Respected Sir,
I take the liberty of disturbing you as a concerned citizen of India. I confess that I do not understand the nuances of the law of the land. But there are developments which disturb me deeply. Allow me to share some of the prominent ones with you.
Upholding the dignity of the Supreme Court
Whereas a strict stand has rightfully been taken against the misleading claims made by Patanjali and its defiance of the court’s orders, no action appears to have been initiated so far against the top management of the largest public sector bank which misled the court in the matter of data on electoral bonds.
This not only lowers the credibility and dignity of the court but also sends out a signal that contempt of court is acceptable in some cases. You may consider initiating suitable steps to address this issue.
Perhaps you need to form a team within the court that keeps monitoring every three/six months if a litigant is fulfilling the conditions laid down by the court while handing out a decision to a litigant.
Assisting the ECI in rebuilding its credibility
With general elections in progress, the ECI is gradually proving to be incapable and unwilling to provide a level playing field to the parties in the fray. This is an attack on the rights of citizens enshrined in our Constitution.
As to the ECI’s partisan approach to addressing violations of the Model Code of Conduct, I do believe that immediate suo moto cognisance of its acts of omissions and a friendly nudge from the highest court of the land alone can ensure that voters can make well-informed choices while exercising their franchise.
In the long run, whatever the legal technicalities involved, I do hope there is a way that can be found to strike down a law that empowers the executive alone to make appointments to one of the critical watchdogs in our vibrant democracy. To me, it is something that goes against the principles of natural justice.
A festering wound which continues destroying social harmony
Politicians may be happy to deploy a divide-and-rule policy to acquire and retain power, but I wonder if it behoves the court well to allow those who have engaged in a criminal act to go absolutely unpunished. I allude to the Babri Masjid demolition matter where the miscreants ended up victorious, sans any reprimand.
You may appreciate that this has opened the floodgates to many other cases that keep tearing away at the fabric of social harmony, bringing into question the secular scheme of things envisioned by our founding fathers. I wonder if a strategic way can be found to stem this downward spiral of our society.
Sir, with some of its recent judgments, the Supreme Court has emerged as a prominent conscience keeper of India. I hope you can spare some time and devote your attention to these matters.
Thanking you in anticipation,
Yours faithfully,
The Common Man
Notes:
- Written with no malice towards anyone.
- Common Man, as envisaged by R. K. Laxman; image courtesy www.
Hi Ashok, Your post capturing the common man’s anguish is very timely. If anything, your comments are quite muted given the extent of deterioration in our justice system and the rule of law. As it happens, just this morning, I watched an interview of Dushyant Dave on YouTube and later read the newspaper article based on it. Dave is forthright in blaming the SC and the CJI for turning India into an authoritarian state before our very eyes. I share the links to those here below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFsVNun52K0
https://theprint.in/judiciary/judiciary-responsible-for-india-turning-into-authoritarian-state-says-senior-advocate-dushyant-dave/2078425/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. The anguish I feel within me just found a rather tempered outlet through this post. I believe that whereas all other institutions have already become supine, the Supreme Court still shows occasional signs of having a spine which is not made entirely of cottage cheese.
Thank you for sharing these links, I shall check these out in due course of time. Some time back, Fali Nariman’s son had also made some scathing remarks about the state of our juduciary.
Here is another post of mine that you may like: https://ashokbhatia.wordpress.com/2021/02/21/a-few-things-which-make-me-angry-these-days
LikeLike
Ashok Bhatia ko gussa kyon aataa hai?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Title of a movie you may soon be directing?!
LikeLike