OCT 2013, JUSTICE VIRENDER BHAT

While hearing a rape case at a Delhi court, he acquitted the accused and said, “They (girls) voluntarily elope with their lovers to explore the greener pastures of bodily pleasure and on return to their homes, they conveniently fabricate the story of kidnap and rape in order to escape harsh treatment by parents.” In an article published by the American Society of International Law, author Nienke Grossman compiled figures relating to how women are represented in some of the world’s top international courts. According to it, in mid-2015 only three out of 15 judges in the International Court of Justice (20 per cent) were women. In the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organisation, one out of seven judges in mid-2015 was a woman. The figure was even more dismal in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Only one of 21 judges was a woman. Under the collegium system, created by a judicial order in 1993, the Chief Justice, along with other senior judges of the Supreme Court (SC), appoint judges to the top court as well as high courts. It is also responsible for transferring high court judges. Under the collegium system, only the top five SC judges clear appointments. (At the district judiciary level lawyers have to sit for a competitive examination to become a judge. After one has become a judge at the district, he or she can become a judge at a higher level court only by appointment). In October 2015 the Supreme Court quashed an effort by the government to change the system of appointing judges. A five-judge bench headed by Justice JS Kehar declared the 99th Constitutional Amendment and the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act unconstitutional.

The six-member NJAC was to be headed by the CJI and comprised two senior-most Supreme Court judges, the Union law minister and two eminent persons to be selected by a panel of the PM,CJI and leader of the Opposition.