Over 300 Lawyers condemn Law Minister's Rijiju comment on retired judges; ask him to take back his comment.

323 lawyers from across the country on Wednesday condemn over Law Minister Kiren
Rijiju's comment on retired judges and further issued an open response to the
Union Minister.
Reportedly,
the lawyers in the open response to Law Minister Kiren Rijiju's "hectoring
and bullying" of retired "activist' judges at a media house conclave dated
March 18, 2023 where he calls them as "anti-India gang", asked him to
publicly withdraw his "outrageous" remarks and "threats"
unbecoming of his office.
"Such
hectoring and bullying are unbecoming of the high office held by the Minister.
We may remind the Minister that criticism of the government is neither against
the nation, nor unpatriotic, nor 'anti-India'. He must remember that the
government of the day is not the nation, and the nation is not the
government," the response stated.”
The
response is signed by senior advocates like Iqbal Chagla, Janak Dwarakadas,
Kapil Sibal, A.M. Singhvi, Dushyant Dave, Arvind Datar, Raju Ramachandran, C.U.
Singh, Sriram Panchu, R. Vaigai, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Nitya Ramakrishnan,
advocates Prashant Bhushan and Shadan Farasat, and other advocates from various
High Courts.
They
added that by threatening the retired judges, the Law Minister is clearly
sending a message to every citizen, that "no voice of dissent will be
spared".
They
reminded the Law Minister that these retired judges, to whom he put allegations
of anti-nationalism, were people "who have dedicated their lives to upholding
the rule of law, and the naked threat of reprisals against them, marks a new
low in the public discourse of our great nation".
The
response said they are compelled to remind the Union Minister Kiren Rijiju
that, as a Member of Parliament, he is "sworn to uphold and bear true
faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India".
And
also, "As Minister of Law and Justice, it is his duty to protect the
judicial system, the judiciary and the judges, both past and present. It is no
part of his duty to single out some retired judges with whose opinion he might
disagree, and to issue public threats of action by law enforcement agencies
against them."
They
said, "these unacceptable threats meted out against retired judges have
the effect of inciting the public against our judges and judicial system and
deserve to be strongly condemned."
"The
nation owes a debt of gratitude to our retired judges," they added.
The
signatories further said the Minister must realise that by virtue of his office
and that he is the bridge between the executive and judicial wings of the
state, and that he must therefore maintain a dignified public discourse.
And therefore, the lawyers have urged the Minister to publicly withdraw his remarks and refrain from making such remarks in the future.
(Source-LiveLaw)
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