Bengaluru, Jan 13: Former Supreme Court judge N Santosh Hegde today "wholly" condemned the action of four senior judges in going public over internal matters of the judiciary, saying it affected the reputation of the institution and may amount to contempt of court.
Questioning their action, he said internal matters of the judiciary should not have been brought to the public for discussion because neither the public nor the government or the executive can give any relief to them. "I wholly condemn the press meet yesterday held by the four judges of the Supreme Court. My complaint is these things should not have been publicly discussed, consequent to which the reputation of the judiciary has been affected," he told PTI.
In an unprecedented move in the country's judicial history, Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph had held a press conference yesterday and mounted a virtual revolt against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, questioning him on the 'selective' allocation of cases and certain judicial orders passed by him.
Hegde, a former Lokayukta of Karnataka, said their action would not benefit anybody other than drawing public attention. He said institutions like the judiciary survive on the confidence of the people. "Once the confidence of the people is lost, the institution will be useless," he said. Agreeing that the judges' intention was to 'bring the muck out of the system, he disapproved of their approach as it would set a new precedent where judges of High Courts and the Supreme Court would start bringing their differences into the public domain.
On whether their action was liable for impeachment, Hegde said he does not want to go to that extent, though he felt it can be possible, given the fact that a Calcutta High Court judge was impeached for contempt of court. He, however, felt that their action may amount to contempt of court. "Yes, it may amount to contempt of court but I am not talking about that...I don't want to take the issue to another direction. I am only questioning the action of the four judges who came out saying that the Chief Justice is giving cases according to his whims and fancies. "Yes, that is the jurisdiction given to him. And why not? That bench before which the case is posted does not have the only person. There are two other judges there." "That means you are suspecting the three judges. Let us not denigrate the institution," said Hegde.
The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
Comments
oh should they have gone to govt or police? to get killed?
The contempt of Court may be punishable, but what about the Contempt of Judicial system and contempt of Justice by CJI? It will never be questioned rather rewarded. Atleast now public come to know that Judiciary too infected with.............virus. Public had the doubt, now four senior most judges confirmed it. God save India!!! SATYA MEVA JAYATE!!
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