The recent observations made by a judge of Supreme Court in the Court hall appears to have have crossed all limits of judicial propriety and created an environment of fear amongst the citizens of the country that Supreme Court does not protect the citizens of the country against the threats from terrorists.
The observations were made in front of the media and gave a justification to a terrorist act by linking it to the remark made by the petitioner in a TV debate. This was in the mould of the Rajiv Gandhi statement that the riots of 1984 was justified because of the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
Judges have the freedom to say what they want to say in their judgements but making observations particularly when press is around who could report it with a twist is completely unacceptable. This is irresponsible and indicates that the observation was made deliberately with an intention to get it reported and have consequential impact on others in the society.
I would have appreciated if the judge had made the same observations as a part of a reasoned judgement and recorded it. But making a remark for the gallery shows immaturity of the concerned judge or other motives to be explored.
The current developments indicate that the concerned Judge was guilty of gross impropriety and the Chief Justice of India need to take suitable action to remove him from any political cases. The Government of India should also take steps to impeach him since he has destroyed the respect for Judiciary through his remarks.
I may recall that we had a similar situation recently in the Madras High Court where the judge made some observations which were considered avoidable. However the affected parties decided to gloss it over as an indiscretion and avoided a possible confrontation.
Courts expect a high level of decorum from the Advocates and visitors to the Court room and it must be stated that the public also expect the Judges to follow certain decorum.
It is time for the CJI to respond to this crisis of confidence in Judiciary created by the incident.
Naavi
