Judiciary as the ‘saviour’ of democracy- a lot of noise is being made on this regard these days. A Nation without a robust judicial system will definitely face mayhem and turmoil. Agreed, Judiciary is one of the most pivotal limbs of democracy, but to bestow upon the guardianship of democracy solely on the Indian Judiciary is something which is not only over- ambitious but also outright ridiculous. Democracy is defined as the Government of the people, by the people and for the people. Judiciary and Democracy should complement each other so that the absolute interests of the state are upheld.
India has been fortunate enough to have a sturdy judicial system. The efficiency
of the courts in India is something which even the world has acknowledged and
appreciated. From H.J kania to Deepak Mishra , we have had many CJIs who were
renowned for their honesty and professionalism. And being the world’s largest
democracy,we,as a nation cannot afford
to have a half-baked legal
system. It also should be remembered that the courts function on public money
which necessitates the need of accountability pertaining to their work.Openness
in the court procedures and lucidity in decision making can facilitate parity between the nation’s security and the
civil rights of the people.
Judiciary is widely perceived to be the common man’s last ‘ray of
hope’.Infact the responsibilities of the judiciary are many. It not only has to
apply and interpret the law as per the constitution and exercise the rule of the law but also act as a player
in state politics.
Having
said that, it is also true that the legal system of the Nation has so many
issues plaguing it. The huge back-log of cases and the time-lag which happens
between hearing and the final judgement is indeed a stark reality. Also,of
late,the courts seem to develop cold-feet when coming to giving judgements
pertaining to extremely sensitive issues ala a ‘Babry’ Case or an ‘Abaya’ Case.
There are many other matters worth pondering
on.The country has got enough and more number of ‘attention seekers’ and
‘potential head line grabbers’ who resort to litigations and ‘PIL’ s to
achieve social and political gains. Unwanted litigations like these waste the
precious time of the honourable courts and only serve to ‘delay justice’ for
the genuine aggrievers.
A
couple of days back, the Nation witnessed an unprecedented spat between a
couple of sitting SC judges and the honourable CJI. In the present context, if
an average citizen gets the idea that the ego-conflicts and power wars among
the sitting SC judges and the honourable CJI has resulted in this present
judicial crisis, he can’t be blamed. This situation of ‘it’s a matter of (the ‘rituous’ and ‘holy’) us v/s (the ‘crooked’ and ‘unholy’) him
could have been easily averted had the grieving judges not resorted to
washing the dirty linen in public. The recent developments have only served to
tarnish the image of the highest court of the country among the general public.
When four of the 25 judges of SC gang up and hold a press meet only to declare
an open War on the CJI, there will indeed be repercussions and the message that
it sends out to the general public and to the world is not at all pleasant. After all, it’s not
reality television that we are talking about! But sadly, the attempts to milk
this episode for political capital has begun and it is anybody’s guess that
this will go on till 2019!
The role of judiciary in the maintenance and prosperity
of an evolving democractic society cannot be under estimated and if done so, it
will have alarming consequences which will be detrimental to the society and
the country as a whole.
-nikhimenon
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