Judges have become soft targets with the advent of social media & have been subject to relentless criticism & juicy gossip, Supreme Court Judge, Justice NV Ramana said on Saturday.
Justice Ramana, who is the second senior-most judge at the Top Court after CJI SA Bobde, said Judges have to be very circumspect when it comes to their social life since they have no platform to respond to criticism & can speak only through their judgments/ judicial work.
“Judges are restrained from speaking out in their own defence. Today, judges have become soft target of criticism & especially with social media’s advent, judges have become subject to juicy gossip. There seems to be a misunderstanding that judges lead a life of luxury in their ivory towers. That is not true. Judges have to balance their social lives in order to be independent,” he said in his speech at the launch of a book authored by recently former SC Judge, Justice R Banumathi.
Chief Justice of India concurred with Justice Ramana’s views saying “Freedom of speech of judges is curtailed by the same laws & machinery that uphold the freedom for others who use it to criticise the judiciary & judges.”
Justice Banumathi’s book titled ‘Judiciary, Judges & the Administration of Justice’ was released by CJI SA Bobde who handed over the first copy to Justice Ramana.
Justice Ramana will take over as CJI from Justice Bobde on April 24, 2021, & will serve at the helm for nearly 1.5 years before he retires in Aug 2022.
Last week, another Apex Court Judge, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had said that Courts today are increasingly being asked to decide on political matters which are brought before it under the guise of public interest litigation & they face a lot of criticism due to the handling of such cases.
Courts, he maintained, have limitations & have not been tasked with the responsibility of running the system & cannot perform the role of the government. He, therefore, called for a constructive approach while criticizing the Court & its judgments.
“I do believe that we have adopted a Constitution where we have an elected government in power. Segregation of powers requires the judiciary to perform its role & executive to perform its role. Courts cannot be unelected governments,” Justice Kaul had said at a webinar organized by non-governmental organization, CAN Foundation.
On Saturday, CJI Bobde also said that due to the Covid-19 & the accompanying restrictions which led to shutdown of Courts across the country since March, there will be a surge in pendency of cases & suggested mediation as one possible way to tackle the arrears.
He said that “There will be huge pendency of cases due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I don’t think there is a way out of it but only a way through it. I think it can be resolved through mediation. I am not suggesting that we should go for mediation in every case but I don’t think we can go about it in the usual way. We will have to put our minds together (to find a solution)".
The CJI also highlighted the significance of mental health during Coronavirus times saying the Apex Court has come up with an initiative to provide mental health support & the secretary-general will be making an announcement in this regard soon.
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