A fire at the official residence of a High Court judge, has put the whole of the Indian judicial administration under fire. The dispensers of justices, the ones who are supposed to be the modern day avatars of the practice “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion,” are now forced to handle one of their ilk. The concerned justice under fire, has been sitting on a stockpile of cash. Is the cash in any way related to justice being delivered? Whatever might be its origin, and whatever might be the final fate of the Justice, what has nearly been established is the incapability and inability of the top echelons of Indian judicial administration to handle anything of this nature.
We have seen another recent instance of the same system going haywire, when one CJI faced allegations of sexual harassment, when the victim filed a detailed affidavit. We have seen who was meted justice. The master of the roaster controversy, and the ensuing press conference, has its own clearcut connotations. The nature and temperament of Justices change when they are in the dock. There are a variety of hush hush whispers many times, but here the “trade-off” in physical form is right there. Presumably, the fire force fellows stumbled upon this unexpected cash stockpile. While the physical fire was extinguished, the trust in judicial administration is on the verge of being consigned to flames.
The incident happened on the 14th of March, but it hit the public domain on 21st March 2025. How was this delay made to happen and on whose diktat? In today’s day and age to pull off this unachievable silence is beyond imagination. The powers that be can take their own sweet time to let us know the final figure of the cash found. As of now everything remains unanswered; who took /seized the cash and under what authority? Who is the official / judge who would take the responsibility of this cash being dealt in a purely official manner, from its discovery to now? Does the cash continue to be in the official residence itself, or has it been kept in official custody, and with which organization and officer.
The total amount of cash remains unknown, who or which organisation has counted it? On whose information was the Collegium meeting held and on which date (mostly 20.03.25), and what are the proceedings thereof. There was a unanimous decision to transfer Justice Verma, and it is claimed it has nothing to do with this incident. Wheels of broken justice! What is SOP to deal with such cases? Or at the highest level, things are being dealt in an ad hoc manner. It seemed they were all groping in the dark. The inhouse enquiry with no known timelines raises more questions than answers. The law of the land is kept in abeyance by the Justices and everything being done is being consigned to their own Black Box. No one knows what to do? If you don’t know how to fight your own battle, then the story ends before it begins. Time to redraw India’s judicial administration has come. Victims of law to victims of justices is what we have transitioned to.
DOES INDIA’S CRIMINAL LAW ALLOW FOR COGNIZANCE NOT BEING TAKEN OF A SUSPECTED CRIMINAL ACT?
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.