A letter written by a group of 21 retired Supreme Court and High Court judges to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud flagging “attempts to undermine judiciary through calculated pressure, misinformation, and public disparagement” is an ominous sign for democracy in India. It comes close on the heels of another letter written some days back by about 600 lawyers from across the country expressing the similar concern over systematic attempts to manipulate the judiciary to serve the vested interests of a section of politicians. The judiciary being one of the pillars of democracy in which the people largely repose their trust, such missives from lawyers and judges speak volumes about the intent of some politicians who would be too happy to see the judiciary weakened so that that they can do whatever they wish while trampling the interests of the citizens with impunity. What is of even greater danger is the fact that the judges, who rarely go public with their opinions, are articulating their fear and anxiety at a time when the ruling dispensation has been sending out covert and overt messages that if it gets the numbers in the Lok Sabha polls to begin this week, the country’s Constitution would be changed. The fear is not misplaced at all when one considers Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s exhortation to the people that his party should be enabled to rule for 1,000 years. In other words, the ruling party has the ambition to be in power in such a manner that no Opposition can dislodge it for the next ten centuries. Only a party completely drunk with power and not ready to allow democracy to function can think of visualising such a frightening scenario.
In a rare instance these judges have accused “certain factions,” often “motivated by political interests” and “personal gains,” of undermining the judicial system in a way that strives to erode the public’s confidence in the judiciary. It asserts that such actions not only show disrespect to the sanctity of the country’s 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. Both missives to the CJI, the earlier one by the large group of lawyers and the recent one from retired judges could have come about due to a letter sent by the president of Supreme Court Bar Association Adish C Aggarwala 11 March addressed to the President of India in which he had sought presidential reference of the Supreme Court judgement in the Electoral Bonds case.
The judges’ complaint has no vagueness and they outline the modus operandi of the groups working with a diabolical agenda. The strategy ranges from the propagation of baseless theories intended to malign the judiciary’s reputation to engaging in overt and covert attempts to influence judicial outcomes in their favour. For this reason, the judges have urged the apex court to safeguard courts from such pressures and ensure that “the sanctity and autonomy of our legal system are preserved.”
In late March, a letter signed by high-profile lawyers from across the country had also accused an unidentified “group” of employing pressure tactics to influence judicial outcomes, particularly in cases involving political figures and corruption allegations. Such actions, undoubtedly, are an open challenge to the fair functioning of the judicial system.
The response from the ruling dispensation is yet another blatant attempt at obfuscating the real issue and misleading the people. The Prime Minister took it upon himself to lead the counter-charge as was evident from the scathing attack he launched on the Congress hours after the lawyers wrote to the CJI. He then alleged that a “vested interest group” is trying to put pressure on the judiciary and defame the courts. He equated the group with the Congress stating that it is a “vintage Congress culture” to browbeat and bully others. In his message on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote five decades ago Congress had called for a “committed judiciary” for their selfish interests but desist from any commitment towards the nation.
While it is anybody’s guess how an Opposition party can even try to influence the judiciary under current conditions, the Congress leadership charged the PM has mastered the art of manipulating democracy and hurting the Constitution. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote a three-point post highlighting the crisis in the judiciary under the Modi government’s regime.
In fact, the Supreme Court had struck down a brazen attempt by the ruling BJP to distort the Constitution and to give a veneer of legal sanctity to the licence to loot corporate funds through a quid pro quo arrangement under the guise of the Electoral Bonds scheme that was declared unconstitutional recently.
The efforts to clamp one-party rule and weaken the judiciary and the Opposition by hook or by crook do not strengthen democracy. While this is a sure fire recipe for dictatorship to flourish, it must also be stated that the subordinate judiciary across this country has become totally spineless due to rampant greed and resultant corruption that has pervaded it. These retired judges, both from the Supreme Court and various High Courts, are not known to have done anything to imbibe better character and sense of responsibility amongst the lower courts’ judicial officers. Their imploring today sounds weak simply because of what they conveniently ignored to do in the past when they were in position.