SC judges speak out over ‘gossip, slander’

Justice Ramana, next in line to become CJI, says judges are soft targets of criticism, Justice Bobde concurs

NEW DELHI: Judges have become targets for criticism, especially on social media, and their freedom to defend themselves is limited, the two senior most judges in the Supreme Court said at an event on Saturday — comments that become significant in light of criticism of recent orders of the apex court, and its own dealing of such criticism.

Judges have become soft targets on social media and are subject to relentless criticism and juicy gossip, justice NV Ramana said on Saturday at an event, adding that they restrain themselves from speaking in their own defence.

Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, speaking at the same event, concurred with justice Ramana’s views, saying “freedom of speech of judges is curtailed by the same laws and machinery that uphold the freedom for others who use it to criticise the judiciary and judges”. The chief justice’s reference is to the convention that judges do not speak of their judgments, or defend themselves from criticism of the same.

Justice Ramana, next in line to become the CJI, said judges have to be very circumspect when it comes to their social life as they have no platform to respond to criticism and can speak only through their judgments and judicial work.

“Judges are restrained from speaking out in their own defence. Today, judges have become soft target of criticism and especially with the advent of social media , they have become subject to juicy gossip. There seems to be a misunderstanding that judges lead a life of luxury in their ivory towers. That is not true. Judges have to balance their social lives in order to be independent,” he said in his speech at the launch of a book authored by recently retired SC judge, justice R Banumathi.

The remarks come in the backdrop of a case involving activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan. On August 31, the SC imposed a “nominal fine” of ₹1 on Bhushan after he was convicted for criminal contempt for two tweets that it deemed were against the judiciary, saying he has attempted to “denigrate the reputation of the institution of administration of justice”.

Justice Banumathi’s book titled ‘Judiciary, Judges and the Administration of Justice’ was released by CJI Bobde, who handed over the first copy to justice Ramana. Justice Ramana said that from his own experience, he can say that the life of a judge is not better than that of others.

Judges do not speak about cases before them or respond to any criticism as a matter of propriety and convention. Besides, “Restatement of values of Judicial Life”, which was a charter adopted by a full court of the Supreme Court in 1997, broadly governs conduct of Supreme Court and high court judges. It says that judges should not enter into public debate or express their views in public on political matters or on matters that are pending or are likely to arise for judicial determination.