Bar
Council of Maharastra & Goa; Mr. C.M. Vyas,
President of the District Bar Association,
Ahmedabad, Mr. L.N. Vyar, Deputy Director of
the Prosecution, T. Krishna Reddy, Chairman
of Huda, and Mr. Sharad Madke, Assistant
Charity Commissioner (Retd.), Pune.
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