New Delhi: Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on Saturday, November 19, stressed the need to learn to trust the district judiciary, saying it would truly answer the needs of common citizens who seek access to justice.
According to LiveLaw, CJI Chandrachud said, “The way we look at the district judiciary affects deeply our own personal liberty as citizens. If district judges do not have the confidence in their own abilities, in their own respect in the hierarchical system, how would we expect a district judge to grant bail in an important case.”
He was speaking at a function organised by the Bar Council of India to felicitate him on being appointed as the CJI.
He said the higher judiciary is getting “flooded” with bail matters because of the reluctance at the grassroots level to grant bail.
“And why judges at the grassroots are reluctant to grant bail, not because they don’t have the ability, not because the judges at the grassroots don’t understand the crime,” he said, adding there is a “sense of fear” among the judges at the grassroots that if he grants bail “will somebody target me tomorrow on the ground that I granted bail in this heinous case”.
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“This sense of fear nobody talks about, but which we must confront because unless we do that we are going to render our district courts toothless and our higher courts dysfunctional,” he said.
Why should one distrust any person who grants relief to a citizen, he asked.
He said much has to be done for improving the service conditions of the district judiciary. “But above all, we have to bring to our district judiciary a sense of dignity, a sense of self-worth, a sense of confidence in their own respectability, which is why I always say our district judiciary is not a subordinate judiciary,” he said.
He said the apex court may lay down “big ticket judgments” on important issues, but the district judiciary defines the peace, the happiness, tranquillity and faith of the common citizens.
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The CJI’s comments have come against the backdrop of the Supreme Court emphasising that bail remains the rule and jail is the exception.
Despite this, several political prisoners – including activists and journalists – have been repeatedly denied bail.
Umar Khalid, who has been in jail since September 14, 2020, over what the Delhi police have claimed is his connection with the ‘larger conspiracy’ behind the northeast Delhi riots, has been denied bail several times.
After spending 23 months in jail, Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan, who was arrested in October 2020 while on this way to cover the Hathras gangrape in Uttar Pradesh, was granted bail in a UAPA case in September. However, he remains in jail because he has been refused bail in a PMLA case.
Sharjeel Imam was granted bail in September in a sedition case in which he was accused of instigating violence at Jamia Millia Islamia University in 2019. However, he is still under judicial custody as the Delhi Police also considers him an accused in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case.
He was arrested on January 28, 2020.
In the Elgar Parishad case, 84-year-old tribal rights activists Stan Swamy was repeatedly denied bail despite raising serious concerns over his health. He passed away in July last year after he had contracted COVID-19 in prison.
They all were arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
(With inputs from PTI)
