hidden image

Bulldozer Justice!

Robert Clements Robert Clements
31 Mar 2025

The first time I saw a bulldozer, it was an awe-inspiring sight. A giant machine, powerful and imposing, tearing through mounds of earth with a mechanical efficiency that seemed almost hypnotic. It was a thing of purpose—used to build roads, clear debris, and shape landscapes.
Lately, however, the bulldozer has taken on a new role: judge, jury, and executioner.

A bulldozer used against someone accused of a crime is the equivalent of using a sledgehammer to swat a fly. It is brute force, untempered by logic or law.

It is not justice; it is vengeance. And if history has taught us anything, it is that vengeance has an insatiable appetite.

The practice begins subtly. It starts with criminals—real, hardened criminals, whom no one will defend. Their homes are razed, their possessions buried under the weight of state-sponsored retribution. And the people cheer. "Good riddance," they say. "Let the bulldozer teach them a lesson."

But justice, my dear reader, is a fickle thing when left in the hands of power without accountability. Yesterday, it was the criminal. Today, it is the dissenter. Tomorrow? Well, tomorrow it could be you. Because one day, you might find yourself disagreeing with someone in power.

One day, you might make a statement, write a post, or raise a question that doesn't sit well with the ruling forces.

And on that day, the bulldozer might come for you.

Will you cheer then? Or will you watch in silent horror, realising too late that by tolerating bulldozer justice for others, you invited it upon yourselves?

"Look at the crime," we are told, "Don't look at the method of punishment."
But isn't that the very essence of civilisation—that punishment must be fair, proportionate, and legal? Once the bulldozer becomes the gavel, the courtroom ceases to exist.

And when the courtroom ceases to exist, so does the very concept of justice.

Laws are meant to protect us, not pulverise us. They are meant to ensure due process, not dictate destruction. The moment we normalise punishment outside the legal framework, we exchange democracy for dictatorship, rights for ruin, and fairness for fear.

So, let's ask ourselves: Do we want to live in a nation where homes are razed at the whim of authority? Where punishment is carried out not in courts but in the streets? Where power is measured in the weight of demolition rather than the strength of the law?

The time to act is now before the rumbling of the bulldozer becomes the soundtrack of our silence. Before we wake up to find that justice, like the homes it once protected, has been reduced to rubble…!

Recent Posts

How can greater knowledge be accompanied by greater wisdom, greater prosperity by greater solidarity, greater power by greater responsibility, and greater connectivity by genuine human fraternity?
apicture Br. Dr. Lawrence Soosai Nathan, OFM Cap.
28 Sep 2026
"Deus meus et omnia" ("My God and my All!") was St. Francis of Assisi's favourite prayer. According to early Franciscan accounts, most notably recorded by Brother Bernard of Quintavalle, Francis's fir
apicture Br. Cyriac George, OFM Cap.
28 Sep 2026
St Francis shows that peace begins by freeing ourselves from the urge to possess, control and dominate. His poverty, humility and fraternity offer another way of exercising power: not over others, but
apicture Br. Brian Raymond Bandya, OFM Cap.
28 Sep 2026
Assisi is more than a pilgrimage town; it is a challenge to the way we live. Eight centuries after St Francis, his poverty, simplicity and service still raise a difficult question: how much do we real
apicture A. J. Philip
28 Sep 2026
St. Francis of Assisi's life and message have much to say to a communally divided India. Dialogue across faiths, standing with the poor and marginalised, respecting diversity, and working together for
apicture Jacob Peenikaparambil
28 Sep 2026
Gandhi and St Francis remind us that renunciation and humility go hand in hand. While their understanding of celibacy and self-denial may invite disagreement, their lives of sacrifice, simplicity, ded
apicture Chhotebhai
28 Sep 2026
St Francis remains a beloved figure because his life joined simplicity, poverty, humility, compassion and love of creation with a deep devotion to God. His message of peace, brotherhood and reconcilia
apicture P. A. Joseph
28 Sep 2026
"Brother Sun has become an energy contract. Sister Water is imprisoned in plastic and sold. Mother Earth is mined, poisoned and stripped of her forests. When she responds with floods, fires and drough
apicture Robert Clements
28 Sep 2026
A diplomatic dinner is more than a meal; it is cultural diplomacy on a plate. India has every right to showcase its magnificent vegetarian cuisine, but excluding its equally rich non-vegetarian tradit
apicture A. J. Philip
21 Sep 2026
Ageing need not mean becoming a burden. With the right opportunities, senior citizens can remain productive, creative and socially engaged. Kerala's emerging Silver Economy offers the Church and civil
apicture Jacob Peenikaparambil
21 Sep 2026