Who is afraid of an independent Judiciary?

| by Mike Andree

(August 18, 2012,Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Who is afraid of an independent judiciary? It’s those who want to assail judges and get them to dance to their tune by offering them retirement benefits and looking after the education of their children. It is those who want to exorcise the evil from the eyes of the angels of independent judgment, those erudite scholars of law who interpret the law according to their trained minds. This is the main task of the corrupt angels, who rule the country. Independent Judiciary, in their eyes, is all evil. They believe the Judiciary ought to be subservient to the political authority. Democracy is in shambles and pseudo democratic institutions prevail when the judiciary is subjugated.

Imran Khan, the legendary hero of Pakistan Cricket, turned politician, said "Pakistan is the only country in the third world which has a free judiciary. The people of Pakistan have achieved an independent Supreme Court after a great struggle. It was the free and impartial Apex Court that had exposed high-profile corruption scams. If there wasn’t a free judiciary, the corrupt leaders would have looted the country. A free judiciary is a blessing and the Pakistani nation should stand by it."

Justice Kuldip Singh was promoted to the Apex Court in India by Rajiv Ghandhi and was called by the National newspapers ‘Caligula’s Horse’, as they believed that his promotion was due to his loyalty to Rajiv. But, those vilifications were short lived as he was one Judge politicians feared the most, due to his crusade against corruption. He was known as no-nonsense Judge and took on mighty ministers and minor figures alike and delivered judgments which dealt a severe blow to those who had been elected with astounding majorities and who enjoyed their popular appeal to become the most corrupt politicians in India. Satish Sharma was involved in a scandal over the distribution of petrol pumps and LPG agencies. He was alleged to have bribed MPs to win a crucial confidence vote. The amount collected and distribute by him was nearly 600 million Rupees. Justice Kuldip Singh strived to clean the Augean Stables full of corrupt demons hovering in the guise of people’s representatives.

Assailing the judiciary is one common denominator when democratically elected representatives tend to overstep their authority and believe they have absolute power to be absolutely corrupt and expect the judiciary to fall in line. In those days judges travelled by public transport and were given ramshackle used vehicles from the government stores. There was no scheme to provide them with decent housing. As the country transformed, from a closed Marxist type of economy to liberal open market economy, the living conditions of the Judges improved. They were given new vehicles and land was allotted to build a house. A soft loan scheme was provided. With these perks, judges canvassed for promotions and retirement benefits. A gradual erosion of the Independence of Judiciary, where judges were willing or unwilling partners, was being witnessed by the public. During the time of Neville Samarakoon QC, who as a practitioner, valued the independence of the judiciary, he did everything within his power to make the judiciary fiercely independent. He refused to succumb to the dictates of the government. JRJ punished the judiciary by not providing the funds and the basic needs of the Judges. That made Queen’s Counsel Neville Samarakoon make that famous speech at the Sinnathurai Commercial Tutory. The government seized the opportunity to appoint a select committee and impeach the Chief Justice. His successor, thereafter, made a speech over National Television, that the judiciary should not be an impediment to the implementation of the government’s policy. JRJ reacted by providing the Judges with all the perks and other benefits.

This trend has continued. The perception of the people, of an independent judiciary, willing to stand against a powerful government, had rescinded. The hopelessness of the situation has made people feel that they should silently observe their rights being eroded by the government. When Imran Khan said that Pakistan has the most independent judiciary in the third world, can we rightfully challenge that. Today, the executives are hell bent on carrying out their policies without any fear of reprisal, as they feel that neither the police nor the Judges would intervene and prevent them from exercising their rights.

This background of impunity would have been the main reason for political thugs to throw stones at the Magistrate’s Court in Mannar. This may have been a blessing in disguise. For the first time, after the killing of Wijedasa Liyanarchchi, lawyers in the entire country, irrespective of any political affiliation and the Judicial Services Association, decided that enough was enough. They refused to practice their profession and Judges refused to sit, hear and determine cases before them. The entire judicial system came to a standstill. The Judicial Services Commission stood by the Magistrate. Though the physical attack stopped, the vituperative, vitriolic rhetoric continued to be orchestrated by the government. Various stories were spread. The easiest way to fool the public into thinking that the government was right was to accuse any Tamil of being a terrorist or an agent of the LTTE and any other national, who expressed any sympathy towards a cause, which was not popular with the government, was a ‘traitor’, or a proxy of the TNA, if he had shown some sympathy with the Tamil people and their just causes.

So, the official organs have accused the Magistrate of either having links with the LTTE or that his brother was an active member of the LTTE. When that hoax did not hold any water, the campaigners sought refuge in screening the sisters of the Magistrate and claimed that they were active LTTE supporters or activists. The defence of the government was worse than the offence. As these morons, who hang on the tail of the tigers, in order to subvert a crisis, are forgetful that the stones that were thrown at the Court house were not stones thrown at a particular Judge, but stones thrown at those who spearhead the false malicious propaganda, as the day will come when those very same people may have to seek justice from the very Court they assailed. Freedom of the people does not rest with the executive but with an independent and fearless Judiciary, which would not consider the vituperative jibes thrown at them by those imbeciles, but would consider the case before them independently and Justice would be the ultimate winner.