Some Retired Judges Are 'Anti-India' And Trying To Make Judiciary Play The Role of Opposition Party: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju

Union law minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday accused a handful of retired ‘activist’ judges of trying to make the judiciary play the role of an opposition party, even to the extent of “going to the court and asking it to reign in the government”. “How can they ask the Indian judiciary to take the government head-on? What kind of propaganda is this?” Rijiju asked. In a likely jibe against a seminar organised by Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms on ‘Principles and Framework for Judicial Appointments’, the law minister said, “Some senior advocates and retired judges spoke at the event. The topic of the seminar was accountability in judicial appointments. But the discussion centred on how the government was taking over the judiciary.” The law minister was speaking at the India Today Conclave on Saturday on the topic ‘Justice for All: The endeavour and the gap’. Also invited to speak in other sessions was, among others, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, as well as former chief justices Sharad Arvind Bobde, and UU Lalit. While speaking about the alarmism in public discourse and criticism aimed at the government, Rijiju said, “When Rahul Gandhi or anyone else says that the Indian judiciary has been hijacked, or democracy is over in the country, the judiciary is dead, what do these statements mean?” In answer to his own question, he claimed that there was a ‘calibrated effort’ to undermine the Indian judiciary. “That is why they keep saying that the government is trying to take over the judiciary. It is a sinister design by anti-India forces in India and outside. These anti-India gangs use the same [alarmist] language. Rahul Gandhi uses the same language,” the minister exclaimed. “Not only does he (Gandhi) use the same language, but also whatever he says is being propagated and publicised by loud voices within the same ecosystem.”“It is a few of the retired judges, few – maybe three or four – few of those activist, part of that anti-India gang, these people are trying to make Indian judiciary play role of opposition party. Some people even go to court and say that and please rein in the government, please change the policy of the government.” Alleging an insidious attempt by certain ‘anti-India’ factions of undermining the Indian judiciary with increasingly alarmist language, insinuating, among other things, that judicial independence had been compromised, he said: “People of India are with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and with our government. We will not allow this ‘tukde tukde’ gang to destroy India's integrity and our sovereignty. We are very firm about that. Action is being taken as per law and will continue to be taken. No one will escape. Those who have worked against the country will have to pay a price for that.”

Some Retired Judges Are 'Anti-India' And Trying To Make Judiciary Play The Role of Opposition Party: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju

Awstika Das

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