Two judges of the Indian Supreme Court rebuked Nupur Sharma a few days back when she had filed a petition seeking to have all her cases filed against her in different parts of India brought under one court, Delhi. The Supreme Court however, didn’t agree to consider and blamed her for her troubles.
It accused her of using the media to gain publicity and rebuked her for playing politics with sensitive issues. Nupur Sharman was forced to withdraw her petition but the situation didn’t calm down and her supporters mounted the counter attack reflecting what the majority’s opinion was. The apex court had said that her "loose tongue" has "set the country on fire and she should apologize.” . They added her remarks had led to violence which had cost lives.
Although the Indian judiciary is considered beyond rebuke in most cases, that situation has changed now with many people attacking the judges for rebuking Nupur. The latest was a petition signed by ex-judges , ex -civil servants and members of the armed forces. Social media is of course baying for their blood.
The Open letter
In the open letter, signatories alleged that the apex court judges, Justice Surya Kant and Justice JB Perdiwala have surpassed their legal remits and thus forced them to issue the open letter to remind the judges of their role and jurisdiction. It includes 15 ex-judges, 77 former bureaucrats and 25 retired officers of the armed forces. It was sent to the Chief Justice of India CV Ramana.
The letter criticized the Judges’ comments as “unfortunate and unprecedented comments” and “are not in sync with judicial ethos”. “Such outrageous transgressions are without parallel in the annals of judiciary.” The observations made by the judges had "no connect" with the issue raised in her petition. As she was "denied access to judiciary" — the letter states — it was "an outrage on the Preamble, spirit and essence of the Constitution of India".
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It goes on to state that, "One fails to understand why Nupur's case is treated at a different pedestal... Such an approach of the Supreme Court deserves no applause and impacts the very sanctity and honour of the highest court."
The 117 signatories include former Bombay High Court Chief Justice Kshitij Vyas, former Gujarat High Court judge SM Soni, former Rajasthan High Court judges RS Rathore and Prashant Agarwal, and former Delhi High Court judge SN Dhingra.
Former IAS officers RS Gopalan and S Krishna Kumar, former top police officers SP Vaid and PC Dogra, Lt General VK Chaturvedi (retired), and Air Marshal SP Singh (retired) are also among them.
The conflict core
Meanwhile, social media has been very active in criticizing the two judges. A comment made in the Times of India in response to the story captured an important aspect of the conflict. TOI reader Sanjiv Singh said that the issues raised by the Judges had nothing to do with the petition filed by Nupur Sharma. However, the comments made by the Judges have hurt the sentiment of the global community of Hindus. Basically, the Nupur Sharma affair has become a conflict between the Hindus of the world versus the rest of the world. It’s close to the center of the Hindu identity and is not about to die soon. What its end consequences will be remains to be seen.
Earlier, about criticism of their observations, Justice JB Pardiwala had reacted to social media attacks against him and Justice Surya Kant. "Personal attacks on judges for their judgments lead to a dangerous scenario," he had said. "Social and digital media is primarily resorted to expressing personalised opinions more against the judges, rather than a constructive critical appraisal of their judgments. This is what is harming the judicial institution and lowering its dignity," he'd further argued in his address at a function two days ago.
The battle will go on.