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.

VIP hate speeches rise 500%, under Modi

 

The use of hateful and divisive language by high-ranking politicians has increased almost 500% in the past four years, an NDTV data collection exercise has found.

• A day, or a week doesn't go without some senior politician - a member of Parliament, minister, MLA or even Chief Minister making a hateful comment, be it in the language of bigotry or calling for violence. The rise in use of social media by politicians has only amplified this disturbing trend.
• NDTV collated the data from public record, internet, as well as using their reporters, scanning nearly 1,300 articles and going through 1,000 most-recent tweets of top politicians and public figures. NDTV says that this is not a perfect record, and doesn't claim to be comprehensive. 
• From May 2014 to the present, there have been 124 instances of VIP hate speech by 45 politicians, compared to 21 instances under UPA 2, an increase of 490%. 90% of hateful comments made during the NDA's current terms are by BJP politicians. 
• During UPA-2, 21 political leaders made hateful comments, of which 3 instances (14 %) were from the Congress, which anchored the coalition. Politicians from the BJP took the lead, recording 7 instances of hate speech.
• Of the 45 leaders responsible for hate speech since the Modi government came to power, in only find six cases (only 5% of all instances) of evidence of a politician being reprimanded or cautioned, or issuing a public apology. 95% of the time, the 'VIP hater' faced no consequence.
• In at least two cases, hate speech appears to have paid off. 

1. Yogi Adityanath, the current CM of UP, was a MP from UP when, in Nov 2015, he said "There is no difference between the language of Shah Rukh Khan and that of Hafiz Saeed". In Sep 2014, he ascribed the rise in riots in Western UP to the population growth of a minority community. "In places where there are 10 to 20% minorities, stray communal incidents take place," he said. "Where there are 20 to 35% of them, serious communal riots take place and where they are more than 35%, there is no place for non-Muslims." In all, there are 6 instances of hate speech by the UP CM. All were made before he was promoted to his current office.
2. Anant Kumar Hegde was a BJP MP from Karnataka when, in Mar 2016, he said, "As long as we have Islam in the world, there will be no end to terrorism. If we are unable to end Islam, we won't be able to end terrorism." In Sep 2017, he was promoted as Union Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Since 2014, Mr Hegde has made seven such hate speeches. Three months after being made union minister, in Dec 2017, Mr Hegde declared that the party would remove the term "secular" from the Constitution, saying "These people who call themselves secularists are like people without parentage or who don't know their bloodline."

• Mr Hegde is one of three serial 'VIP haters' in poll-bound Karnataka. Shobha Karandlaje, a  MP from Karnataka and the general secretary of the Karnataka BJP, has posted at least nine hateful tweets since June last year. Pratap Simha, another MP from Karnataka, has also posted four hateful tweets since September last year. 
• In further proof that hate has no consequence on the careers of political leaders, at least 21 political leaders (or 48%) had recorded more than one instance of hate speech. They were not reprimanded for their hateful comments, nor did they issue apologies. Prominent amongst them is T Raja Singh, a BJP MLA from Telangana, who has repeatedly made public speeches inciting violence. In Nov 2017, he threatened to burn down theatres screening "Padmavat." Since Dec 2015, Mr Singh has made at least ten hateful comments.
• BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has written hateful tweets against Muslims, posting at least 17 of these since Sep 2017.
• The reluctance of BJP to crack down on its hate speech 'offenders' is due to the fact that the its top leadership does not seem averse to playing the communal card, albeit using veiled language. Prominent amongst such instances are speeches by BJP party president Amit Shah, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself.

"If there is a cemetery in the village, there should be a crematorium as well; If there is electricity on Ramzan, it should be there on Diwali as well; there shouldn't be any discrimination," Mr Modi had said in Feb 2017, during an election rally in Fatehpur, UP, in the run-up to the assembly elections that his party swept. 

• During the same campaign, Amit Shah sparked controversy with this comment: "If by any mistake, BJP loses, the victory and defeat may be in Bihar but fire crackers will go off in Pakistan."
• Read the source article for complete list of hate speeches by BJP and UPA leaders.

Read the source article

Hate speeches are the hall mark of BJP's propaganda, especially during elections and during parliamentary debates. Modi goes way beyond others with deep desire to eliminate all national parties and establish monopoly of Hindutva forces paving the way for Hindu Rashtra. He fails to understand federal cooperation with states, diversity of the nation and the need to have balanced approach for unity & integrity of the nation. His facial expressions and body language evidently expresses his thoughts, intentions and actions. With his intolerance, arrogance coupled with lack of skills required for administering a large nation, and India was so much divided today like never before. For the first time since liberalisation in 1992, Indian economic outlook was so much distressed. Modi must be credited with shooting at the Tyres of the racing car (Indian Economy) without having an iota of what he was doing with his hare brained demonetisation and senselessly designed & hurried roll out of mangled GST.

BJP - Dera Baba rape conviction - Haryana Mayhem

• Large-scale violence has struck Haryana for the third time in three years ever since ML Khattar was sworn in as chief minister on Oct 26, 2014. 
• Massive violence followed the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on Fri Aug 25, 2017 by a special CBI court, holding the Dera Sacha Sauda leader guilty of rape. In about 300 incidents across Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi 31 people died and 250 have been injured after the court verdict.
• There were intelligence reports too fearing violence. But the Khattar government did not take adequate measures to ensure that violence did not erupt. The state government should not have allowed Baba Ram Rahim to travel from Sirsa to Panchkula as a hero in a convoy of 700 cars. It could have restricted to 5/6 cars. 
  BJP and its leaders were Ram Rahim's bhakts and won elections with his help.
• Khattar defendng himself saying that the Haryana government had made complete arrangements but "the mob was really huge" as people entered the state on foot several days ahead is only a cosmic theory and rubbish. He only appealed to people on TV to remain clam and quiet. Ditto by PM & HM from Delhi. This is no way of maintaining law & order.
  Security forces were doing nothing when mob rampage is going on, as seen on TV.
• Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh defending "State governments did take precautions. You can't blame them" and expressing inability to avoid congregation of Dera supporters in Panchkula saying “In a democracy, how can you stop movement of people all together” is totally irresponsible.
  He should quit if he can't do his job properly.
• BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj today stroked controversy when he openly came out in defence of controversial godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh even after he was convicted by a special CBI court in a rape case. He said the court has listened to the complainant and not millions of devotees who consider him god. His remarks came after 31 people were killed in violence in Haryana after a CBI court convicted Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
  BJP leadership is unhappy with his surrealist remarks.
• Sakshi Maharaj also said Dera supporters shouldn't be held responsible for mayhem damage. 
  Then who is responsible?
• BJP leader Subramanian Swamy tweeted "A new threat to Sadhus. Politicians and ashramites wanting to grab Ashram wealth by sending the Swamijis to jail. Sadhus must groom successors."
  What a cosmic theory?
• Controversies of Dera Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh includes death of child controversy, rape of sadhvis, murder of journalist, charges of blasphemy, posession of illegal weapons etc.
• He is one of the 36 people in the country who enjoys the VVIP Status and Z+ security cover due to threats from Punjab militants since 2008. This is because he is well-known for wielding influence amongst politicians in Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab. Chief Ministers of these states even bow before him in respect.
  He was a criminal facing trial since 2007 and with Z+ security! 
• Punjab and Haryana High Court castigated ML Khattar led BJP government, saying “This was a political surrender to allure vote bank. CM is the Home Minister. Why has he allowed people to assemble for seven days. CM is protecting them.” 
  Punjab & Haryana Courts have inspired public confidence in judiciary.
• The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that all losses caused to property be recovered from Dera Sacha Sauda. The state was also directed to issue orders to the Dera not to alienate any of its properties till further directions of the court.
• The Haryana government said it will compensate for the losses of media personnel and the properties of others.
  Why & how, with whose authorization? 
• BJP chief Amit Shah has categorically said that Khattar will neither be replaced nor even called to explain only indicates several BJP leaders heads will roll for involvement with Dera Baba, if Khattar is not saved.
  If 30 lives are not enough to consider easing out Khattar, then how many more are needed?

Punjab & Haryana High Court full bench admonishing
Haryana government and passing nasty remarks on Modi

In days ahead, several more scandals involving Dera Baba and political personalities will surface and government and its agencies will work hard to save the culprits against public interest. The way convicted Bajrang Dal leaders got bail on health grounds as soon as Modi became PM, Dera Baba coming out of jail soon will surprise none.

Modi's stoic silence on this burning issue is quite surprising. Khattar, a first-time MLA, was chosen by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah to lead the party government in Haryana. Khattar is a RSS Pracharak and BJP replacing him is out of question. BJP's shameless people don't resign for their failures but will justify their inefficiency & inaction and stick to seat. Suresh Prabhu & Nitish Kumar are not a BJP/RSS men. BJP is showing themselves as a glorified Mutt. Modi & BJP have mastered the art of campaigning failures as successes and bombard in high pitch ad-campaigns and make gullible people believe it. But what they don't know is that honesty is the best policy and truth eventually trumps. An ardent admirer of Modi is so much disappointed and remarked that - "Modi is just wearing a development mask but supports medieval thoughts and BJP is losing credibility very fast. This might be the beginning of the end of BJP. This arrogance is just unacceptable. May God show someone fresh and good to lead India." Dera Sacha Sauda must be liquidated all its properties auctioned off, victims fully compensated and all damages paid off.