Supreme Court Not Above Law: Justice Dhingra

Justice SN Dhingra, the retired judge of Delhi High Court, has slammed the Supreme Court’s observations on Nupur Sharma, terming it as ‘irresponsible’, ‘illegal’ and ‘unfair’. According to the former judge, SC has no right to make such remarks adding, ”From any point of view the Supreme Court has no right to make such remarks. He further said that the Supreme Court imposed a charge and gave verdict without listening Nupur Sharma.

“In my view this remark is very irresponsible in itself. The Supreme Court has no right to make any such remark that the entire career of the person who has come to seek justice may be ruined or all the courts are prejudiced against him/her,” he told a private news channel.

Justice Dhingra said, “I don’t understand how the Supreme Court can make such oral observations? If the Supreme Court had guts, it would have given those comments as a part of the written order. The Supreme Court has only written in the order that the petition is dismissed as withdrawn. Why? Why did the court not include its comments in the written order so that the Supreme Court could be held answerable to the questions like – how is it righteous of you to consider her guilty without any trial of the case, to become a prosecutor yourself, to charge the accused on your own, and declare her guilty only to deliver your judgment orally?”

“There was neither testimony, nor investigation, nor was she given any opportunity to present his explanation, he said. Commenting on the questions which are being raised on the Supreme Court’s observation, “Justice Dhingra said.

”The law says that if you want to convict a person, you must first frame the charge against him, then the prosecution will present his evidence, after which he will get an opportunity to give his statement on that evidence. He/she then gets a chance to present his/her witnesses. After that it is the duty of the court to take into account all the evidence and give its  verdict,’ he added.

Recently, a vacation bench of the apex court severely criticised former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and blamed her for the Islamic terrorist attack which took place in Udaipur in which an innocent Hindu tailor was beheaded. A petition has been filed before the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court amid growing public outrage against the remarks of judges against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.