Yesterday, i.e. 30th October 2009 I was witness to the launch function of India’s first ever magazine on legal and corporate affairs, “LEX WITNESS” in Bangalore. The function was presided over by Dr. Justice V S Malimath, Chairman of Law Commission of Karnataka as the Chief Guest and Justice V Gopala Gowda, sitting judge of the High Court of Karnataka and Executive Chairman, Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, as Guest of Honor.
It was a very brief function wherein Justice Malimath laid down some benign guidelines for a proper functioning of the magazine as the media and then Justice Gowda gave his thoughts which were really interesting.
Often it happens that when there are inherent insecurities and fears stacked up they come up unasked for and at uncalled for occasions. Something similar happened with Justice Gowda, who came up with concerns like,
1. The judiciary is overburdened.
2. The judiciary should be independent,
3. The judiciary has to protect women.
Let us address each concern.
1. The judiciary is overburdened: Well, this one came in response to Justice Malimath’s comment that the judiciary has a responsibility to deliver quality judgments in addition to disposing the cases off. And Justice Gowda pop comes up with the justification that there is a huge backlog of cases. Is he forgetting that it is the same judiciary that keeps on admitting cases after cases and takes decades to decide whether to just dispose it or not? Wake up judiciary!
2. The judiciary should be independent: Now that’s a new one. Asking for independence in an independent country! How foolish can it get? And that too independence from whom? The very people for whom the body has been institutionalized and is getting paid hefty salaries from the hard earned money of? Is it not like a servant asking independence from his master and like a kid expecting the master to accept whatever meager quality service he renders? Or does the judiciary want independence so that when some “Mores and Majumdars” openly discriminate against men and deny justice to them, no one should question them? Or when some judge is found with cash-at-door or lands misappropriate to income no one should question them? I hope Justice Gowda has satiable answers to these questions before asking for independence. Wake up judiciary!
3. The judiciary has to protect women: Aah! That’s cheating with men. They are brought up with this imbibing thought that they have to protect women, even at the cost of their own lives and the poor fellows do it as well, even when the woman does not ask for and now the judiciary says it wants to protect women. Now, from when did the judiciary started to don that role? Aah, since the majority of the judiciary is men only they have taken upon this task unasked for. So, is it time to throw away 50% of male judges and replace them with female judges? And by the way I must mention here what Justice Gowda defines as a good woman.
According to him a good female cook is a good woman! Isn’t that an insult to all the well-meaning and capable women who are just proving their professional worth? Isn’t it also an insult to all those male chefs who cook delicacies in restaurants and motels, eke out a decent living outta it and get complimented for the same as well? And by the way he should also be aware that the women protection laws he wants to further on the society have already been responsible for arrest of 123,000 women under Section 498A, merely on the basis of an unverified and uninvestigated complaint. Wake up judiciary!
It’s high time the Indian judiciary wakes up and takes responsibility for the blunders it is causing in the society just because it wants to sound, “Politically Correct” and preserve its “Independence”. The judiciary has no rights to play with the lives of people and drag their useful and productive years in the precincts of a litigating corridor. Because of the lackadaisical attitude of the judiciary, today criminals have gained confidence and crime is rising in the society because they know it takes 10 minutes to commit a crime and 10 years to get acquitted on “Benefit of doubt” meanwhile the person is free to continue on the crime spree. The judiciary is directly responsible for the deteriorating and decaying trust on law and order and rising crime in the society.
And a truly independent judiciary never even thinks of being independent, because feeling independent is being independent. And therefore I would like to end this article saying
WAKE UP JUDICIARY!
