Judges do not have to face elections, but people are assessing them through social media: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Monday that even though judges do not have to face elections, people are watching them and commenting on their actions on social media..While speaking at an event organised by the Delhi Bar Association, he said,“Once a judge becomes a judge, they do not have to face elections. They are not subject to public scrutiny. They cannot even be changed. But people are watching you (judges). People are looking at your judgments, your working, your approach to justice. People are watching, people are assessing and people are forming opinions. Nothing can be hidden in the age of social media.” .He said that the politicians have always faced this public scrutiny and criticism, but now even the judges are subject to it. Thus, judges are now careful while delivering judgments that may elicit a strong reaction from the society, he added.“Judges have also become careful today. They are careful when they are giving judgments that will have a strong reaction from the society. Even judges are humans. They know it will affect them as well. It affects them directly.”.The Law Minister also revealed that Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud requested him to develop some mechanism to control attacks on judges on social media and take action against those maligning and abusing them.“He (CJI) requested the government to take some stern action against those who insult or say nasty things about the judges on social media or any other platform. He said that there should be a mechanism to control this. We are contemplating the request.".The Minister also spoke on the ongoing tussle between the Modi government and the judiciary and said that there is is no 'Mahabharat' going on between the two sides. “Some people are projecting this as if some Mahabharat is going on. This is not true. We constantly keep meeting each other. CJI and I are in constant touch and we have discussions on all small and big issues,” the minister said. He added, “The differences are always there. I come from political party which has always said ‘Matbhed ho sakte hai, man bhed nahi hona chahiye’".In his speech, Rijiju also referred to recent reports that the government wants its representative in the Collegium to have a say in the process of appointing judges.He said that the reports were baseless, and that in his January 6 letter to CJI Chandrachud, he never said that there should be a government representative within the Collegium system.“Somehow this letter came out and headlines were made that the government wants its representative in the Collegium. Collegium is the CJI and four puisne judges. How can I just drop someone in it? Debates were done on this. One former judge from the Supreme Court even gave his interview on this. One big lawyer also commented.”He added that the letter in question was in consonance with the Supreme Court's directions in its 2015 ruling in the NJAC case.“If I hadn’t written that letter, people would have said that the Minister is not following the Supreme Court’s orders.”

Judges do not have to face elections, but people are assessing them through social media: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju

Prashant Jha

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