Do Ends justify Means?

This is an age old debate between moralists and the pragmatists. I personally do not think ends justify means because to my mind, wrong means are often used for wrong ends. And corrupt processes will lead to corrupt results anyway.

Recently the Supreme Court of India has passed an order that every time a grievous crime is reported to the police station, the police “has to” file an FIR regardless of what the officer in charge ‘feels’ or his personal ‘hunch’ is regarding the victim or her moral character. This is a great order because very often women, dalits and poorer sections can not get an FIR lodged for a crime they have suffered. Unless you have some sort of ‘influence’ or media steps in, usually filing an FIR (an official complaint) is a privilege for the ‘haves’ and the mighty in India. Particularly women victims are often treated as suspects or liars out to lodge false complaints. Despite the high level of crime in India against women, this pathetic attitude continues. Hence bringing some discipline and focus on the ‘right processes’ is key and Supreme Court’s order is laudable. I hope it is implemented in some earnestness.

Here again, Indian police anyway suffers from very poor reputation and their inability or reluctance to follow decent processes is a cause for concern. But low and behold, the buck doesn’t stop there. Many would be amazed to know what sort of processes India’s Corporates follow in response to women’s complaints.

Recently  a woman faced harassment post divorce from ex husband’s corporate friends by way of professional and personal mudslinging and lodged a complaint with the Chairman of this top notch iconic corporate of India. The response was no different from what a UP police station would follow. They decided to blank out the woman and instead made the harassers and their best friends and the ex husband in charge of a shady behind her back enquiry. The net result was as corrupt as the process followed. This coterie of culprits came back and reported that the woman is making false complaints and in fact she is not divorced at all and they are happily married and living together. (This despite the fact that divorce was legally filed in a Bangalore court). Further they claimed that she is just a loser out to harass us as she is jealous of our success. Well, the woman at this point had become a writer on International Affairs and published a book and several articles in the US. So, to call her a loser the culprits claimed that the so called ex husband is actually doing all her writing because he is so doting. Then they used their wide network of corporate friends and South Indians (the woman is a Punjabi and the guy South Indian) to spread further nasty gossip. They hacked her computer and phone and started stalking her. When she lodged a police complaint they made false complaints against her now also calling her a terrorist and drug addict. This much damage was done to her purely using their corporate as well as South Indian gossip network of which a church was also a part of. So if this is the state of top notch global corporates in India and elite educated members of the society, what is the future of women in India?

Pretty bleak at this point of time!