Over 300 lawyers ask Law Minister Kiren Rijiju to withdraw comments against retired judges
The lawyers were responding to the comments made by the Law Minister at a conclave telecast live by a media house.
NEW DELHI- More than 300 lawyers across the country, have condemned Law Minister Kiren Rijiju for saying that some retired judges have become part of an anti-India gang.
A joint statement signed by 62 Senior Advocates, 236 Advocates and 22 Advocates-on-Record (AoR) said that allegations of anti-nationalism against people who had dedicated their lives to upholding the rule of law and the naked threat of reprisals against them, marked a new low in the public discourse of this great nation, Indialegallive reported .
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Stating that the Minister was sending a message that no ‘voice of dissent will be spared,’ the lawyers said such hectoring and bullying were unbecoming of the high office held by the Minister. They further said that criticism of the government was neither against the nation, nor unpatriotic, nor anti-India.
The lawyers were responding to the comments made by the Law Minister at a conclave telecast live by a media house.
They said the unwarranted attack and unacceptable threats meted out against retired judges of the Supreme Court by the Union Minister would have the effect of inciting the public against the judges and judicial system and deserve to be strongly condemned.
Stating that the nation owed a debt of gratitude to retired Judges, they said it did not matter whether one might individually agree or disagree with the views of an individual judge, whether serving or retired.
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Recalling the March 18 speech delivered by the Minister, the lawyers pointed out that Rijiju obliquely referred to a ‘few retired judges,’ who till recently occupied high Constitutional offices, as being part of an ‘anti-India gang’.
By bracketing the critics, that too without naming them, as an anti-India gang, the Minister has transgressed all limits of constitutional propriety by claiming that the members of this ‘anti-India gang’ wanted to “make the judiciary play the role of the opposition. He pointedly threatened these retired Supreme Court judges that ‘no one will escape’ and ‘those who work against the country will pay the price,’ they recalled.
They said the Minister must remember that the government of the day was not the nation, and the nation was not the government.
They asked the Minister to realise that by virtue of his office, he was the bridge between the executive and judicial wings of the state, and that he must maintain a dignified public discourse.
Source- Indialegallive.com
