When another car brushes off your car, it’s another road rage incident. When a neighbour builds his wall one feet into your land, fight breaks out with sticks and bricks. It’s like every dispute that people have, turns into violence.
It’s as if people only know one way of resolving disputes. Every small incident gets registered as an FIR in a local police station. Lack of legal awareness is making people act in most illegal ways. While the other person had something wrong, your criminal act doesn’t make it right. People do not know that in all the law, criminal law is just a small portion while the rest comes under civil law.
Armed with the knowledge of taking legal action, people can truly put the wrongdoer on the spot. Legal remedies are available to people when someone hits their car or doesn’t repay the debt or encroach their property. A civil suit can give you compensation for your troubles. If the neighbour encroached your land, civil suit can demolish the illegal construction, give your land back to you, and even get you a hefty compensation. It’s a sad fact that people are not aware of their civil rights, so they resort to using fists, sticks, knives and guns. Criminal laws have provisions for compensation as well, but the focus is on punishing the offender. Under civil law, the focus is on setting things right again. A person who has been wronged is made whole by way of financial reimbursement and by means of specific reliefs like enforcement of contracts, injunctions, declaration of rights.
Legal awareness means telling people that there is a better way of resolving disputes, one that can make wrongdoer think ten times before doing that sort of act again. Laws meant to protect people need the people to claim their rights.