Forget the corruption, the vested interests, the undue influences etc. Imagine a justice system free of all these vices where the judges are honest, honorable and virtuous. Even in such utopian circumstances, certain facts still don’t change,
- Judges are not present when crimes or injustices are committed, when contracts are signed and commitments made.
- Courts cannot tell the truth automatically and have to rely on evidence and witnesses.
- Evidence can be concocted and witnesses can be bought.
- The wisest and most honest of judges cannot differentiate between a lie and a truth that is not backed by evidence. Similarly there is no way to distinguish between a truth and a lie that is backed by apparently sound evidence (even if it is actually false).
- Hence, nobody would believe someone telling the truth without evidence or witnesses. So, in a situation where both are absent, even a truthful person may have to forge evidence and produce false witnesses, an act that puts him almost on the same level as a liar.
- You cannot blame the judges for this since they are helpless without proof.
Now consider all these facts in the light of the following.
- God has not found it prudent to provide mankind with any incontrovertible evidence of His own existence.
- Most of the crimes are committed in secrecy and there are hardly ever any real witnesses who can truthfully and under oath, testify exactly to any crime.
- Mostly the evidence for crimes is circumstantial and any documentary evidence that exists can be as easily forged.
And finally
- Needless to say, people do lie. If they stop doing that, Courts won’t be needed.
What’s the point of all this? Nothing. Everything. I don’t know. I just wanted to put this plainly because….sometimes I wonder!
