Abstract:

"Courts and Councils: Dispute Settlement in India observes: (1) A nyaya panchayat council, recently-legislated, taking two farmers' evidence regarding their dispute. (2) A nandiwalla (bull-tender) caste panchayat council, colorfully-turbaned, that shuns formal courts and assigns fines and other penalties according to its own traditions and group consensus. (3) Formal court tribunals, requiring trained, black-robed lawyers and judges reflecting the British legacy of "adversarial justice" and codified law. The film contrasts Gandhi's and Ambedkar's views of formal courts and social change through legislation, and concludes with an Indian Supreme Court justice describing needed judicial reforms."