look news india
Judges should not praise politicians and officials… Supreme Court judge Justice Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai said this. Addressing the annual conference of judicial officers of Gujarat, he said that praise of politicians and bureaucrats by judges affects the confidence of the general public in the judiciary.
'Public confidence may be affected'
Justice Gavai said that the conduct of a judge, both inside and outside the bench, should be in accordance with the highest standards of judicial ethics. If a judge goes out of his way and praises a politician or bureaucrat while in office, it may affect the confidence of the general public in the judiciary. Justice BR Gavai also gave an example to explain his point. He said a US Supreme Court justice had to apologize for comments criticizing a presidential candidate. Along with this, he said, if a judge resigns from his post to contest elections, then public confidence in his impartiality may be affected.
'Fair trial difficult due to delay in justice'
He further said that comments by judges outside the scope of specific cases, especially on sensitive topics like gender, religion, caste and politics etc., are a matter of concern. He said, people can adopt methods like mob justice to get justice. Due to which law and order in the society gets greatly damaged. Not only this, people also shy away from registering a case and knocking on the door of the court. Long proceedings and slow court processes breed disillusionment with the judicial system, he said. Due to delay in justice, it becomes very difficult to get a fair trial.
Gavai appreciated live streaming
Justice Gavai praised live streaming in his address. He said that now the transparency of the court is increasing significantly due to video conferencing and live streaming of the Constitution Bench. This is a very good step for the judiciary. It also allows people to see decisions taken in real time. He also said that short clips of court proceedings could create misconceptions about judges. Along with this, the judge also expressed the need to make some guidelines for live streaming.