𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐉𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟. 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐦 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐣𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐡

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India, Justice Sanjiv Khanna is superanuating in May 2025. Prior to that, it is requested that he passes a Judicial Order that those judges who are guilty of corruption in the judiciary, be tried like an ordinary accused. The motto of the Supreme Court of India describes the victory of justice as victory of Dharma. The logo of the Supreme Court has the Ashoka Chakra, below which is written a Sanskrit shloka – ‘Yato Dharmastato Jayah’. This shloka in Sanskrit means “Where there is Dharma, there is victory”. First of all, I can say that my heart is saddened while writing this article today. Regarding corruption and the Indian judicial system, there is not only financial corruption, but there is also a disgraceful degradation of moral values. Ther are innumerable cases of sexual harassment by judges at work places, including Gogoi. Judges communicate rudely in an unrestrained language with litigants. It’s almost like persecution of the terrorised litigants. I quote, Late Justice Sunanda Bhandare, of Delhi High Court, who would often say, “a judge should be tolerant and compassionate with the suffering litigants”! Are the judges of the day compassionate? I feel they have attitude and are a symbol of arrogance. Then these judges use their power of ‘judicial contempt of court’ to upset the public. The violation of fundamental rights has really destroyed the significance of the traditional system of Indian judiciary. I always thought that politicians can be corrupt, bureaucrats can be corrupt, but I had faith in the judiciary. I myself am a writer and a lawyer, who worked for the protection of human rights and helped many needy people pro-bono. I worked to help trade unions and the economically marginalized classes to seek justice. My struggle is against a rotten system that does not give justice to a common man. Instead, a police official’s powers are misused and many homes are ruined due to litigation. Justice Tirath Singh Thakur, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India, expressed his heart’s sentiments at the conference of the State High Court’s judges by saying, “We are not able to give justice to the people”. Justice Thakur broke down in tears in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Justice Minister. He expressed grief over the vacant posts in the judiciary. Judges are still not being appointed by the government. The system itself is 60% flawed, with political masters playing a role. Only those lawyers are appointed whose ideology is in sync with the ruling party of the day. Similar appointments are happening in the Indian High Courts and Supreme Court, directly. Why does a common man hate the Indian justice system so much? Journalist Chandan Mitra wrote in The Hindustan Times, “The justice system is so murky. For denying justice to the common man, judges need psychiatric treatment”. Of course, I did not agree with this abhorrent, published statement of Chandan. Such malicious language, used for the judges, attracted ‘contempt of court’ issued to The Hindustan Times Grou The Supreme Court of India ordered that all the directors of The Hindustan Times, including their Chairperson Mrs. Shobhana Bhartia ‘to appear before the Supreme Court’. Senior Advocate Fali Nariman tendered an unconditional apology and the same apology was prominently published on the first page, as headline in the Hindustan Times. The apology was accepted by the full bench of the Supreme Court. Justice Dr. A. S. Anand and Justice Kuldeep Singh were particularly disappointed. The apology was accepted, but strict structures were passed against the HT Media Group and Chandan Mitra in particular. Chandan Mitra was removed as the editor of The Hindustan Times. He then went into the lap of Arun Jaitley and was made editor of ‘The Pioneer’. A retired judge has been accused of bribing and conspiring with Supreme Court judges. 10 August 2023 – ED (Enforcement Directorate) arrested Haryana’s special CBI judge, Sudhir Parmar, who was suspended, for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹5 crore, in lieu of a favourable decision to grant bail to the director of IREO Group. Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Deepak Misra has been accused of insisting on having, judges of his choice to hear the cases of conspiring to bribe his colleagues. Journalist Michael Safi’s report is highly recommended that was published on 14 November 2017. The events in this case have led to extraordinary allegations of misconduct against India’s senior most judge in recent history. The Supreme Court of India, considered as one of the country’s most prestigious institutions, has come under sharp criticism and people’s wrath. Retired judge I. M. Quddusi was accused of conspiring to bribe Supreme Court judges in a case heard by Justice Dipak Misra himself. It is not known which judges were allegedly offered bribes. Quddusi was arrested in September for his involvement in an alleged judicial bribery ring. Well! Prashant Bhushan tweeted that the Chief Justice is guilty of very serious misconduct. “They have violated the basic principle of natural justice, that you cannot be a judge in your own case,” he said. Shailashree Shankar, a scholar and a fellow at the Delhi-based Centre for Police Research, who has written a book on the Supreme Court, said there have always been personal differences amongst the judges in the 29-member bench. Supreme Court advocate P. V. Dinesh said the row was worrisome. Recently, the arrest of former Delhi High Court judge Shamit Mukherjee by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the first such arrest in legal history, has triggered a debate on judicial ethics. The Supreme Court Bar Association passed a resolution demanding his removal and requested that the Chief Justice not assign him any further legal work. The Bharatiya Janata Party and Left parties introduced a resolution in the Indian Parliament demanding his removal. “This has shaken public confidence in the Indian judicial system, in which the Indians have reposed great trust. In the case of Justice Ramaswami, who had Congress leanings, Justice Ramaswami (who died recently), was found guilty on 11 of the 14 charges. His son had joined the Congress party, The impeachment motion was put up for debate and voting in the Lok Sabha on 10 May 1993. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal was his defence counsel. Of the 401 members present in the Lok Sabha that day, 196 voted in favour of removal, none against it and 205 abstentions by the ruling Congress and its allies. The motion requires a two-thirds majority of the members present during the voting and an absolute majority of the total membership of the House, so it could not be passed. Justice Shamit Mukherjee was detained for a week by the CBI under the Prevention of Corruption Act after raids were conducted at three of his residences in Delhi and ‘incriminating documents’ and keys of two lockers were recovered. The CBI also searched the residence and office of High Court advocate, Anshu Agarwal. Then there is the well known ‘cash at home scandal’ of Judge Nirmal Yadav. The murder of lawyer Sippy Sidhu took place on September 20, 2015, in a park in Sector 27. His family has accused Kalyani Singh, daughter of a retired Himachal Pradesh High Court Acting Chief ‘Justice Sabina’, of murdering him because he had rejected her marriage proposal. The recent, alleged recovery of cash from the residence of Justice Yashwant Verma, a Delhi High Court judge, has revived investigations into his past financial dealings, particularly his links with the 2018 Simbhavali Sugar Mill fraud case. Munish Chandra Pandey’s report is very important. March 21, 2025, Editor Nakul Ahuja writes that the recovery of a large amount of cash from Justice Yashwant Verma’s residence has brought back the 2018 Simbhavali Sugar Mill fraud case. Verma was accused in the Rs 97 crore fraud case. The incident has triggered fresh probe into his past financial dealings. The case dates back to February 2018, when the CBI began investigating Simbhavali Sugars following a complaint by Oriental Bank of Commerce. Ofcourse a three members inquiry committee’s report is on media website of the Supreme Court of India. Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna constituted a three-member committee, which has Punjab and Haryana Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh Chief Justice G. S. Sandhawalia, and Karnataka High Court Judge, Justice Anu Sivaraman. That a huge amount of cash was found at the official residence of senior Delhi High Court Judge, Justice Yashwant Varma, during a blaze a few days ago. Media is hyper active 24×7 on Varma’s scandalous news. Oh my Constitution, where should the common citizen of India go? The time is ripe for the Indian judicial system to introspect and find face savers to restore the trust in people’s minds. We the people of India 🇮🇳 …