Kashmir's bifurcation, CAA, sedition, UAPA... Justice AP Shah, the former chief justice of the Delhi High Court, pointed out the various ways India’s judicial system had “failed” in its duties in recent years. Thanks to Centre for Study of Society and Secularism.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00We might not be in a state of war, but we are in a state of emergency, unprecedented
00:06for generations.
00:07Center to all this and certainly of most concern to me is the role of the Supreme Court.
00:22In India today, every institution, mechanism or tool that is designed to hold the executive
00:30accountable is being systematically destroyed.
00:34But the most worrying of all is the state of judicial.
00:39There are many important issues that need to be deliberated upon today.
00:43With Parliament already so weakened, the Supreme Court would have been the next best place
00:49to discuss the Kashmir bifurcation, the constitutional validity of the Citizenship Amendment Act,
00:56separation and criminalization of protests against the law, misuse of draconian laws
01:03like sedition and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, electoral bonds, etc.
01:08Sadly, most of these are ignored or brushed aside or mysteriously kept pending for an
01:15indefinite period of time.
01:17We might not be in a state of war, but we are in a state of emergency, unprecedented
01:24for generations.
01:25Center to all this and certainly of most concern to me is the role of the Supreme Court.
01:32A news report by the Indian Express showed that of the recent 10 most important judgments
01:44of the Supreme Court on free speech, only four were decided in favor of the persons
01:51claiming the right to free speech.
01:54Critically, in all four of these cases, the government either supported the petitioner
02:01or expressed no objection.
02:03In contrast, wherever the government opposed, the cases failed.
02:08This is how the court seems to be turning in all matters.
02:12The court generally is becoming more prickly when it comes to issues of free speech as
02:19evidenced in the most recent Prashant Bhushan case.
02:22In a display of self-proclaimed magnanimity, the court let off Mr. Bhushan with a fine
02:29of one rupee for the contempt case against him over two quits, but not without chastising
02:35his conduct.
02:37In the entire proceedings, one thing was clear, the court came across as an intolerant institution.
02:47The truth is that the era of the Supreme Court's glorious jurisprudence has all vanished.
02:54We seem to have only memories of its illustrious past to reminisce upon today.
03:02This abuse of the UAPA and constant rejection of bail applications of accused as a means
03:09of silencing opposite voices can be seen most in the Bhima Goregaon cases, where mere thought
03:18has been elevated to crime.
03:20Why are the political establishment and the police so emboldened?
03:25Undoubtedly, it is because of the weak judiciary that we have in India today.
03:32Indeed, the government is using every imaginable means to silent any or all dissenting opinion
03:41and to clamp down on any alternative views that might exist.
03:46More problematically, the judiciary is watching all this happen by the sidelines, like a mute
03:52spectator, without uttering a word.
04:00The most stark representation of the court's decline can be seen in the failure to perform
04:07as a counter-majority in court.
04:10I emphasize counter-majorityism because it is important to recognize the role of the
04:17court in protecting the interests of minorities.
04:23The next characteristic contributing to the Supreme Court's decline is in the failure
04:33to perform its fundamental role as adjudicator itself.
04:39In the Kashmir case, it has practically adjudicated its role as a court.
04:46There is also a pattern of judicial evasion being followed by the court in Kashmir cases.
04:53When petitioned as to how the internet shutdown was affecting the public health delivery system
04:59in J&K, the Supreme Court told the petitioner to approach the High Court to avail the appropriate
05:06legal remedy.
05:08The over 1.3 crore population of J&K is suffering, with health, education, business, and economy
05:17all operating at a loss because of the executive's internet shutdown.
05:22The Supreme Court seems to simply not want to deal with real-world problems at all.
05:32To put it bluntly, this is what is happening in India today.
05:37In the face of all this, the one institution which has the capacity to turn the tide is
05:43the judiciary.
05:44Unfortunately, it seems to have lost its way.
05:49More than 70 years ago, in the Constituent Assembly, Nehru had said that we needed judges
05:56of the highest integrity who would be persons who can stand up against the executive government
06:03and whoever might come in their way.
06:06I am hopeful that we will once again be able to see judges like these thrive in India.