KANOON (1960): Movie that Exposed Vulnerabilities of Judicial Process

Ashok Kumar-Rajendra Kumar starrer shows what can go wrong in the Court

Conceptually, modern judicial process in criminal matters is supposed to be an objective, impersonal evaluation of an accusation of crime based on evidence brought to the notice of the Court. This excessive reliance on evidence, and in particular the testimony of a witness can often be a source of errors that can destroy a life, even a family. The 1960 movie KANOON (meaning law) highlights this weakness. Unfortunately, what was true in 1960 continues to be true even today, with few lessons learnt, and even fewer implemented.

A Courtroom scene in 'KANOON' (1960) : The Judge in a Murder trail gets accused of Murder during the trial by the ex-Public Prosecutor, who resigns to defend the accused

The Context

Movies, like literature present fictional stories against backgrounds that are often as real as any documentary can be. Thus, a story of a innocent villager can document the ills of the society and the story of a school teacher can highlight the problems with the education system. However, KANOON, a 1960 movie starring Ashok Kumar, Rajendra Kumar and Nanda is centered on the subject of law and judicial process. Kanoon means law. Unlike other movies, where social realities get document rather unintentionally, this is a movie that begins with a scene focused on aberrations of law, and ends with a monologue by a judge accused and discharged of murder, highlighting its limitations. In between, of course, there is a suspense thriller that nicely evolves and keeps you interested until the climax.

The Plot

The movie is centered on judge Badriprasad (Ashok Kumar) and his would be son-in-law, Kailash Khanna (Rajendra Kumar) who is also the public prosecutor, and is set to marry his daughter, Meena (Nanda). The story becomes with a dramatic murder of a person named Ganpat by Kalidas (Jeevan), who has just been released from prison. In the court, Kalidas confesses to having willfully murdered Ganpat, but claims that he cannot be punished for this crime, because this is the same man for the murder for which he has already been convicted with a life sentence, and spent a decade in prison. In an emotional outburst, he questions as to whether a man can be killed twice, and if also asks the court to give him back the time that he spent in the prison, and compensate his wife whose life was also destroyed in the process. Kalidas collapses as dies in the Court itself saving the court from the ignominy of dealing with its errors.

The following scene sees three judges discussing the case of Kalidas and the propriety of death sentence in the light of limitations of human testimony and human errors. Justice Badrinath, who is against death penalty points out that human actions are bound by several constraints including family and other situations, due to which well meaning individuals may also not come forward to testify the truth that can put someone close to them in a difficult situation. During the discussion, another judge, Mr. Jha challenges Judge Badrinath to commit a murder and get away. Justice Badrinath accepts the challenge. This first two scenes sets the tone of the movie.

Badriprasad’s son, Vijay has taken a loan from Dhaniram (Om Prakash) by giving a blank paper with signature as security. As Vijay is unable to return the money, he threatens to claim his property by using that paper. Vijay fears reprisal from his father and approaches his sister, Meena for help. Kailash offers to help her and talk to Dhaniram. He goes to Dhaniram’s place in the night and talks him into returning the paper. Just as he is handed the signed paper by Dhaniram, they see a man looking like Judge Badrinath approaching the place. Since Kailash did not want to be seen there, he goes in another room. The man stabs and kills Dhaniram. Kailash is shocked to see Dhaniram dead in a pool of blood and goes away. A little later, a thief, Kaalia (Nana Palsikar) enters the flat through the window, and stumbles upon the dead body of Dhaniram and also holds the knife leaving his finger prints. While hurriedly escaping, he is caught by patrolling police, and brought to Badrinath’s court as accused on Dhaniram’s murder. Kailash, unable to suppress his conscience, resigns as Public Prosecutor and takes up his case, and later, accuses the judge Badrinath of having committed the murder. On the basis of his testimony, Badrinath is tried in the same court and is about to be sentenced by the jury, when the truth is revealed in the climax. Shashikala is also there in the movie, with a brief but important role.

A Fictional Representation of Real Problems in Criminal Justice

The movie is a nice blend of a fictional story and the real life problems facing the administration of criminal justice. The issue explicitly raised in the second scene is about the appropriateness or otherwise of the death penalty. The arguments on both sides are depicted with last word that comes in the closing scene going against it. However, there are several other, and perhaps, more important issues that clearly arise but are not dwelt explicitly, perhaps in order to avoid annoying the legal fraternity and potential court cases.

The first of such matters is the issue of accountability towards a person that is unreasonably victimized by the error of the court. This is well exemplified by Kalidas and his emotional pleading about the injustice done to him. Even today, there are thousands of undertrials, imprisoned in jails for years. Many of them would finally get acquitted, but would have already suffered a lot. This leads to the underlying problem of delays in disposal and what can be done about it. Another problem highlighted in the movie is that of testimonies, and their reliability. At one stage, the accused, Kaalia who has not committed the crime, confesses to it, so that his only son will be taken care of by Meena, who wants the end the ordeal in her family and her life. It raises an important question of artificially prepares and rehearsed testimonies, and their role in misleading the court. Perhaps, there is a need to extract testimonies of all the key witnesses immediately after the crime and before they can be manipulated by lawyers, to ensure that truth is brought clearly before the Court, and witnesses changing versions or turning hostile must be dealt strictly, to deter against artificial manipulation of truth.

Epilogue

KANOON is one of the better movies made on the subject of law and legal process. It succeeds in highlighting several issues related to the delivery of criminal justice in India, and blends them nicely with an interesting theatrical tale. Entertainment apart, it is one of those movies that can trigger audience into a discussion about how we can improve things. Law is practiced by the legal fraternity, but it is ordinary people who are served by it, and who suffer from its shortcomings. Unfortunately, Indian audiences do not seem to have realized their role in it.