Change of Judge in Ayodhya Case

“Justice should not only be done, but also appear to be done” – this is how Chief Justice of India, S H Kapadia, justified his decision to replace Justice Swatanter Kumar with Justice Aftab Alam in the Bench due to hear Ayodhya matter – report Times of India, dated 26/09/2010.

The decision of the CJI may raise serious doubts in the minds of common man like me. By virtue of the power and authority entrusted in it by the Constitution of India, the Supreme Court has been considered in the highest esteem in the mindset of common men. But the latest decision of the Court is certain to raise a few eyebrows.

Replacing a Hindu judge with a Muslim judge for the sake of delivering justice is against the ethics of judiciary. From the decision, should we conclude that impartiality of the judiciary has gone so low that it needs such a gimmick to restore the faith of common man in it? Can Hon’ble CJI convince the nation when the competence and impartiality of Justice Swatanter Kumar is under question, how can he keep occupying his chair in the Apex Court? With all due respect to the CJI, is he not opening a floodgate of legal loophole by his decision? Does he mean that a judge can hear a case on the basis of his/her caste or religion only?

What if tomorrow a Hindu judge convicts a Muslim person and passes the Order as per law of the land, will that convict be allowed to appeal against the judgment mere on the basis that was passed by a Hindu judge?  Or what if a woman lost his case against her in-laws, should she be allowed to file an appeal as the judge of the Bench happened to be a male?

The real story lies somewhere else. The CJI might in the back of his mind had the pictures of hullabaloo made by the Muslims after a all Hindu Bench passed a judgment in favour of Shah Bano. The furor made by the Muslims against the Judgment and the Supreme Court, has left such an impact in his mind that he is scared to take any chance this time and that is why he has chosen to replace Justice Kumar, with whom he always sits in the Division Bench, with Justice Alam. The credibility, competence or impartiality of Justice Alam is totally irrelevant in this particular case, he has been included only because he is a Muslim.

Till date, we were to fight against appeasement of minorities by political parties only. Now the time has come when minority appeasement is no more alien to even the top judiciary of the nation. In the M. F. Hussain case, where the Muslim painter were charged for deliberately portraying nude pictures of Hindu goddesses,  the Apex Court, headed by the ten CJI quashed all the charges against him and described his pictures as an classic art but the court never asked Hussain why he choose to draw nude pictures of Hindu Goddesses only, why did not he draw something similar classical art about Muhammad or his wife?

The vested interests of the politicians for appeasing the Muslim is known to us but now we need to find out why the Judiciary is acting in the same way? What prompting them not to practice the way they are supposed to be? A political leader is somehow accountable to public as he needs to come for revision of mandate but what about those who, once gets the chair, keep on doing things without any accountability to common man from whose pocket his huge salary and other facilities are being credited.

In a democratic and secular country like India, anybody has got all the rights to propagate what they like but that freedom should be subject two others belief. At Deganga, Muslims showed their true face as they did at Noakhali. It is noting new that once a place becomes Muslim dominated, it tries to act like a Muslim sovereign state. History teaches that Pakistan and Bangladesh were created as those place became Muslim dominated. At present, Kashmir is a good example of that. But Muslims in India should not forget that Hindus in India has had enough. They can NOT afford anymore. Its high time for Muslims in India to decide their obedience. Is it to the nation or to Islam. If they want to stay here, they MUST obey the and abide by the Hindu culture else they may feel free to relocate to their proclaimed sacred land - Pakistan. But if they ever try to disobey or defame our culture, a Hindu backlash is imminent. Now, they are to decide what they actually want.