A group of 21 retired judges of the Supreme Court and high courts have written to CJI D Y Chandrachud on the escalating attempts by “certain factions to undermine the judiciary through calculated pressure, misinformation, and public disparagement”.
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NEW DELHI: A consortium of 21 retired judges hailing from both the Supreme Court and various High Courts has penned a pointed missive to the Chief Justice of India, shedding light on the mounting endeavors by certain factions to subvert the judiciary through a calculated onslaught of pressure, misinformation, and public denigration.
In their impassioned plea, the esteemed retired jurists assert that these detractors are propelled by self-serving political agendas and vested interests, diligently working to chip away at the bedrock of public trust in the judicial apparatus. Their endeavor, the judges argue, poses a grave threat to the sacrosanct principles of justice and impartiality upon which the legal edifice stands.
While refraining from delineating specific incidents that prompted their intervention, the retired justices’ collective admonition arrives against the backdrop of a rancorous exchange between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition factions concerning the legal ramifications faced by certain opposition figures ensnared in corruption allegations.
As aggrieved leaders and their respective political cohorts seek legal recourse to counter the allegations leveled against them, the BJP has often wielded accusations of cherry-picking judicial decisions, citing the perceived absence of reprieve for numerous arrested opposition figures as a rejoinder to the opposition’s vociferous critique.
The retired luminaries, among them the distinguished justices Deepak Verma, Krishna Murari, Dinesh Maheshwari, and M R Shah, castigate these detractors for their insidious machinations, which manifest as concerted efforts to manipulate judicial proceedings by impugning the integrity of the courts and impugning the character of its esteemed adjudicators.
“Such actions not only disrespect the sanctity of our judiciary but also pose a direct challenge to the principles of fairness and impartiality that judges, as guardians of the law, have sworn to uphold,”
-they said in the letter titled:
“Need to safeguard judiciary from unwarranted pressures”.
The strategy employed by these groups is deeply troubling, ranging from the propagation of baseless theories intended to malign the judiciary’s reputation to engaging in overt and covert attempts to influence judicial outcomes to their favour, they said.
“This behaviour, we observe, is particularly pronounced in the cases and causes of social, economic and political significance, including the cases involving certain individuals, wherein the lines between advocacy and manoeuvring are blurred to the detriment of judicial independence,” they added.
The letter writers said they are particularly concerned about the tactics of misinformation and the orchestration of public sentiment against the judiciary.
“The practice of selectively praising judicial decisions that align with one’s views while vehemently criticising those that do not, undermines the very essence of judicial review and the rule of law,” they said.
They urged the judiciary led by the Supreme Court to fortify against such pressures and ensure that the sanctity and autonomy of the legal system are preserved.
“It is imperative that the judiciary remains a pillar of democracy, immune to the whims and fancies of transient political interests,” they said.
Their missive underscores a pressing imperative for safeguarding the independence and integrity of the judiciary from pernicious external influences, highlighting the pivotal role that an impartial and robust judicial system plays in upholding the rule of law and preserving democratic norms.
Indeed, the resonance of their collective appeal reverberates beyond the confines of legal academia, serving as a clarion call for all stakeholders vested in the sanctity of justice to unite in staunch defense against the erosion of judicial autonomy and the subversion of legal processes for ulterior motives.
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