In recent times, several judgements delivered by Supreme Court and High Courts have surprised and shocked common men. While even the judges in USA have often come under severe criticism, the conditions in India appear to be no better. So far, common men have believed that the judges would be the ultimate conscience keeper of the country and this belief is certainly getting eroded fast now.
While several judgements have raised lot of suspicions in the past, it has now reached a climax when a High court judge acquitted a Chief Minister in a corruption case based on wrong arithmetic calculation and a rich actor was given bail in a few hours after being convicted .These are all very disturbing signals which the country can ignore only at it's peril. If the judges would not command faith amongst the people, the inevitable consequence will be that people would tend to believe that there would be no alternative other than resorting to violence to protect probity in public life. It is not clear yet whether the judges have realised the consequences of delivering judgements which cause blatant suspicions and misgivings amongst the people.
Of course, it is true that the judges function in stressful conditions with high expectations of standards from the people., who may not understand many intricacies of the law and the facts. When a judgement is delivered, it inevitably happen that one party would suffer and another party would triumph. There can also be genuine differences in interpretation of law while providing judgements. While these factors are understandable, when judgements cause serious doubts amongst the people as to whether the judges have been impartial, it would be a tragic situation. Unfortunately, this appears to be what is happening in India today.
One cannot miss the fact that even retired judges of the High courts and Supreme courts have levelled corruption charges against sitting judges in recent times. While some say that this could be a situation similar to pot calling kettle black, nevertheless such accusations are extremely disturbing. There have been senior judges against whom molestation charges and land grabbing charges have been levelled and common men believe that most of these charges appear to be true and genuine. In all such cases, the Supreme Court have not scrutinised the cases thoroughly but have allowed the judges to go scot free with judges rarely being punished .
On the other hand, several senior judges have no hesitation in accepting posts such as Governor etc., which make people wonder as to whether these judges have been rewarded by the government for any reason after their retirement. Why these judges place themselves in such suspicious circumstances by accepting such post retirement positions ?
It is now high time that the judges have to redeem their fair name amongst the people of India. Many believe that the Government of India's move to appoint judges by setting up judicial commission is appropriate , as in the past, several judges have been appointed due to political reasons at the behest of politicians. Further, it is now seen that the judges have no qualm about sharing platform in meetings with business men and politicians , some of whom face charges in the court.
Before the public suspicion become worse, the judges should immediately atleast evolve a code of conduct for themselves and develop a mechanism where the code of conduct could be scrutinised.
