ethics v/s profession-a toss up

       “The curious case of Ram Jeth Malani’s cases”  is a much debated topic among the Indian public: in fact a topic that would send vibes across and eventually involves the emotions and sentiments running high. Having that unfortunate little tag of being a “Devil’s Advocate” for defending the likes of Manu Sharma( Convicted in Jessica Lal Murder), Satwant Singh (Indira Gandhi’s assassinator) , of late of Kanimozhi, Ram Jeth Malani has drawn vivid criticisms , very much on the expected lines. And this curious case of his generates a big question-should ethics and human values dictate a profession or shouldn’t it be the other way around? Will it mean betrayal if inclination is shown to one?

       Well, these are probably the questions that might top the chart in the list of expected questions for civil service examination or any high profile journalistic interview. But for general public, the answers to these are much sought after ones.

       Take the case of a journalist reporting a murder case. Going by the ethics of his profession and not by the general ethics, his job is to just accentuate the case by considering it just as another news. And quite expectedly  he ends up drafting a holistic news report satisfying his boss. On the other hand, there is a colleague of his who does the same thing but puts in the human values to his profession. He believes that his job is not only in reporting the news but also in ensuring that justice is done: and in the process he too joins the fight for justice. Now, the later will of course be a figure high on demand in the society. After all a profession is not just a way to earn breads and pennies but also a way  how we preach our lives, how we extend its contours to real life practices.

       And coming to Jeth Malani’s example, he has proved to be a chief destroyer of his own principles and thereafter has blown away all ethics and morality. He justifies his stance by avowing that as a judge, he is well within his rights to take up case as per whims and fancies. Yes, he is right but again if he is to rewind back some years of his life, one of the first lessons that he would have been taught is to ensure that ‘truth should triumph’ .

       It is not just the journalists and lawyers, be it any profession, the roles of virtues and ethics should be conveniently assigned. Even in business, emotions and sentiments should be given its due importance. After all it is the human values that makes a human and not profession.