Kochi, Friday, January 16, 2009: The Kerala High Court Lawyers association that met today to discuss the recent litigation muddle, condemned the war of words waged between two judges of Kerala High Court. The association said the statements were derogatory and passed an ordinance against this.
Yesterday, Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, had told TV channels that a judge should avoid trying to justify a verdict after he or she had delivered it. Differences between judges were not uncommon. Anything apparently deficient in a verdict could be corrected by other members of the judiciary. But it was not prudent for the judge who issued the verdict to pursue it. The references apparently referred to Justice Hema’s remarks.
The spat cropped up when, Justice Hema had expressed serious doubts about the way the CBI was probing the case and even observed that the country’s premier investigating agency was locked in an attempt to marshal evidence after nabbing the accused, instead of first collecting evidence and zeroing in on the real culprits.
She had found manipulation in the CD submitted by the Forensic Sciences Lab in Bangalore where all the three accused had undergone narco analysis. She had also directed the CBI to recast the probe, by entrusting the supervision to a senior officer with proven competence.
This led to the CBI almost suspending the investigation and went back to the High Court, seeking a clarification whether it could carry on only after entrusting the case to a senior officer.
Justice Basant in fact chided the CBI for suspending its investigation and clarified that there was no scope for confusion in the other judge’s order. He also made it clear that he had no differences with Justice Hema.
But Justice Hema responded by observing that no other judge had the right to sit in judgment over her decision. The only forum authorized to review her decision to grant bail was the apex court.
Justice R Basant of Kerala High Court withdrew from monitoring the Sister Abhaya murder case even as the Court, on its own, registered a contempt case against a Malayalam daily for criticising a judge who had set the accused on bail. Justice Basant today transferred to a division bench the monitoring of the CBI probe into the murder of Sr Abhaya, who was found dead in a well on the premises of St Pius X Convent in Kottayam on March 27, 1992.
But before divesting himself of the responsibility, Justice Basant observed that certain remarks had pained him and his decision was to uphold the status of the judiciary.