C B Jeevan has donned many roles in life. Government school teacher, lawyer, student counsellor, professor… and, whenever time permitted, a family man. Now, at 73, he has added another: writer.
His first book, ‘Criticism of Law, Politics and Social Life’, which was recently published, brings together his thoughts on several socio-political and legal incidents and controversies of the past few decades.
It opens with a critique of the rebranding of India’s criminal laws. “It was superficial at best and annoying at worst, as it never addressed any meaningful reforms the country was hoping for,” Jeevan laments about the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which replaced the Indian Penal Code.
One of the book’s central arguments is for criminalising marital rape. “Throughout my life, I have spoken to several women who have endured severe abuse and rape from their husbands,” says Jeevan.
“All you need to do is speak to one survivor, and you will understand why every rapist has to face justice. I think that, by criminalising marital rape, we will only strengthen the structure of the family.”
Jeevan also makes the legal case for recognising the irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a ground for divorce, arguing that it would make the process less cumbersome.
Next, he examines the debate over capital punishment and the ‘rarest of the rare’ doctrine. “It is a very loose concept, subject to many interpretations. I feel the legal framework often overlooks the victims and their families while dealing with such crimes,” he argues.
Alongside these grave subjects, Jeevan turns to issues affecting everyday life. He argues for lower fees in higher education and questions what he describes as the undue influence of political and religious sentiments on college campuses.
On the bright side, he reflects on how technology has reached even the most marginalised.
“Recently, I met a tech-savvy beggar. When I said I didn’t have change, they said Google Pay is fine. It also reveals how essential technology has become in our daily lives,” he smiles.
Interestingly, Jeevan did not begin his career in law. He started out as a teacher at a government school at Kadamakkudy in Kochi. “Those days, we had to travel by country boat and walk through paddy fields to reach the school,” he recalls.
He later became a higher secondary teacher and eventually retired as the principal of the same school. Throughout, his fascination with law remained constant.
“I used to keep up with the news, track many developmental issues and collate newspaper clippings. I could see the potential of the legal system and how it helped common people. Then, I also started seeing the flipside, how many were bereft of justice and help from the system,” he says.
After retirement, he immersed himself in law, completed an LLM, and went on to serve as an assistant professor at Sree Narayana Law College, Poothotta. Jeevan also completed a postgraduate diploma in psychological counselling and worked as a student counsellor with IGNOU.
“It was my students who first encouraged me to publish a book. Until then, my thoughts remained on Facebook,” he says.
Eventually, one of his students, lawyer Poornima Rajeev, helped him collate those thoughts into the book, which contains long essays on major issues alongside shorter nuggets from daily life.
From India’s electoral system to declining public confidence in the judiciary, ‘Criticism of Law, Politics and Social Life’ presents the observations and arguments of a ‘guru’ drawing on his longtime analyses of how ‘the system’ functions. All through the prism of law.