SC Judges press conference - Reactions

Four senior Supreme Court (SC) judges today called an unprecedented press conference on Jan 11, 2018 acknowledged that what they were doing - in speaking to the media - was highly unusual. "This is an extraordinary event and it is with no pleasure we are doing this...We are left with no choice but to address the nation," said Justice Chelameswar. 

Here are the reactions of eminent people have to say about that: 

• It is appalling. How can you administer Supreme Court by press conference. Are you going to hold a referendum and ask people what is right and wrong  ... Justice R.S. Sodhi
• This trade unionism is wrong. Democracy in danger is not for them to say, we have parliament, courts, police functioning. Issues don't matter. It is their complaint on administrative matter. They are only 4, there are 23 others. 4 get together and show the Chief Justice in a poor light. It is immature and childish behavior. I think all 4 judges should be Supreme Court judges' should be impeached, they have no business to sit there and deliver verdicts anymore ... Justice R.S. Sodhi
• The judiciary is the sanctuary of the common man. This kind of a situation will trigger doubts about the institution and this should not have happened ... Former CJI K G Balakrishnan
• This is a black day for the judiciary. Today's press conference would cause a bad precedent. From now on every common man could look at all judicial order with suspicion. Every judgement will be questioned ... Ujjwal Nikam, senior lawyer
• Even our editorial view was that it is one of the stupidest shots fired, because it was not going to go anywhere ... Sekhar Gupta, NDTV
• I have never come across something so demeaning as this. There are certain things that can’t be done. You either wait till the chief justice retires or you go away, that is all. These four judges erred in going public. We are not concerned with their frustration. We are concerned with the Supreme Court. We are concerned with the institution. Of the roster, he is the master. The five (collegium) are important only for one reason. All judges should be treated the same. CJI became a leader because of the constitutional convention that the senior-most judge should become chief justice. If you want to impeach a judge, impeach him on proper grounds. You have to shoot to kill. If you shoot to hurt it will not hurt a man or woman but the institution ... FS Nariman Eminent jurist and senior advocate
• I’m very upset about this, I wish the four Supreme Court judges hadn’t done this. This will have severe repercussions on judiciary ... Soli Sorabjee, former Attorney-General of India
• I feel very sad about it. I am sure they (the four judges) are hurt with many things which ought not to have happened. But for heaven’s sake, what they did was wrong. I don’t think this damage can ever be repaired ... N Santosh Hegde, former Solicitor General
• The following SC Bench passed judgement on him saying “We are of the unanimous opinion that Justice C S Karnan has committed contempt of this court, of the judiciary and also the judicial process.” SC Bench Inlcuded: CJI Khehar, Justice P C Ghose, Justice Dipak Misra, Justice J Chelameswar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice M B Lokur, Justice Kurian Joseph. Sanctity of SC of India was very well protected by the Hon. Judges in this case. But it does not seem to protect it in the case of this press conference  ... An observer in social media
• Justice Arun Mishra of the Supreme Court, who was allegedly targeted after the controversial press conference by four senior most judges, took serious exception to the tarnishing of his image. At the customary morning tea meeting where the press conference came up for discussion, Justice Arun Mishra expressed his strong views against the developments. Justice Arun Mishra in an emotional outburst said, “The only thing I have earned in my life is reputation and you have tried to attack it... How do you propose to give it back to me? You should have killed me with a bullet rather than attacking my reputation.”
• This is a small court… we are small people... junior judge. Are you sure you want us to hear your case? ...  Justice Arun Mishra asked a lawyer while hearing a case
• Why is so much crowd here? I am a junior judge. Why don't people go to some senior judges' court? ...  Justice Arun Mishra, asked some advocates in Court No. 10
• We can't criticize them, they are men of great integrity and have sacrificed a lot of their legal career, where they could've made money as senior counsels. We must respect them. The PM must ensure that the 4 judges and the CJI, in fact, the whole SC come to one opinion and proceed further ... Subramanian Swamy, BJP MP
• Deeply sad and pained, also feel a sense of agony that the highest court of the land should come under such severe stress that forces judges to address the media ... Salman Khurshid, senior advocate and Congress leader
• It is certainly a very serious development which has cast a huge shadow on the Chief Justice. Somebody had to confront the situation, where CJI is blatantly misusing his powers, hence the unprecedented step (by the 4 judges) ... Prashant Bhushan, lawyer and politician
• I am sure they (four judges) have exhausted all other remedies. One could see pain on their faces while they were speaking. The whole matter is with respect to judicial propriety. The question is of natural justice. Whatever is the law for common man, it is applied much more rigorously as far as judges are concerned because they must always be above suspicion ... KTS Tulsi, Senior lawyer 
• I Feel very disturbed over the issue. This should not have happened, but it has and there might be strong reasons for them. Consequence would be it would create apprehensions in the minds of the people ... AK Ganguly, retired judge
• I think it's a historic Press Conference. It was very well done. I think we, the people of India, have a right to know what is going on within the judiciary and I welcome this ... Indira Jaising, Supreme Court advocate
• Absolutely unprecedented, the press conference of the four senior judges of supreme court. Most important take away ‘when national interest is at stake ordinary rules of business do not apply' ...  Yashwant Sinha, BJP leader 

Ever since independence, democracy was constantly in danger in India. Judges appointment was neither based on any merit nor transparent. Earlier it was 'to become judge you should know the law minister' and these days it is 'to become judge you should know collegium member'. Delhi HC retired judge RS Sodhi rightly said, "I think all four judges should be impeached. They have no business to sit there and deliver verdicts anymore. This trade unionism is wrong. Democracy in danger is not for them to say. We have parliament, courts, police functioning". It is sad to note that our learned top 4 SC Judges did the right thing in a wrong way! They proved themselves unworthy of the positions they are holding. If they were serious about what they were talking, they should have simply resigned and then did what ever they wanted to do. The actions of these 4 SC Judges were applauded by Media and common citizens but almost all legal fraternity admonished this.