Intriguing indeed former chief justice of India, Dhananjay Yeshwant Chandrachud is scared of how history would ‘judge’ his tenure. Speaking at the convocation of the JSW Law School in Bhutan, he expressed his fear; “As my tenure is coming to an end, my mind has been heavily preoccupied with fears and anxieties about the future and the past. I find myself pondering questions such as: Did I achieve everything I set out to do? How will history judge my tenure? Could I have done things differently? What legacy will I leave for future generations of judges and legal professionals?”
These questions never haunt a person who has a clean and halcyon conscience. Only the persons who violated moral ethical values are afraid of these posers. If Chandrachud has really been honest to him, this fear must not have possessed him. Chandrachud’s worry reminds the people of the historical observation of former prime minister, Dr Man Mohan Singh who was derided and insulted by BJP patriarch L K Advani along with his colleagues; “history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media, or for that matter, the opposition parties in Parliament”. He was absolutely not a worried person. His conscience was clean.
A person is known by his KARMA and probably Chandrachud had the premonition of how people of India would remember him and his legacy. Tragically his fear has proved to be correct. No retired CJI of apex court had to face the nature of criticism which Chandrachud has been facing. Even before history evaluates him and his performance, the people have adjudged him as ; a person who has inflicted serious injury to the judiciary. He talked a lot about human rights; about women’s rights; about fundamental rights but when it came to implementing them through his judicial power, he tactfully retreated; did not exercise that power.
People like Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam continue to languish in jail for years without bail. Many scholars and academic who have been falsely implicated in the Bhima Koregaon case are rotting in prisons. People cannot forget the death of father Stan Swamy in prison, denied of basic needs. Number of times, Umar Khalid’s bail has been postponed. The champion of human rights did not think better to intervene and implement his opt repeated dictum “bail is the right”. He has been a perfect example of double speak.
How the election returning officer in Chandigarh subverted the process of mayoral election at the instance of his political godfather is known to the entire nation. He was found guilty of criminal misbehaviour by Chandrachud himself, but he did not take action against him. It still remains a mystery. After serving the judiciary for so long, he must have come to know that government employees nurse contempt for such oral orders.
It was indeed shocking that Chandrachud did not object the impish action of Narendra Modi of deleting the name of CJI from the panel of selectors of Chief Election Commissioner. It is beyond grasp how could he tolerate this insult. He could have questioned Modi’s action and restored the name of the CJI. But he did not do. The committee formed by Modi will continue to function even though Chandrachud has retired. His simple action should have protected the sanctity of the peoples’ right to elect their representative which is now under danger.
There is no denying that Chandrachud served his own agenda. His action manifested a bit rightist approach.. Else, how could his conduct on ignoring the Places of Worship Act, 1991, be construed. It is absolutely clear that Shambhal must not have witnessed this nature of violence in which four persons were shot at. Ajmer Shariff . Chandrachud must bear the blame for creating such situations when the RSS gets the freedom to rake up any mosque for demolition.
In May 2022, Chandrachud had orally commented that the PoW Act does not bar the ascertainment of the religious character of a structure as on August 15, 1947. During the Babri Masjid case, the SC referred to the Places of Worship Act, 1991, and said no new claims could be entertained after the enactment of this law that specified that the status of any place of worship has of August 15, 1947, shall remain unchanged and cannot be challenged. Certainly he was not naïve to make out the ramification of his observation.
All India Muslim Personal Law Board has rightly blamed Chandrachud for “softening its stance” and opening Pandora’s Box. His revelation that he wrote the judgment in Babri Masjid case as suggested by God is most disgusting. It created the impression that he was hiding behind God and putting the onus for incapability on God. Little doubt he abdicated his constitutional responsibility.
On February 15, 2024, Chandrachud declared the Electoral Bond Scheme ‘unconstitutional’. But he did not order for any action against the account holders or directed for freezing such accounts. His yet another contentious decision was about SEBI. In Adani case, he did not question SEBI reply and accepted it. Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court calling it “factually baseless” that the Adani Group was being investigated by the regulator since 2016.
Yet another very sensitive case which Chandrachud ignored was mysterious death of Judge Loya in Nagpur. On the morning of 1 December 2014, the family of judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya, who was hearing the most high-profile case in the country, related to encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in 2005, in which the prime accused was Home Minister Amit Shah, the then Gujarat’s home minister had died in a mysterious situation in Nagpur. Judge Loya had travelled there for a colleague’s daughter’s wedding.
The saffron zealots had formed the habit of filing false cases against the persons opposed to them. They also filed complaints of mosques being erected during Mughal period demolishing the temples. This they have been doing in spite of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s instruction that there is no need to look for a Shivling in every mosque. Ironically Chandrachud never made any effort to stop this misuse of judicial system. He also did not order for punishing over zealous police officer for misusing the laws conspiring to punish persons opposed to BJP and RSS. (IPA Service)
The Pandora’s Box And When Will The Surveys Of Mosques Stop 