Siddhant and his family were very excited about his marriage ceremony, as after a very long time a marriage was taking place in their family. But as soon as Siddhant reached marriage venue, he saw that the band arranged by the bride’s side had many child laborers who were involved with the band.

Excited Siddhant suddenly turned into a conflicted Siddhartha, as being a labor commissioner it was his duty to stop such violation of law. He pondered over it, and thought of many options like arranging a new band immediately, giving notice to the band owner for engaging in such conduct  and filing a case against them.But, Siddhant ultimately proceeded with the wedding thinking that it will ruin the most important day in his life.

a) Was Siddhant right in his conduct?

b) If you would have been in place of Siddhant, amongst the options pondered by him what would have been your course of action?

Approach:

• Discuss the position of Siddhant and his conduct

• Argue about the most appropriate step with justification

Answer:

Decision premise:

• Professional ethics vs. personal ethics

• Rule of law

• Moral courage.

• Rights of children

a) This situation can be described as an ethical dilemma in which personal vs. professional ethics is at conflict. The interests of the minor children, who were being forced one way or the other to work instead of attending school, is also in question. Moreover, by not doing his duty, Siddhant is failing in his role bestowed by the government.

Moreover, he failed his moral courage. Moral courage is all about standing up and taking a call whenever something wrong happens. It means to put the interests of others ahead of our own self-interest whenever situation demands so. The rights of children are more important than immediate gratification of our own happiness.

Additionally, Siddhant lacked the courage of conviction. He could have talked to his parents and the bride’s family so that some other band could have been arranged.

b) If I would have been at his place, the option of giving notice to band would have been a more appropriate option; I would have followed my deontological ethics. It would have achieved the objective of undisturbed marriage as well as serving the purpose of law.