Tuesday, March 20, 2007

ACCOUNTABILITY OF INDIAN JUDICIARY NEEDED

ACCOUNTABILITY OF INDIAN JUDICIARY NEEDED In early 2006 , While attending a programme the honourable chief justice of india has remarked the fact that , you need a god father to get appointed into highest judicial echelons. Why do these political godfathers recommend their own candidates to president of india , for selection of judges to high courts & supreme court of india. Simply because the favoured ones – the judges will give favourable judgements when the cases of these godfather's & their cronies comes before them – the prodigal sons. As in other wings of government , corruption has spread it's tentacles far & wide in the judiciary also. Remember " roost resort"scandal" – wherein the newly selected women judges were returning favours immorally to their selectors – high court judges of karnataka. We have seen various media reports about crimes of judges like- attempt to rape, murder , practice of untouchability , misusing medical re-imbursement scheme , receiving kickbacks in the form of royalty for a book , lifting furniture from govt quarters , dishonouring national flag , false affidavit of age , underworld link , etc. however what disciplinary actions were taken such erring judges , no news at all. Even HRW persistently requested the CJI about the same, no reply till date. Our constitution has given independence to judges , to freely make their own inference , interpretation of law , so as to give an impartial , just judgement. Our constitutional frame workers thought that our judges will be wise enough to perform within the realm of established jurisprudence & logical reasoning. As per law, the public don't have a right to question the action , jurisprudence of a judge with respect to any judgement. The public can only appeal. This independence of decision making given to judges coupled with legal immunity given to them , is being misused by some corrupt judges. These judges are giving out biased judicial orders without the backing of any logical reasoning or established jurisprudence. If a commonman questions these corrupt judges about their actions, it is termed as " contempt of court" , the commonman is punished & the voice seeking the truth is silenced forever. The corruption among judiciary is more wide spread in lower judiciary & quasi-judicial bodies like land appellate authorities, licensing authorities, etc. a criminal in the garb of a judge is more lethal than 1000 hard core criminals put together. Hereby, HRW urges, the honourable chief justice of India to give me information about the following : 1.how many judges right from munsiff level to apex court are facing criminal charges & disciplinary proceedings? 2.How many quasi-judicial officers like taluk magistrates , members of appellate boards, licensing authorities , etc, are facing criminal charges & disciplinary proceedings? 3.what action the apex court has taken?has the apex court subjected all cases handled by tainted judges, for review? 4.how the apex court is monitoring the wealth details of judges?are you cross-checking their statements & affidavits? 5. in bangalore yelahanka judicial lay-out how the residential sites worth lakhs of rupees were allotted to high ranking judges just for few thousands by the karnataka govt judicial dept employees housing co-operative society? The judges are not govt of karnataka employees & govt of karnataka is a party in nearly 70% of the cases before the courts. 6.giving out blanket immunity to all judges for all actions irrespective of merit of their actions , is it not against founding spirit of our constitution? 7.are judges more equal than the citizens of india? 8.why don't the courts punish the guilty judges for their crimes instead of just asking them to resign from service or dismissal? Are judges above law? 9.why there is no transparency in nomination of advocates to highest judicial positions & nomination of retired judges to various commissions? 10.why don't the judges are subjected to narco-analysis & other scientific tests , when accussed of favouritism or corruption? 11.why you have not registered previous appeals of HRW , as PIL & not responded till date? 12. the judiciary – honourable supreme court of India itself is violating my constitutionally guaranteed FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS as well as my HUMAN RIGHTS , also it is obstructing me from performing my constitutionally stated FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES AS A CITIZEN OF INDIA. Why ? We at the HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, have highest respect for the judiciary. If at all there is a semblance of law & justice in india , it is due to the few honest judges in the judiciary who are working tirelessly without seeking anything in return. It is an appeal for the honest few judges to bring to book their corrupt colleagues. These corrupt judges are a greater threat to india's unity & integrity, than terrorists. Hereby, HRW offers it's services ( subject to conditions) to the honourable chief justice of india in apprehending criminals in the judiciary, quasi-judicial bodies.

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