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Hindustan Times  Written by  Pratap Bhanu Mehta   Updated: November 18, 2020  This phenomenon is not just a matter of individual judges or individual cases. It is now a systematic phenomenon with deep institutional roots. In political science literature there is a familiar term — democratic barbarism. Democratic barbarism is often sustained by a judicial barbarism. The term “barbarism” has several components. The first is the overwhelming appearance of arbitrariness in judicial decision-making. The application of law becomes so dependent on the arbitrary whims of individual judges that the rule of law or constitutional terms no longer have any meaning. The law becomes an instrument of oppression; or, at the very least, it aids and abets oppression. This usually means weak protection for civil liberties and dissenters and an unusual degree of deference to state power, especially in constitutional matters. The court also becomes excessively concerned with its version o...

The Hindu By Krishnadas Rajgopala July 06, 2018 Everyone has the right to seek protection from arrest, says Justice Goel on his final day in office Supreme Court  judge,  Justice A.K. Goel, in his farewell speech on Friday justified his controversial March 20 verdict which overrode the written law to grant anticipatory bail to those accused of Dalit atrocities. The judgment led to widespread violence and protests across the country leading to several deaths. The Centre had to finally return to the Supreme Court for a review. The 89-page verdict by a Bench of Justices A.K. Goel and U.U. Lalit had read down Section 18 of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989 to allow accused persons under the Act to apply for anticipatory bail. Section 18 barred persons accused of causing casteist injury and insult to Dalits from seeking anticipatory bail. Justice Goel defended the verdict that he had authored for the Bench on his las...

The Economic Times T K Arun, February 06, 2018 The government wants to improve ease of living for the common man. This is a noble sentiment. Apart from maintaining the rule of law, including by taking tough action against vigilante violence and sectarian provocation, what the government can best do in this regard is to make the criminal justice system work faster and more efficiently.  IIndia has one of the world's largest number of undertrial prisoners. A little over two-thirds of India's roughly 4.2 lakh prisoners await trial. They languish in jail not because they have been found guilty and sentenced to jail terms but because they are being prosecuted on charges that are too severe to warrant bail, or simply because they are too poor and disempowered to obtain bail.  Better Investigation   People at the bottom rungs of social power account for the bulk of undertrials. Almost 70% of them are illiterate, 53% are Muslims, Dalits and tribal people. In ...