Law Commission member accuses ex-judges of ‘political activism’ in backing VP candidate Reddy

Hitesh Jain criticised retired judges for “political activism” after they defended B Sudershan Reddy against Amit Shah, saying judicial independence is preserved in courts, not through public statements.

New Delhi: A member of the Law Commission on Friday slammed retired judges for "behaving like political activists" and questioned their defence of the opposition's vice president candidate B Sudershan Reddy, who had come under attack from Home Minister Amit Shah.

Remarks of advocate Hitesh Jain, a member of the 23rd Law Commission came days after 56 former judges slammed the statement of 18 former judges, who had defended Reddy against Home Minister Shah's criticism.

"What concerns me is the larger trend: more and more retired judges are openly behaving like political activists. From Justice Madan Lokur to Justice S. Muralidhar, Justice Sanjib Banerjee, and now Justice Abhay Oka, their interventions increasingly resemble partisan posturing rather than a principled stand on judicial independence," Jain wrote on X.

He said judicial independence is not preserved through press conferences, interviews, or partisan letters. It is lived every single day in our district courts and magistrate courts, where the fate of millions of ordinary citizens is decided.

"These very judges, who now claim to be custodians of democracy remained conspicuously silent on the real issues: the state of the lower judiciary, delays in appointments, and the conditions under which justice is delivered to common citizens," he said.

The 18 retired judges had termed as "unfortunate" Shah's attack on Reddy over his judgment disbanding Salwa Judum, an armed organisation of tribal youths who fought alongside police against Naxals in Chhattisgarh, as part of a two-judge Supreme Court bench in 2011.

Shah had accused Reddy of "supporting" Naxalism. He had claimed that Left Wing Extremism would have ended by 2020 in the absence of the Salwa Judum judgement.

"The statement of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, publicly misinterpreting the judgment of the Supreme Court in the Salwa Judum case, is unfortunate...," the statement signed by the 18 former judges had said.