contents - Jananeethi

ANNUAL REPORT - 2003-2004The medium of transactions at Jananeethihas necessarily been ‘Rule of Law’. Thewords of Cicero resounds in our ears – “thegood of people is the chief law”. In a pluralistsecular polity, law is perhaps the greatestunifying force. A cultivated respect for lawand its institutions and symbols, a pride in thecountry’s heritage and achievements, and faiththat people live under the protection of anadequate legal system are indispensable forsustaining unity and a sense of security in apluralist society. The quest for justice is, thus,the joint venture of law and morality. Inferenceof law with morality produces justice. It isdifficult to perceive justice divorced frommorality.Rule of law is vital and indispensable aslong as humans remain cruel and corrupt,atrocious and acrimonious. Charles Darwinonce remarked: “Man with all his noblequalities, with sympathy that feels for the mostdebased, with benevolence which extends notonly to other men but to the humblest livingcreature, with his god-like intellect which haspenetrated into the movements andconstitution of the solar system – with all theseexalted powers – still bears in his bodily framethe indelible stamp of his lowly origin.”Services of law and administration ofjustice for and on behalf of the poor and themarginalized is, for the reasons stated above,sacred and divine. It enthrones justice anddethrones evil on all spheres of human activity.8God is, therefore, more palpably present atthe negotiating tables and counseling roomsof Jananeethi than in a hermitage or religiousenclosure. Jananeethi, thus, is an idea with ahistory, a program that changes in both contentand social function, a mission founded on thesecular fabric of the nation and a vision thatembraces the whole humanity.Jananeethi in 2003-2004, besides itsregular and ever growing services in the arenaof legal aid and assistance, legal counseling,crisis intervention and action in defence ofwomen in distress, deserted children, victimsof torture, avarice, greed, communal bias anddomestic violence, was predominantlyengaged in two major social commitments: AStudy of Dowry System in Kerala which wascompleted in December 2003 and Creationof a Crime-free Society, a most hazardous,most challenging and currently ongoing socialexperiment in the XIIth Division of ThrissurCorporation. Separate reports on each ofthem are appended hereto as annexures(Annexures 1 and 2).The struggle for human rights, secularculture and jurisprudential democracy isalways a struggle against all forms of tyrannyand violence. Naturally, a day in Jananeethiand every other day during the year underreport were vibrant with actions, both legaland humanitarian.“Silence is not an option when things areill done” – said Lord Denning.