Even Courts Feel Need for Reforms in Judicial System

Adv. Sharfuddin Ahmad
National Vice President

The former Chief Justice of India, N V Ramana, recently said that the process of criminal justice has become a punishment in the country, pointing to the deeper problems that derail the judicial system in India. This observation has been a reminder for the urgent need for comprehensive reforms in the Indian legal and judicial system which is proving to be totally inadequate and equally inaccessible for the ordinary citizens of the country.

Another example of the judicial concern over the cynical ways in which the judicial system is being manipulated by vested interests for their own agendas is the recent observation by Justice M M Sundresh of the Supreme Court, voicing his concern at the growing misuse of criminal defamation procedures to seek remedy for alleged damage to someone’s reputation. The offence of damaging somebody’s reputation is essentially a matter of civil disputes, and they cannot under any circumstances be allowed to be treated as criminal offenses. However, the country has seen a plethora of criminal suits in the lower courts, the High Courts as well as in the Supreme Court, forcing the judge to express his unease in public.

But it is to be remembered that it was the same Supreme Court which had opened the doors for such wanton misuse of the judicial system for settling petty personal or political scores. The 2016 judgment in the Subramanyam Swamy vs. the State of India case, upheld the validity of criminal defamation on the grounds that someone’s right to an unsullied reputation is part of the right to life. Ever since, such criminal cases were being accepted in Indian courts, and most judges passed orders for summons without stopping to consider whether these allegations had any prima facie grounds to be treated as criminal offenses. The prime targets for such frivolous litigations were often senior politicians, independent newspapers and other media organizations, editors and reporters who took a bold stand on major social and political issues, social activists, public commentators and other eminent persons who refused to toe the lines being dictated by vested interests. Looking at many of these cases, one can safely conclude that it is the Indian rightwing and fascist forces who are behind many such litigations. They are intended to harass and silence their critics, with continuous criminal proceedings instituted in various parts of the country for the same alleged offence.

Such criminal cases are being weaponised as tools for rightwing propaganda. Often statements are taken out of context, twisted to suit their propaganda purposes and purported injury to religious, caste or community feelings, etc, and a massive vilification campaign is unleashed to defame and terrorize the targets of such attacks. Even innocent names like Janaki in a recent film was trumped up as insulting the Hindu feelings as this name happens to be the name of Lord Ram’s consort. Many senior political leaders like Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal and others have faced such criminal cases. Many social activists, writers, journalists, etc, from the Muslim community have also faced such cases.

Now the massive misuse of our judicial system with such ulterior motives is becoming a huge embarrassment for the Indian judiciary itself. It appears that the Supreme Court itself is waking up to the fact that its 2016 verdict was one of the triggers for such misuse of the system, causing greater damage than the problem it tried to remedy. Indeed, reputation is a matter of grave concern but the remedy suggested by the Supreme Court is proving to be more severe than the offense itself. So the earlier the problem is sorted out, the better.