Wear a Burqa and Step out, See What People Think of You: Bar to SC

The kind of lawyers who are being appointed as judges is a disgrace: senior advocate Dushyant Dave.

(Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons)

The apex court’s Bar strongly backed the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) and sharply attacked the collegium system which produced judges who give relief to film stars and politicians while the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the 2002 Gujarat riots have not got justice.

Referring to cases related to these two riots, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President and senior advocate Dushyant Dave told a five-judge bench headed by Justice J S Khehar that common man and the victims of violations of human rights have not been given justice.

Why film stars and politicians get instant relief from courts and the common man suffers for years. It is because of bad judges. Wear a burqa and walk on court’s corridor to have a first-hand account of the status of the judicial system. It’s a shame on us that we have not delivered justice to cases related to violations of human values and human rights.
– Dushyant Dave

At one stage during arguments, he said persons like Maya Kodnani, a former Gujarat minister convicted in a riots case, are getting relief on the one hand and on the other, activist Teesta Setalvad had to run from pillar to post to get anticipatory bail, he said.

The Bar leader gave several recent instances without naming the persons where a convicted politician and two Bollywood stars got relief from the Supreme Court and two different High Courts respectively.