Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan on Sunday warned that a “more loyal than the king syndrome” within parts of the judiciary has contributed to prolonged incarceration of accused persons.

He said such tendencies result in people remaining in jail for months and years, particularly in cases involving stringent laws.

“Many within the judiciary suffer from this more loyal than the king syndrome. As a result, people continue to languish in jails for months and months together,” Justice Bhuyan said.

Justice Bhuyan was speaking at a panel discussion on “Role of the Judiciary in Viksit Bharat” during the Supreme Court Bar Association’s first National Conference on “Reimagining Judicial Governance: Strengthening Institutions for Democratic Justice” held in Bengaluru.

During his address, Justice Bhuyan raised concerns about prolonged detention under laws such as the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

He said that while PMLA is an important tool to combat money laundering, excessive use of the law weakens its effectiveness.

“The PMLA is a potent weapon. But like any weapon, if it is overused, it will lose its potency,” he said.

Justice Bhuyan also pointed to low conviction rates under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), saying the data raises serious concerns.

He said thousands of arrests are made under UAPA every year but convictions remain very low.

“With conviction rates around five percent or even lower, the question is why should an accused be confined to jail for years together? This cannot be a model of Viksit Bharat,” he said.

He further flagged what he described as reckless registration of criminal cases, including over trivial issues such as protests and social media activity.

Justice Bhuyan said FIRs are sometimes registered even over posts or memes, forcing courts to spend time resolving matters that could have been avoided.

He noted that in several cases, the Supreme Court has had to constitute Special Investigation Teams (SITs) to handle such disputes, consuming valuable judicial time.

Justice Bhuyan also cautioned against linking the judiciary too closely with political slogans like Viksit Bharat, which was also the title of the panel discussion.

He said the idea of “Viksit Bharat” is a political goal and the judiciary must remain independent in its functioning.

“The political leadership has every right to set targets. But at the end of the day, this is a political statement. I have doubts whether the judiciary should join this bandwagon,” he said.

He stressed that a developed nation must allow space for debate and disagreement.

“When we speak of Viksit Bharat, there should be more space for debate and dissent. Dissent should not be criminalised,” Justice Bhuyan said.

Justice Bhuyan also spoke about deep social inequalities, particularly discrimination against Dalits.

He said development cannot be meaningful if such social practices continue.

“Bharat cannot countenance such social fault lines. Parents cannot insist that the children will not have food prepared by a Dalit woman. That cannot be the accepted model. We cannot have situations where Dalit men, Scheduled caste men are made to stand on the corridors and people urinating on them. This can't be the model of development. The respect of the individual must be protected.” he said.

He concluded by emphasising that public trust remains the judiciary’s greatest strength.

“The judiciary has neither the purse nor the sword. The only asset it has is the goodwill of the people,” Justice Bhuyan said.