The former chief justice of India Y.V Chandrachud was as the chief guest at the Jaipur Literature festival and was in conversation with the eminent journalist Vir Sanghvi answering several questions posed by him pertaining to the judgements and experience while he was the chief justice of India.
While answering on several important judgements or judicial decisions accorded in Supreme Court during his tenure as CJI Y. V Chandrachud said that though he didn’t mean any disrespect to judiciary he differed on several decisions which did not gave justice to the justice seekers.
Talking on the controversial Umar Khalid case the former chief justice of India Y.V.Chabdrachud catagorically said that people are in jail since the last five years but they couldn’t get bail adding that he is not criticizing his court but the courts can apply conditions on the bail applications so that they are not misused.
Though this is also necessary that the undertrial gets a speedy and timely or time bound right for hearing.
If urgent hearing is not possible in the current circumstances, bail should be the rule, not the exception said the former CJI.
Replying to a question of senior journalist Vir Sanghvi former CJI Chandrachud said that during his tenure of twenty four months as CJI he cleared 21 thousand bail applications.
He said that there are many such cases which people do not pay attention to, but still criticize the Supreme Court as to why bail was not granted in a particular case. Giving two important examples of his positive intervention in the case of Congress leader Pawan Khera and Tiesta Sitalwad, the former CJI first mentioned the case of the former saying that Congress leader and spokesman Pawan Khera was about to be arrested while boarding a flight at Guwahati and the plane was intercepted by paramilitary forces.
His counsel filed an appeal in the apex court arguing that his client was arrested just because he had uttered something in his speech etc.
The court acknowledged that this may be uncivil, but not everything is a crime under the law. Therefore, the Supreme Court granted him protection from arrest.
While narrating the second instance of a renowned NGO activist Tiesta Sitalwad who was not given bail by the Gujarat High Court despite her being in jail for long, and was given the time to surrender by 12 PM in the night the former CJI said then the matter was brought in Supreme Court for hearing when he was busy in a musical event. Despite my preoccupation in a personal engagement I ordered for setting up the court bench at 9 PM and heard her appeal against the high Court granting her bail considering it the constitutional right of the appellant to seek bail said the former chief justice of India D.U. Chandrachud.
