Government should not interfere in judiciary
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A few days ago, Delhi Chief Judicial Magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia ordered the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against BJP leader and Delhi minister Kapil Mishra for inciting communal violence against protesters in Delhi against the Citizenship Amendment Act, which helped restore public confidence in the judiciary. Kapil Mishra himself had posted on social media his 'performance of taking the law into his own hands and threatening the police against the protesters. Despite the offence being serious enough to warrant an FIR, and the availability of numerous witness statements, and despite Deputy Commissioner of Police Ved Prakash Surya being present as a witness to everything, the police did not take legal action. At the same time, there were moves to suppress even the peaceful protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act through the law. Many people, including the poor, were arrested on false charges. Many were imprisoned for months on the basis of very weak 'evidence'. Bail was constantly denied. Even then, the law did not touch Kapil Mishra. The government transferred Justice Muralidhar after the case was filed in the Delhi court, and Justices Muralidhar and Talwant Singh ordered the police to register an FIR against Mishra and two other BJP leaders.
Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav, who had repeatedly criticized the police investigations into the riots that led to the killing of innocent people, was also transferred. Justice Atul Sreedharan, who had quashed the preventive detention of several innocent people and had been highly critical of the police, was transferred to the Madhya Pradesh High Court with just 26 days left to become the Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. These are not isolated incidents. The number of people who are found innocent and released after spending years in prison is an indictment of our administrative and judicial systems. Courts, without even meeting their own set criteria, deny bail to so many people who have been imprisoned for years in false cases and are awaiting trial. On the other hand, there are also many examples of people who have committed serious crimes being granted bail easily, and those who have been convicted being released with leniency before the end of their term.
Vice President, who alleged that the judiciary is acting as Parliament and making laws, has actually questioned the constitutional power of ‘Judicial Review’. However, the truth is that the executive (government and police) is effectively hijacking the judicial system in many parts of the country. The fact that it took five years, extraordinary judicial willpower to overcome the various tricks of the executive and the determination of the victims’ families to initiate a fair legal action against Kapil Mishra proves the same thing: that the role of the judiciary in the country is being handled by the executive; that the government is interfering in the judiciary. In many failed nations, the destruction has begun in the domain of justice and law. In our country, even the foundations of the constitution are facing an attack, albeit gradually. Democracy gains strength through the contentment of its citizens. Equality and justice are its foundation. Nazi Germany and fascist Italy have proven that where justice is absent, democracy will disappear; majority rule will prevail and eventually destroy all including those in power. The judiciary has a big role to play in this regard. May the courts be able to save the country by ensuring that the government implements law and justice.
