Govt trying to take away independence of judiciary, alleges Prashant Bhushan

By Dilip -
Janhastakshep and PUCL jointly organized a public meeting on 19th January 2018 at ‘Press Club’ on the topic Felling of the Last Bastion: Is Indian Democracy in Peril with the Judiciary Becoming a Victim of Political Interference. The meeting was presided over by the Prof Ish Mishra of Delhi University, Speakers were Mr. Prashant Bhushan, Hartosh Singh Bal (Editor: The Carvan), Ms. Poonam (Adv.) and Mr. N D Pancholi (President PUCL).

While introducing the topic Mr. Satentra Ranjan (Senior Journalist) said that the unprecedented media conference by the four senior most Judges of the SC expressing their anguish over what they perceive to be a process under way that threatens the last independent bastion to protect Indian democracy – the judiciary.  They also highlighted that there are irregularities in constitution of benches and assignment of cases by the Chief Justice and asked for remedial measures. They have said, in their letter addressed to the CJI, unless this institution is preserved and it maintains its equanimity, the democracy will not survive in this country, or any country.

They revealed that not only did their letter evoke no response, it was followed by even more arbitrary assignment of cases and constitution of benches comprising judges who had no domain knowledge or history of knowledge in the cases that had far-reaching consequences for the people i.e. the Aadhar case that pertains to fundamental questions about the powers of the State and the individual, the right to privacy and public interest. According to media reports, the matter related to allocation of a suitable bench for hearing the case about Judge Loya’s death was the final reason for the four judges of the Supreme Court to make their concerns public.


The other cases that worried the four judges were the Sahara-Birla diaries and the case regarding the allocation of a bench to hear a matter in which judges were allegedly bribed by a medical college in UP to obtain a favourable order. Citing conflict of interest the petitioner in the medical college case had asked CJI Dipak Misra to recuse himself from the decision to assign a bench to hear the matter. The request was not accepted… read more:
http://www.hastakshep.com/englishnews/felling-of-the-last-bastion-is-indian-democracy-in-peril-with-the-judiciary-16539

also see
Death of Judge Loya: Government documents placed before Supreme Court raise more questions, deepen the mystery. By ATUL DEV




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