Live Streaming of Court Proceedings: A Laudable Step

     By Parmanand Pandey            

   My colleague Shripal Singh and I have been regularly campaigning for the live streaming of the court proceedings. I have written copiously on it in my blog’ Life and Law’ as well as on my website’ Judicial Panorama’. Fortunately, a good beginning of live streaming of three Constitution Benches has been made from today i.e., 27^th of September 2022. The decision to video-record the court proceedings was taken in November 2017 by the bench headed by the then CJI Dipak Misra. It was then directed by it that the proceedings of two courts in every district of the country would be video recorded. In the first week of 2018, again the bench consisting of the then CJI, Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud gave a verdict that the live telecasting of the court proceedings would begin from the court of the Chief Justice of India itself.

  There are many democratic countries where a video recording of the courts is allowed. In some countries like, the United States of America live telecast of some selected cases is also permitted. Thus, the Supreme Court of India is the first in the world to have allowed for the live streaming of the proceedings.

 Maintaining Time Schedule and containing Corruption

 The biggest advantage of it will be to help maintain the time schedule of courts. As far as the Supreme Court is concerned, all judges sit in the courtrooms exactly at 10:30 am, without being late even for one minute. However, in most of the High Courts, the condition is not so good. The judges often come late to court. Sometimes they sit late from half an hour to one hour and they retire to their chambers as per their sweet wills. The condition of the lower courts across the country is a total mess. The Judges come and go as and when they desire. It is an open secret that the corruption in the lower judiciary is stinking to high heaven. A reader/peshkar takes money for the filing of the documents, giving of the dates or providing information about the next date of hearings or changing the dates. These employees take bribes even from Advocates and their clients in the full glare of the judges. These peshkars/ ahlmads, in turn, supply milk, bread, butter, vegetables and groceries to the houses of presiding deities. The situation is not so bad in Delhi and many other cosmopolitan towns but in district courts it is rampant. Some judges have become so shameless that they do not feel anything bad about it. Many times, even if the bail has been granted, the papers will not be prepared till the palms of the concerned Ahlmads are not greased. Peons and employees openly demand money as if it is their right.

  The live telecasts of the Court proceeding will certainly help curb corruption to a large extent. This will make lethargic and incompetent judges more alert and at the same time save the clients from extortion by non-judicial employees. Sunlight, as they say, is the best disinfectant. This will largely cure the infection of corruption and help the ordinary people in getting justice relatively fast because the conduct of the judges, advocates, court employees and others will always be in the public scanner. This will also ensure the judges and the advocates remain prepared during the hearings of the cases because their conduct will be in the surveillance of thousands of people.

  No doubt, what could not have been achieved by the strictness of the administration will be achieved by modern technology. Technology has come as a boon for the eradication of corruption, and we must salute and welcome it with open arms to make the country a better place to live in. This move will also instil a new faith in the judiciary. Almost everybody knows that there are many advocates, who only seek adjournments to delay the cases. Clients also indulge in highly unethical practices to get justice delayed. The live streaming will also go a long way in controlling the witnesses to behave properly because it has been found that they often turn hostile for some considerations.

Theatrics Must be Curbed

 However, the presiding Judges will have to ensure that the courtrooms are not converted into places of theatrics. There is no dearth of such advocates who may adopt the recourse of dramatics to get cheap popularity. We see that even the live telecasting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha has not been able to inject a sense of responsibility among the members of parliament. Therefore, the judges will have to take extra care to ensure that some advocates do not hijack the court discipline for cheap publicity. The other problem will be the spread of unverified news through social media because it is absolutely unregulated in our country, so they often think that any oral observation or comment made by the judge or the advocate is of great importance. In order to sensationalise the comments, social media often gives go-by to contents and wings to oral observations.  

 Live streaming is going to be a game-changing reform in the judicial system of the country. As a matter of fact. Section 153 B of the Civil Procedure Code and Section 327 of the Criminal Procedure Code provides for the open court hearing in the CPC and Cr P C. The only exception has been the hearings of the cases related to sexual crimes against women because the intent was not to disclose the identity of women. When this provision was inserted, there was no scientific development to provide more publicity. Only the print- the journalist was allowed to report for the general consumption of the public.

  The judgments of the Supreme Court and High Courts were also divided into two categories namely, reportable and non-reportable. It was left to the discretion of judges to decide whether it was reportable or not. The basic criteria for the same are considered that if a judgment is of ‘in rem’ category then it should be published but if it is ‘in personem’, then not to be published. Anyway, with the passage of time, the demand for the telecasting of news proceedings gained ground. A few High Courts namely Patna, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujrat and Karnataka took have started partially telecasting their important judgment for the benefit of the general public.

 Live Streaming: Useful for Law Students and Teachers

 Live streaming will be immensely beneficial for law students and teachers who can watch the proceedings in their classrooms. It should be made mandatory for all law colleges and all judicial academies as part of their practical training. Many law colleges have been conducting tours to the Supreme Court and High Court so that their students could see the proceedings but now they do not have to bother about visiting different courts which will be available on the TV sets. Coming to the courts was a marathon and complex exercise for them and their teachers, right from taking permission from the Registrars for a limited number of students to getting their entry passes to the courtrooms.

New Electoral Rolls of J@K will Help Integration of the State

  The Government of Jammu and Kashmir must be congratulated for two bold recent decisions after the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35 A from the Constitution of India. One is to make Hindi the official language of the state apart from Urdu and the second is to grant voting rights to nearly 25 lakh people, who have been living there for decades together but were deprived of their legitimate rights.

   This gerrymandering and the delimitation of the state along with the new electoral rolls will go a long way in the integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India. Was it not an insult to lakhs of refugees who came from Pakistan and settled down in Jammu and Kashmir but were denied voting rights? So much so, that thousands of Valmikis, who gave everything in the service of J@K for generations did not have voting rights for 75 years. Sikhs, who came from the western side of the border and were domiciled in the state yet were denied their voting rights.

  The law says that anybody who has lived for six months at any place would be entitled to get his /her name registered on the voters' list. This is how any employee who has been working in Assam for more than six would have voting rights in the state but if he/she is transferred to Kerala or any other state and stays there for six months would be entitled to get his/her name registered in the voters’ list. But it was a different story in J@K because of the obnoxious Articles 570 and 35 A.  Is it not strange that those who went from other parts of the country to the J@K and worked for it were not welcome to participate in the electoral democracy of the state?

  It is well known that Dr Ambedkar was dead against the inclusion of Article 370 in the constitution of India. It is a part of the written history that when Sheikh Abdulla at the instance of Pandit Nehru went to meet Dr Ambedkar and pleaded for the inclusion of Article 370 in the constitution, he is reported to have told him ( Sheikh Abdulla) that how could it be possible that the people of the whole country should pay taxes to be utilised in J@K and yet they do not have any say in the affairs of the State? The Indian army was there in the J@K but they cannot be allowed to have any sense of belonging to the State. This is no way to make the State an inalienable part of India. Sheikh Abdulla was speechless but with the support of Pandit ji, he had his say.

  Think of the situation when people coming from different of the country to live in Delhi do not have voting rights. By this logic, nobody can settle down in other parts of the country. Must it be mentioned here that comparatively in a small place like Varanasi, thousands of Biharis, Bengals, Odia, Marathis, Gujratis, Tamilians, Malayalis, Assamese and Telugus have got the same rights as are available to the locals and nobody resents? In fact, it is a matter of pride for every citizen that he/she can settle down in any part of the country and can enjoy the same privileges as are available to other locals. This is the best way to have the emotional and psychological integration of the country.  Therefore, the Modi government has done splendid work for the real unification of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country. The Kashmiris should rejoice over this remarkable feat as till now the people from the rest of the country have been treated only as tourists in the State.

 

Painful Partition of India

 Going through the popular column of journalist Vivek Shukla ‘Dilli dil se’ in a Hindi daily of Delhi provides enormous profit and immense pleasure. It is simply engrossing and enlightening. His pen portraits of the historical places and the history of Delhi leave an indelible mark on the mind. It is the simplest way of recounting history. However, the stories of the monumental tragedy of the partition of India in 1947 grip any reader with extreme sadness, agony, anguish, and anger. Partition of India of India, without doubt, was the most incredible human catastrophe in which lakhs were killed, millions were uprooted, and properties worth billions were destroyed. The biggest onslaught was faced by women who were raped, ravished, and killed by devils.

 ‘Train to Pakistan’ by Khushwant Singh and ‘Jhhotha Sach’ of legendry Yashpal or ‘Tamas’ of Bhishma Sahni has given a vivid picture of death and destruction that was caused by the division of our motherland.  It is true that the refugees, who came from the western part of undivided India to settle down on this side of India were more adventurous than those who came from the eastern part of the country. And within a few years, they got acclimatised to the new atmosphere and started contributing in a big way to the development of the country.

 It is only through his columns, that most of us have come to know that big hospitals in Delhi like Ganga Ram, Moolchand or Kapur had their roots in Lahore. The assiduous efforts that he makes in presenting and reliving history are commendable.  One has to wade through the emotional pangs of partition which is found in abundance in his columns.

 Refugees from both sides of the border have been settled in different parts of the country. A large number of Sindhi refugees can be found in Sagar, Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh), Mumbai and Delhi. The trauma of their predecessors leaving Sindh should be brought to light. Similarly, those who came from the eastern side have been largely settled in Odissa, West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.   Local newspapers would do well if they let the local population know the pains and sufferings, that the forefathers of the refugees had undergone while leaving their homes and hearths to entirely places.

 

Rashtrapati is 'gender neutral' like ‘Crorepati and Lakhpati’

  The credit for coining the words like ‘Rashtrapati’, ‘Shri’ and ‘Shrimati’ for the ‘President of India’, ‘Mr’ and ‘Mrs’ go to famous Hindi journalist  Baburao Vishnu Paradkar when he was the editor of the daily Aaj of Varanasi. Hindi journalism has produced six great editors- Baburao Vishnu Paradkar, Rajaram Khadilkar, Lakshman Narain Garde, Ambika Prasad Vajpayee, Pandit Kamla Pati Tripathi and Vidyabhaskar. Pandit Kamlapati Tripathi later left journalism to become an active politician. This group was later known as ‘Five Greats of Hindi journalism. Incidentally, all of them had their roots in Kashi and some association with Calcutta. The first three of them were Marathi speaking and the last one Pandit Vidyabhaskar was Telugu speaking. Only Ambika Prasad Vajpayee and Pt Kamla Pati Tripathi belonged to the Hindi heartland. It must be mentioned here that Hindi journalism was born in Calcutta, and it was from here Pandit Jugal Kishore Shukla brought out ‘Udant Martand’, the first Hindi newspaper in Devnagari script in 1826.

There was a big debate that why the President of India should be called ‘Rashtrapati’ and what will happen if any lady becomes the President. Pandit Kamlapati Tripathi, who was also a renowned journalist and politician, was also consulted on this issue. He is reported to have sided with Paradkar ji that the ‘Rashtrapati’ could not be gender specific. The words ‘Pati’ and ‘Patni’ are used in almost all Indian languages. Therefore, the excuse offered by the Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury over calling Draupadi Murmu Rashtrapatni instead of Rashtrapati because of his being a non-Hindi knowing person is lame and unconvincing.
As a matter of fact, the use of the word Pati in Rashtrapati is in the sense of ‘Swami’ (Lord) as those of ‘Crorepati’ and ‘Lakhpati’, which is applicable for both genders. ‘Shri’ means ‘Lakshmi, which connotes feminine gender, Paradkar ji gave a very convincing logic that a male person can be addressed as ‘Shriyut’, ‘Shriman’ or ‘Shri’ (Blessed with Lakshmi), which is much better than that of ‘Mister’ or ‘Mr’. A woman having the qualities of the Lakshmi would be called ‘Shrimati’. However, this word became rigid to be used only for married women and unmarried women got to be addressed as ‘Kumari’.
This dilemma continued for the post of Pradhanmantri for some time also when Mrs Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister. Some overjealous Hindi enthusiasts initially addressed her as ‘Pradhanmantrani’. But thanks again to Kashi journalists, this tangle was resolved, and it was made sure that there would be no distortion of the word ‘Pradhanmantri’ regardless of the gender of the person holding the post. This dilemma continues even in the Supreme Court and High Courts, where some of the Advocates address the lady judges as ‘Your Ladyship. This controversy can be resolved only when a gender-neutral word like ‘Your Honour’, Sir or Madam is used for both male and female judges. The same is also true about "Rajyapal' and 'Rashtrapita' ( father of the nation).  

Annual Conference of Darshan Parishad at Azamgarh will provide impetus to locals

    My friend Ravindra Nath Tripathi, an Advocate practising in the courts of Azamgarh has sent me an invite to the annual conference of Uttar Bharat Darshan Parishad, which is being organised on the campus of the prestigious Children College and Schools of Azamgarh. In a way, it is the most appropriate place to hold this annual conference. This conference will impel the new generation of students to develop and broaden the horizon of their rational thinking. It is situated a few kilometres away from the din and bustle of the town in a tranquil ambience of the village Belaisa. It is being held for three days from 15^th to 17^th July. Azamgarh is the land of Rishi Duravasa. A village named after Rishi Durvasa is located on the confluence of rivers-Tamsa and Majhui and it has acquired the status of a pious pilgrim centre, where people from far-off places assemble for three days in the month Kartik for holy dips in the Sangam.

     Azamgarh has been systematically impoverished by the Moghuls and Britishers. It is said that the water of the river Tamsa has the ingredients of rebellion, which is traced back to Rishi Durvasa. It was the centre of the first war of Independence of 1857. It finds mention in the famous book of Vir Savarkar, wherein he described the valour and the bravery of the people under the leadership of Babu Kunwar Singh, who had set up his camp at Atraulia some 35 km away in the west of Azamgarh while marching towards Lucknow.

   Azamgarh, as the name suggests was found in 1665 by Azam, son of Vikramajit Singh. Vikramajit Singh was a descendant of Gautam Rajput of Mehnagar, who had embraced Islam. He had a Muslim wife who bore him two sons Azam and Azmat. While Azam gave his name to the town of Azamgarh. Azmat constructed the fort and settled the bazaar Azmatgarh of Pargana Sagri. Another Bais Muslim Rajput, Shibli Nomani worked hard for Pan Islamism and set up the famous Shibli National College and Darul Mussanfin in Azamgarh. His brothers were educated in England and one of them became the Judge of the Allahabad High Court.

   Shibli Nomani had although taught at Aligarh Muslim University yet had serious differences with Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and always found the atmosphere of the Aligarh intellectually very suffocating. Shibli was inspired by the progress of science and education in the West, but his attitude was sectarian and not broad-based.

   The name of Kedarnath Pandey aka Rahul Sankrityayan, known for his itinerary and philosophical writings is also associated with it. But those who gave new heights to literature and philosophy were Pandit Ayodhya Singh Upadhyay Hariaudh, Pandit Shyam Narayan Pandey and Pandit Channu Lal Mishra. My classmate at Banaras Hindu University and aficionado of Indian Philosophy Dr RK Mishra, who expired last year due to COVID would have been the happiest person to have participated in this philosophical congregation as he, like me, also belonged to Azamgarh. Although I am in not able to participate in the programme due to many reasons, it would have been a celebratory occasion for me as it was going to provide a good opportunity to meet and listen to philosophical expositions of scholars. Moreover, it is being held in Azamgarh, where eminent thinker-teacher of Philosophy Dr Sabhajit Mishra is being honoured by the Parishad.

  Bhai Ravindra Nath ji, I send my best wishes for the roaring success of the annual conference, being organised under the illustrious guidance of Professor Bajrang Tripathi.

Parmanand Pandey

 

 

 

S C Must Clear its Obiter Dicta Observations in Nupur’s Case

Lord Atkin has said ‘justice is not a cloistered virtue, she must be allowed to suffer the scrutiny and respectful, even though outspoken, comments of ordinary men. That is why the oral observations of the Supreme Court in Nupur Sharma’s Transfer Petition must be allowed to be freely commented upon by the public. In fact, the observations are not only uncalled for and unwarranted but highly disturbing. If the Supreme Court was so troubled with what Nupur Sharma had said in the heat of a TV debate, it should have been recorded in the order sheet but the SC rather preferred to lecture orally on her conduct. This obiter dicta comment ought to have been avoided by the judges because it will adversely affect Nupur Sharma in getting justice. Although obiter dicta are legally not binding on the courts below, it will certainly be cited to persuade and prejudice the mind of judges of lower court judges.

A transfer petition is normally filed by the litigants for transferring the case from one High Court or court to another High Court or court in the interest of justice and to save them from unnecessary harassment. It is filed under Article 139(2) of the Constitution of India Section 25 of the CPC and 406 of the CrPC on the expediency of justice. But here the Supreme Court’s observations in the case of the transfer petition of Nupur Sharma from different courts of the country to a competent court in Delhi have made a mockery of justice. The SC has literally pronounced the judgment without any evidence, recording of evidence or cross-examination. The judges have committed grievous injury to the dispensation of justice. If the judges were so perturbed with her statement, they should have recorded their concern in the order sheet and disallowed or dismissed the petition but their fulminations were totally unrelated to the case and if this practice is adopted by the Supreme Court, then there will be chaos in the justice delivery system.

This oral but heavily loaded political lecturing from the pulpit of the Supreme Court is a cause for huge concern for the country. If the case did not deserve to have been transferred, the court should have decided it on its merit. But it was an extraneous and off-the-tangent observation, which is bound to send a wrong message across the country. To say that Nupur Sharma was intoxicated with power is totally unbecoming of the Supreme Court because the whole country looks at it for guidance and appropriate decisions on the facts and the legal position of the case. How could be she held to be single-handedly responsible for the vitiating the atmosphere in the country or the killing of a tailor in Udaipur by Jihadists? In this manner, every Jihadi including Osama Bin Laden could blame somebody for the destruction of the twin towers in America. Kashmiri Pandits could be blamed for what happened to them in Kashmir.

The Supreme Court was to decide about the transfer of the case and not who is guilty of the killing of the Udaipur tailor. The Supreme Court has undoubtedly overreached its jurisdiction. It would do well to take up the case suo moto and remove all misunderstandings which have spread across the country by its oral observations.

Missive of Retired Judges to the CJI is unjustified

 

Sometimes extraordinary measures need to be adopted to deal with an extraordinary situation. The manner in which the peace was being hijacked by some rioters in different places of Uttar Pradesh after the Friday prayers in mosques was highly disturbing for the common people. There could be no room for any doubt that it was being planned by some and executed by namazis. Yogi government has restored the peace sooner than it was expected by administering the ‘bulldozer medicine’. The preliminary revelations have made it clear that the vicious radical PFI has been responsible for the state-wide trouble.

But what is more troublesome is the letter of some former judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts and some advocates to the Chief Justice of India requesting him to take suo motu cognizance of the use of bulldozers to stop the razing of the houses of the rioters. As far as the identification of culprits is concerned, nobody is expected to know better than them that real culprits mostly go scot-free, and it takes years to bring them to book. And yet if these worthies want to frustrate the steps of the government, it is not difficult to infer their real intentions. In fact, it has been the legitimate expectation of the general public that they should have used their influence in asking the rioters to adopt the peaceful means to register their protests.

The country has seen innumerable sits-in and demonstrations. Such peaceful protests and agitations have mostly been supported by the people but the pelting of stones on shops and others in the manner it was being done by the extremists/terrorists of Kashmir can never be endorsed. The way this letter petition has been written by the judges appears that letter writers are inclined to save rogues and rascals. Dharnas of Anna Hazare at Jantar Mantar a few years ago and many candle marches were taken out at India Gate, particularly for the justice to Nirbhaya and it got nationwide support. But when one sees the crowd of namazis coming out of the mosques and throwing stones at shops and damaging public property one shudders to think of their violence. Traders close their shops due to the fear of the namazis.

Some judges have the misconceived notion of being monarchs, and they can pass orders as per their whims. The fact is that constitution does not give any such whimsical powers to judges. Only two years ago a former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court had ordered to remove the posters bearing the photographs of those who were to be found out as they were suspected to be responsible for creating trouble in Lucknow during Anti-CAA protests. His order was patently wrong, but the Executive had no choice but to comply with it. Everybody was aghast as to why the judge, who has since retired, was overreaching his jurisdiction and behaving in a bizarre manner, which was totally unbecoming of the post that he held.

Lawlessness cannot be allowed to rob the peace of millions of citizens of the state. These judges have, no doubt, written the letter to the Hon’ble CJI for cheap publicity. If they were so concerned with the rule of law, they should have asked the Executive to tactfully handle the situation and at the same time appealed to namazis not to take the law into their own hands.