Bonafide Kangaroo Courts : Need of the Hour

Summary: Kangaroo court which passes quick and ruthless judgement is described as a sham legal proceeding. Kangaroos are one of the most docile and well behaved  animals. It may be because they present a blank stare like a jury and have great leaps.  

Kangaroos are the biggest marsupials. Their main diet is grass. Over 2 meters tall, they move in the mob (herd) of over 50. Found mostly in Australia, they are harvested for flesh and skin.

Just like cows and goats, kangaroos are very docile animals .Sensing some threats, they pound their big hind legs in warning. On hearing barking of a dog, a fully grown adult male (called Boomer or Boss) gets terrorized and begins a frenzied shrieking. They fight among themselves, most of the times to win a female. They kick and bite. It is the only animal where female kangaroos (called flyers) have a built-in pouch to carry their infants.

They are not even remotely connected to people, places or matters concerning a court of law. Yes, when they sit on their hind legs like a tripod and have a vacant eye contact with the human being, one may relate them to the jury members . This frozen stare coupled with maximum speed of 70 kilometers per hour with 10 meters long leaps are perhaps the reasons to relate to some sort of fast track courts.

The Macmillan Dictionary describes,“Kangaroo courts are sham legal proceedings which are set-up in order to give the impression of a fair legal process…..” Compared to this, jurisprudence adheres to the proverb- “ Everyone has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty.” The law takes its own course, most of the times shaming the speed of an old tortoise.

However, we are quick and ruthless when it suits us. The same authorized machinery is silent when some innocents are killed in a legal police firing on a mob or when a place inhabited mostly be innocents is bombarded. For the innocents getting deprived by natural calamities, there is great dependence on the act of God when it comes to paying compensation.

Kangaroo court seemed to have become popular during the California Gold Rush(1849) or  Australia Gold Rush(1850). There used to be speedily carried out legal proceedings to decide upon the matters of land claim or the claim jumping by miners. Judges and judicial proceedings leapt like Kangaroos.

Such connotation is still prevalent in Major League Baseball and Rugby tournaments where instant punishment is meted to erring players or to maintain discipline. We may find such parallels in almost every walk of life, be it punishment like caning in educational institutions, on the spot fine/punishment/disqualification in sports and athletics, fines for breaking traffic rules, breaking glasses in routine household affairs et.al.

In countries where justice is delayed and hence denied, beautiful minds must come forward to convert sham Kangaroo courts into bonafide courts and restructure time management of the existing tortoise courts so that justice seems to be round the corner and not at an infinite distance.