Bengaluru: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on August 30 criticised the retired judges who had raised objections over Union Minister Amit Shah’s remarks against opposition vice presidential candidate B Sudershan Reddy over the 2011 Salwa Judum judgement.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Rijiju accused the retired judges of running a “signature campaign” against Home Minister Shah.
The Union Minister said, “Vice Presidential election procedure is taking place. A few days back, a few retired judges ran a signature campaign and made comments against the Home Minister. They have written against the Home Minister. This is not right…This is Vice Presidential election. Why do retired judges want to get into it? This makes it seem that when they were (sitting) judges, they must have had a different ideology. Otherwise, writing a letter and running a signature campaign against the Home Minister is not right…”
The retired judges came in support of Justice B Sudershan Reddy, after Union Home Minister Amit Shah slammed the Opposition of nominating alleged “left wing” sympathiser as their candidate.
The July 2011 judgment, which Justice Reddy co-authored with Justice SS Nijjar, disbanded Salwa Judum in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, for being illegal and unconstitutional.
Earlier on Friday, Hitesh Jain, a member of the 23rd Law Commission of India, criticised retired Judges of the Supreme Court, alleging that some of them were openly behaving like political activists. He also criticised former SC judge Justice Abhay S Oka for defending the Opposition’s Vice-Presidential candidate Justice Sudershan Reddy in a row over his verdict in the Salwa Judam case.
Sharing an X post, Hitesh Jain raised concerns over comments by Justices Abhay Oka, Madan B Lokur, S Muralidhar, and Sanjib Banerjee and alleged a “partisan” behaviour.
He wrote, “I recently read some interviews given by Justice Abhay Oka. I was not surprised to see that he was also a signatory to the statement issued by a group of former judges and self-proclaimed activists defending retired Justice Sudarshan Reddy.”
“I am not, at this stage, commenting on why they chose to address that letter. What concerns me is the larger trend: more and more retired judges are openly behaving like political activists. From Justice Madan Lokur to Justice S Muralidhar, Justice Sanjib Banerjee, and now Justice Abhay Oka, their interventions increasingly resemble partisan posturing rather than a principled stand on judicial independence,” he added.
Earlier, Senior advocate and former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi backed the stance of 56 retired judges who supported Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the controversy over his remarks on the Salwa Judum verdict.
Rohatgi said he found their position “more appropriate” than that of 18 retired judges who had opposed the Home Minister, stressing that once a judge enters politics, their past judgments can naturally be debated and criticised. (ANI)
