West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday spoke about the importance of an impartial judiciary, free of political bias, during a conference on contemporary judicial developments in Kolkata.
“It is not my intention to humiliate anyone, but my kind submission is that please see that there is no political bias in the judiciary. The judiciary must be absolutely pure, honest and sacred,” she said at the conference attended by top judges of the Supreme Court and high courts.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, who attended the conference, echoed her sentiments, urging judges to remain impartial and refrain from letting personal beliefs influence their rulings.
Banerjee described the judiciary as an “important temple”, which delivers justice to people.
“The judiciary is an important temple for us. It is just like ‘mandir (temple), masjid (mosque), gurudwara and girjaghar (church)’. It is our supreme authority to deliver justice to the people. I believe this judiciary is of the people, for the people, by the people,” she said.
However, Chief Justice Chandrachud said the role of the judges is to serve the people and they shouldn’t be viewed as deities.
“I am a little reticent when I am told that this is the temple of justice. There is a grave perception that we are perceived as deities in the temple. I am recasting the role of judges as the servers of the people. By doing that, you bring in the notion of compassion, empathy of judging others but not being judgmental about others,” he added.
The Trinamool chief said that people have faith in judges, expecting them to deliver justice.
“If the judiciary cannot help common people, where will they get justice? When they face any problem or anything atrocious, they only hope with greater interest that the judiciary can solve their problems. It is the last frontier for getting justice and upholding constitutional rights,” she said.
“The judiciary is a big pillar and serves as the foundation of our country to save democracy, Constitution and people’s interests,” she added.
CJI Chandrachud cautioned judges that their judgments should be based on constitutional morality and not a judge’s concept of morality.
“Increasingly, we see judges writing on their ideologies. For example, a judge stating that he won’t give protection to a couple who are staying together, as they are in a consensual relationship outside marriage. The law protects relationships which are in the nature of marriage, yet we find judges writing that they cannot give protection,” he said.
“Even if there is a risk of honour killing of the couple, is this the true nature of a judge? Or are they giving effect to their own personal ideas on what is moral and what is immoral, rather than upholding constitutional morality?” he added.
The Chief Justice was referring to cases where judges denied protection to couples in interfaith marriages.
“Is the judge giving their personal view on how society has to live? We are servants of the Constitution, not masters,” he said, adding that personal and societal prejudices should not cloud decisions.
