LAWS SHOULD BE APPLIED EQUALLY TO ALL ETHNIC GROUPS

Being of a generation that, when much younger,  didn`t have the money, the opportunity or a big desire to sojourn through far flung exotic parts of this world I really have little sympathy with a proportion of a current generation of travellers that appears to ignore, have little knowledge of or fails to observe local mores and customs of those who follow traditions unfamiliar to westerners.  Such appears to be the case of the mountain strippers.  However ludicrous it might seem to us if an area`s native people believe in causes and effects which are akin in our eyes  to medieval witchcraft it would seem wise to bear such considerations in mind before acting in a manner which insults those beliefs. Having acres of flesh visible on a beach on the Riviera does not allow the wearing of bikinis or budgie smugglers on the Promenade des Anglais.  However wisdom per se is not a function of youth but it should be a pre requisite  of High Court judges except it appears to be absent in the reasoniong of  High Court Judge Mrs Justice Pauffley.  She was prepared to allow for the Indian cultural heritage of a father to be considered in a case related to his abuse of his child. So there we have it; the law can be applied according to the culture of the law breaker........precisely the same kind of disjointed reasoning as allowed the abomination of child abuse by men of Pakistani origin in so many northern towns to continue for years after the knowledge of such crimes was known to police and child protection agencies.  During my time on the bench similar attitudes were occasionally expressed by some colleagues after listening to the pleas of a defence advocate.  Thankfully such views never became a majority on any case in which I was involved.  But I do wonder sometimes........................