21 retd judges: Protect judiciary from ‘unwarranted pressures’

NT Bureau, Agencies

New Delhi: A group of 21 retired judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts on Sunday wrote a letter to Chief Justice DY Chandrachud emphasising the need to protect India’s judiciary from “unwarranted pressures”.

The former justices alleged that the judiciary is facing “escalating attempts by certain factions” to undermine it “through calculated pressure, misinformation and public disparagement”.

These factions are allegedly motivated by narrow political interests and personal gains and hope to erode public confidence in the courts, said the letter.

The group, including former judges Deepak Verma, Krishna Murari, Dinesh Maheshwari and MR Shah, did not cite any specific instance.

This comes amid allegations of judicial coercion by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Opposition parties against each other.

The group also alleged that there have been “clear attempts to sway judicial processes by casting aspersions on the integrity of courts and judges”.

“Such actions not only disrespect the sanctity of our judiciary but also pose a direct challenge to the principles of fairness and impartiality,” the letter said.

The strategy and “insidious methods” employed by those behind these actions range from propagating unproven theories to malign the judiciary, to overt and covert attempts to directly influence judicial outcomes, the former judges claimed.

Such actions are “particularly pronounced in the cases and causes of social, economic and political significance,” the letter said.