Former judges, jurists back Justice Reddy, warn Shah’s remarks risk ‘chilling effect’ on judiciary

Seven former Supreme Court judges, 11 High Court judges and legal scholars, including Justices Madan Lokur and J Chelameswar, cautioned that the Home Minister’s remarks could undermine judicial independence during the heated Vice Presidential campaign.

New Delhi: Justice B Sudershan Reddy, the opposition Vice Presidential candidate, 18 former Supreme Court and High Court judges along with two prominent legal experts criticised Home Minister Amit Shah for “misrepresenting” the Salwa Judum judgement and warned that such “prejudicial action can have a chilling effect” on the independence of sitting judges.

In a joint statement, they said the campaign for the office of the Vice President should be conducted civilly and with dignity, adding that criticism of either candidate’s so-called ideology must be avoided and name calling should be refrained from.

The statement carried the signatures of seven former Supreme Court judges, three former High Court judges, eight additional High Court judges and two legal experts of national repute. Among them were Justices AK Patnaik, Gopal Gowda, Kurien Joseph, Madan B Lokur, J Chelameswar, S Muralidhar, K Chandru, Prof Mohan Gopal and Sanjay Hegde.

Their response followed Shah’s remarks in Kochi last Friday: “If the Salwa Judum judgement had not been given, naxal terrorism would have ended by 2020. He is the person who was inspired by the ideology that gave the Salwa Judum judgment.”

The signatories said Shah’s statement “publicly misinterpreting” the judgement was “unfortunate,” stressing that the ruling “nowhere supports, either expressly or by compelling implication, naxalism or its ideology.”

“While the campaign for the Vice President’s office may involve ideological contest, it can and should be carried out in a civil and dignified manner. Targeting the supposed ideology of either candidate must be avoided,” they added.

They cautioned that a prejudicial misinterpretation of a Supreme Court ruling by a senior political functionary is likely to have a chilling impact on judges and risks undermining the judiciary’s independence.

The jurists further advised that refraining from personal attacks would demonstrate respect for the office of the Vice President of India.

Speaking separately to DH in an interview on Saturday, Justice Reddy said: “Without defending the judgement, I would make one statement: it is the State alone that can use power. In other words, you cannot outsource your power. The Supreme Court never said that you don’t fight the naxals; what it said was that you cannot create a group and arm them. The Home Minister may not have gone through the judgement. I do not want to join any issue with him or a debate unless he really wants to have a debate about it.”