Political, not judicial solution needed: CJI

Chief Justice of India T S Thakur remarked in the course of a hearing on Monday that Kashmir requires a political and not a judicial solution. While hearing a petition seeking the Supreme Court's intervention in Kashmir, Thakur said: "This issue has various dimensions and should be dealt with politically as everything cannot be managed within the judicial parameters."

The apex court also asked the Solicitor General to facilitate activist lawyer and Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party leader Bhim Singh so that he can meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue. The court was a hearing his petition for imposition of Governor's rule in the state.

The bench also asked Bhim Singh to join the delegation of the Opposition leaders from the state that was meeting the PM on Monday. When the senior lawyer representing Singh said the "RSS-dictated" government would not invite him, the CJI snubbed him: "Don't make a political statement here. You tell us whether you want to go and meet the political leadership or not."

The Bench also asked the Solicitor General to file his response on the status report of the Centre on the prevailing ground situation in the Valley. Bhim Singh's petition had said that due to the use of pellet guns by the security forces, people

were becoming blind and there was a shortage of medicines and medical facilities for ordinary citizens. The plea had said that Governor's rule under section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir should be imposed; he has further sought a direction to the Governor to dissolve the Assembly, claiming it "has failed to discharge its duties and functions". At the outset, the Centre said the Jammu and Kashmir High Court was already seized of the matter and hence the plea, pending in the apex court, be disposed of. The Bench said the statements made by Bhim Singh may not be "relevant judicially" but they may be "relevant politically."