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‘Personal attacks on judges dangerous’, cautions SC judge

Supreme Court judge Justice JB Pardiwala on Sunday cautioned that personal attacks on judges for their judgements will lead to a “dangerous scenario” in the country while suggesting that trials by digital media calls for undue interference in process of justice dispensation. Justice JB Pardiwala, who was part of the Supreme Court bench that slammed […]

Supreme Court judge Justice JB Pardiwala on Sunday cautioned that personal attacks on judges for their judgements will lead to a “dangerous scenario” in the country while suggesting that trials by digital media calls for undue interference in process of justice dispensation. Justice JB Pardiwala, who was part of the Supreme Court bench that slammed Bharatiya Janata Party’ (BJP) Nupur Sharma for her comments on Prophet Muhammed, said that personal attacks on judges for their judgements lead to a “dangerous scenario” where the judges have to think about what media thinks instead of what the law really thinks. “Social and digital media is primarily resorted to expressing personalised opinions more against the judges, rather than a constructive critical appraisal of their judgments. This is what is harming the judicial institution and lowering its dignity,” says Justice Pardiwala.“This is what is harming the judicial institution and lowering its dignity.

The remedy of judgments does not lie with social media but with higher courts in the hierarchy. Judges never speak through their tongue, only through their judgments. In India, which cannot be defined as a completely mature or defined democracy, social media is employed frequently to politicize purely legal and constitutional issues,” he said.He added that digital and social media needs to be regulated throughout the country to preserve the rule of law under the constitution.

“In the modern-day context, trials by digital media are an undue interference in process of justice dispensation and cross that the Lakshman Rekha many-a-times,” he said.

Both Justice Pardiwala and Justice Surya Kant were targeted on social media by users on the oral comments made by them against Nupur Sharma during the hearing of her plea.Nupur Sharma had gone to the Supreme Court demanding that all the First Information Reports registered against her across the country should be clubbed together and transferred to Delhi. In her petition, she also said she and her family have been facing security threats and they need protection.On July 1, the Supreme Court on Friday came down heavily on suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and said that she and “her loose tongue” has set the entire country on fire and she single-handedly responsible for what is happening in the country.A bench of Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala slammed Sharma for her statement made during a TV news channel debate while referring to the Udaipur incident, where two men murdered a tailor, said her outburst is responsible for the unfortunate incident.

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