While temples of justice are central to the delivery of justice, Hindu temples, symbols of temporal power, are at the forefront of our country’s political discourse. Our judiciary, much as it would like to assert otherwise, is bedevilled with challenges that it has, in near recent years, not responded to adequately. The people of India are being distracted from the challenges confronting our economy and polity by the invoking of religious emotions to divide and rule.
India needs judges who deliver justice unconcerned with majoritarian sentiments. She also needs a political system that seeks to keep religion away from politics and where the state, symbolised by those wielding political power, does not publicly use religion for political ends.
We must also recognise the enormous challenges confronting our judicial system. With a burgeoning population, and injustices perpetrated by the state and its agencies, the state itself being the largest litigant, there has been an exponential increase in litigants seeking justice. There are not enough judges at all levels of the judicial hierarchy to deal with the increased workload. The result is that there is little time to reflect on issues which can change the course of the nation’s march forward.
This is particularly true of the Supreme Court which decides on seminal issues that impact democracy; indeed its very survival. Important and sensitive cases are not heard for years for reasons that, to the public at large and to lawyers in particular, are inexplicable. Decisions made after years have no relevance since the damage is already done and the clock cannot be turned back. I must, however, compliment the present Chief Justice to have taken up matters which lay dormant for years. But for some of these matters to be decided, time was of the essence. A decision made after years does not serve the cause of justice. Also, the quality of judges at all levels has also declined. The reason for this is the entrenched vested system of appointments to the higher judiciary which seems to throw up some justices who are perceived to be aligned with a particular ideological mindset. Sometimes judges who are perceived to be close to those who wield power are picked up for judgeship.
The collegium system has failed us. There is no dialogue to replace it with a more transparent and merit-oriented system. The route to becoming a high court judge is to be appointed a government advocate and then get elevated. Often, government advocates are also picked up on account of their proximity to politicians or those close to the ideological moorings of the political party in power. The other problem is that meritorious lawyers seldom become judges because they are not offered judgeships when they are young enough. While we do have judges who have and will in the future make us proud, the damage done by the chosen few is enough to give the judiciary a bad name.
For the judiciary to regain its glory, it needs to do more than just decide on cases. Its processes for delivery of justice on the administrative side need radical changes, changes that the respective Chief Justices of courts in India, I get the feeling, loathe to do. The assignment of cases in a non-transparent manner does no justice to the cause of justice.
Justice, social, economic and political, can only be delivered if the political class as a matter of policy shuns divisive agendas. The evangelist zeal with which temples have become central to the politics of today is an attempt to consolidate the Hindu vote and distance the state from a class of citizens who practise another faith. Taunting, targeting them, while the state looks on encourages acts of violence.
Looking the other way when such acts are committed, wherever the BJP is in power, seems to be part of state policy. Any policy framework which seeks to cater to the needs or traditions of the minorities is considered appeasement. Benefits to the majority religious denominations, customs and traditions have become an article of faith, justified as a matter of right.
“Us” as opposed to the “other” breeds hatred. Violence against the “other”, verbally or otherwise, is publicly justified. The paid army of trollers on social media platforms applauds such anti-social acts and incites hatred. Private individuals of a particular ideology act as gendarmes and openly perpetrate violence with impunity. The state machinery cooperates and occasionally collaborates.
We are slowly establishing a de-facto Hindu state, where the Hindu religion is given primacy in the established social and political order.
Anyone opposing such an enterprise is anti-Hindu as well as anti-national. Open support for the expression of muscularity for the propagation of the Hindu faith is an act of patriotism. The Prime Minister’s prime role in the inauguration of the temple at the Ram Janmabhoomi blurs the distinction between the state and religion. The two will henceforth be perceived to be two sides of the same coin; the state will use the Hindu faith for its political ends and the Hindu faith will be regarded as an intrinsic part of the state. Our forefathers’ dreams will have been shattered; our constitutional goals realigned in a manner that a new idiom of Hinduism, alien to the values it propagates, replaces the preamble to our Constitution.
The Court, I am afraid, will silently watch the slow eclipse of an inclusive India.
The writer is a member of the Rajya Sabha
For the judiciary to regain its glory, it needs to do more than just decide on cases
18
1
02.01.2024
While temples of justice are central to the delivery of justice, Hindu temples, symbols of temporal power, are at the forefront of our country’s political discourse. Our judiciary, much as it would like to assert otherwise, is bedevilled with challenges that it has, in near recent years, not responded to adequately. The people of India are being distracted from the challenges confronting our economy and polity by the invoking of religious emotions to divide and rule.
India needs judges who deliver justice unconcerned with majoritarian sentiments. She also needs a political system that seeks to keep religion away from politics and where the state, symbolised by those wielding political power, does not publicly use religion for political ends.
We must also recognise the enormous challenges confronting our judicial system. With a burgeoning population, and injustices perpetrated by the state and its agencies, the state itself being the largest litigant, there has been an exponential increase in litigants seeking justice. There are not enough judges at all levels of the judicial hierarchy to deal with the increased workload. The result is that there is little time to reflect on issues which can change the course of the nation’s march forward.
This is particularly true of the Supreme Court which decides on seminal issues that impact democracy; indeed its very........
© Indian Express
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