Only One Rupee?
Crucify the Devil
By- Pamarty Venkataramana
A civilised society is ne which respects laws made to maintain an orderliness in both societal and communal behaviour by the people comprising its population.
Every profession, in turn, has laid down its code of conduct as well as behavioural ethics.
Of particular significance is that of the vocation of Advocates (variously called as Lawyers, Attorneys, Pleaders, Vakils in different jurisdictions and across different times of modern history).
An ‘advocate’ is presumed to be an honourable member of the society and included among the elite by the general public. He or she is presumed to be a Learned person well versed with the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ of every action or act.
As an officer of the Courts, the Advocate is duty-bound to ensure the decorum of the Court as well the Judges who preside over judicial proceedings-at all times and throughout their career.
The haloed position of an Advocate who is anointed or appointed as a Judge is beyond question. After all, unless and until the society honours and warships these ‘children of Lady Law’, how else can delinquents and wrong doers in the world be brought to justice? How else would civilisational existence of mankind be determined?
By what yardstick can one measure the instances of violation of mandated discipline in a court room or towards the presiding judges?
What extreme travesty would it tantamount to be when the highest judge in order of hierarchy, viz; the office of the Chief Justice is denigrated by a shabby publicity monger and a known second generation street smart advocate who indulges without blushing, in a neo shady business akin to a factory called public interest litigation and his ‘blood father’ is caught on tape bragging about his said Advocate son’s ability to tap a certain State High Court’s Chief Justice for a few crores?
Be that as it may, the Constitution of our country does not snatch away personal rights of a Judge to either drive a car or ride a bicycle or motorcycle in his private residence.
Likewise, a public forum such as @twitter does not confer unbridled powers on any handle to launch a smear campaign upon the Chief Justice of the Honourable Supreme Court of India.
In the latest affront to the dignity of both the Bar and the Bench, a habitual offender against whom a ‘criminal contempt of Court’ case is pending ever since 2009 in the apex Court, tweeted an innuendo against the Chief. And, has blatantly sought to distance himself from the noose of a felony of ‘criminal contempt of Court’ with few colleagues and partisan media folks dubbing it as at best being only a ‘misdemeanour’.
A lot of invaluable Court resources and efforts were exhausted on this ‘trivial’ matter which eventually resulted in a ‘nominal damage’ of ONE RUPEE and fear of being debarred from practising for three years along with a prison term of three months, for a failure to pay the one rupee imposed.
This was a clear case of Criminal contempt of Court.
It is foolhardiness to dissect a tweet and assume it is a surgery requiring bifurcation of the good and the bad portions.
Mens real or ‘motive’ forms the core of all criminal offences and every which trial ranging from a petty offence to the most dastardly crime has courts trying the cases while basing all appreciation of evidence against mens rea of the perpetrators.
How then can a blatant assault on the holiness of Institution of Supreme Court of India be allowed to be viewed as with a Nelson’s Eye?
Who has befooled whom?
We, the peace-loving citizens abide by the Law and revere the holders of Office of Chief Justice of India. Be it the galaxy of Advocates, Staff, Clerks, Litigants, President of India or Prime Minister, all worship this constitutional Office of pride of our democracy.
How can then a habitual offender known to cavort with terrorists and those on the gallows awaiting death penalty for treason be let off with a meagre nominal fine of one rupee? The failure to pay this was the real punishment doled out.
However, noble judges and a vast majority of gullible public little understood that a scum can be as shamelessly unapologetic as not tendering an apology yet tossing a one rupee coin at the Temple of Justice – and, still crying – ‘wolf!’ and making noises about going for a review petition and all such rotten phrases to tickle the bellies of demented groupings who are out to reduce this nation to anarchism and breaking up into a thousand Pakistan China type fanatical pieces.
The course left open for the Supreme Court now that the accused who failed to tender an apology to the Court and escaped sentence by falling upon the wild card route of tossing just a rupee coin – is to expedite hearing on the long pending 2009 criminal contempt of Court case pending against him and a certain reporter turned political editor of a premier rag newspaper (he interviewed then Chief Justice now late J S Verma of Anna Hazare fame in the infamous Ashok Jain Hawala case, to grab the promotion):
Nail the contemptnor.
Let the faith in public psyche about unimpeachable supremacy and sanctity of the Supreme Court be reinforced. Punish wrong doers who defile institution of Judiciary.
If it, an ominous trend will emerge where even small town rowdy sheeters not sheltered by the black gown of an Advocate or fawned by a Bar full of frustrated beings can begin to behave as cantankerous and disregard decorum. In the guise of being disrespectful, goons can exhibit hooliganism in court halls.
This is the anarchy that a traitor sought to achieve.
It is not out of place to connect the dots of history.
Your essayist was invited (after my critic on ‘Idea of Justice’ by Amartyasen), to be a guest speaker at a national convention on -‘Judicial Accountability’ at Teenmurthi Bhawan on 19th November, 2009.
To my utter shock, the Baap beta duo, their NGO sponsor, AK Bardhan(MP of communist party), Arvind Kejriwal(then a hawai chappal wearing RTI activist), J S Verma were all inciting the attendees to oppose ‘rule of Law’ even as they bemoaned about the Contempt of Court proceedings initiated against the two guys.
As I questioned them as to whether they were trying to repair a faulty system of delayed justice or spitting anarchy as the solution to break our Constitutional democracy, many press persons befriended me and a visibly shaken Arun Jaitley (Leader of opposition) left the auditorium in a hurry mumbling about Parliament being in session!
The Aam Aadmi Party was a chick that came out of the egg Hazare who was launched by the motley group to dislodge Mahatma Gandhi and apparently destroy the Republic.
We, the People are for the Constitution. But, why is the Honourable Supreme Court hesitating to bury the quisling who has been proven to have committed a ‘criminal contempt of court’?
Who prevented the wise Judges presiding over the case in instance from debarring the delinquent?
Would this merciful One Rupee fine embolden the sly ones to repeatedly indulge in such a sacrilege?
It is a shame as well as a pity that desi bow bow television channels are busily engaged in becoming exorcists.
Otherwise, they would have risen up to the occasion and done their two bits to crucify the Devil incarnate of desi Bar!
Natural justice is the ultimate hope and leveller for all such cases of travesty of justice. In God we Trust!
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