SC judge hails Modi as ‘most loved PM’
FORMER CJI RM LODHA SAYS SUCH COMMENTS BY A SC JUDGE AT A PUBLIC EVENT SHOULD BE AVOIDED
NEW DELHI: Supreme Court judge MR Shah on Saturday described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the “most popular, loved, vibrant and visionary leader” at a virtual public function to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Gujarat high court.
“I am glad and feel proud and privileged to participate in this important function of release of commemorative stamp of Gujarat HC on completion of 60 years and that too by our most popular, loved, vibrant and visionary leader, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendrabhai Modi,” said justice Shah at the beginning of the function, which had the PM as its chief guest.
As the sitting SC judge was about to conclude his address, justice Shah, who hails from Gujarat, once again referred to Modi as the “most loved Prime Minister”. The virtual event also had Gujarat high court chief justice Vikram Nath, Union minister of law and justice Ravi Shankar Prasad, Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and solicitor general Tushar Mehta in attendance.
The remarks by justice Shah left some former judges of the Supreme Court divided on whether it was proper for a sitting judge of a constitutional court to express himself in such a manner at a public function.
Former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha said such comments by a Supreme Court judge at a public event should be avoided. “These things are absolutely avoidable. As a famous quote goes, restraint is the better part of valour,” he said. Justice Lodha added that he belonged to a different school of thought and practised restraint in his personal as well as judicial life, which was also bound by a code of conduct.
Another former SC judge, justice Gopala Gowda said that he was “astonished” to see a sitting apex court judge showering praise on the PM when the government was the biggest litigant in the SC and had the highest stakes in policy matters. “Releasing of a commemorative stamp by the PM is a most welcome thing. But for a sitting Supreme Court judge, who is a constitutional functionary, to compliment the PM with such adjectives is unwarranted and uncalled for. The tremendous confidence of people in the judiciary will be eroded if Supreme Court judges start praising executives in this fashion.”
However, justice BP Singh, another retired judge of the top court, did not find justice Shah’s remarks inappropriate. “He has not commented on any case in the Supreme Court. These could be his (justice Shah’s) personal views and he may genuinely feel like that for the Prime Minister. Why should it create any doubt? I don’t think it should become an issue,” said justice Singh.
BHOPAL/INDORE: Stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui continued to remain in jail on Saturday, a day after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in a case registered against him in Madhya Pradesh for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. Officials of the Indore Central Jail, where Faruqui has been lodged for at least a month, said the 32-year-old was not released as they had not received an order from the Prayagraj court, which also issued a production warrant against him for allegedly offending religious feelings through his jokes. The SC had also restrained UP police from arresting him.
“Faruqui was not released from Indore Central Jail as the jail administration didn’t receive any order from the Prayagraj trial court for staying the production warrant,” said LKS Bhadoriya, additional superintendent, Indore central Jail.
Faruqui’s advocate Anshuman Srivastava said, “The SC certified copy has not been uploaded yet so the jail authorities didn’t receive the order. We have approached the district court in Indore and also the trial court in Prayagraj.”