A government which can spend billions on mega-transport systems and whose members go globe-trotting was reluctant to set up more courts to deliver speedy justice, instead of reviving this mediaeval "dispute resolution" mechanism. This is not a simple piece of legislation; it covers 23 offences ranging from land and business disputes to family matters, and seeks "reconciliation" instead of penalizing wrongdoers. Since the jirgas and panchayats are both male-exclusive, even though quite often they have to deal with cases involving women, they are traditionally biased against females. This law also tends to perpetuate the hold of influential people and clerics, and at the same time renders family laws and family courts dysfunctional. Who doesn't know that these illegal "courts" give verdicts like offering little girls in marriage as "wani," vindicate crimes like honour-killings and order punishable individuals to walk on burning coals to prove their innocence.
It is imperative the Alternate Dispute Resolution law, which infuses life into the panchayat and jirga systems, is either repealed or cases concerning women are taken out of its jurisdiction. The National Assembly should have passed legislation strengthening the existing laws, which are a and extensively cover all these 23 offences, instead of passing this bill. There is the ombudsman's office in every province, which can effectively deliver on almost all offences the Alternate Dispute Resolution Bill is expected to deal with. Now when this case of revenge rape has come to the notice of those on the highest executive and judicial levels, there is hope that a dramatic outcome, possibly in terms of the permanent demise of systems like panchayat and jirga. Whatever it takes, delivering speedy justice to the aggrieved should be the state's exclusive responsibility.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017