April 18, 2026

Maligning Judges: A New, Unfortunate And Dangerous Trend

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-04-09 15:15:12

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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

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Analyzing court orders from the legal viewpoint is a valid exercise. All analysts and commentators can present their reading of the law, with supporting arguments, which can be different from what the judges might have decided. That is healthy criticism and adds to the richness of legal literature. But maligning judges or imputing motives for any judgment they make is not correct. Governments, both at the Centre and in states, have been maligning judges if judicial pronouncements go against them. The Supreme Court took note of the fact and CJI NV Ramana said this in court.

While hearing a matter related to a judgment of the Chhatisgarh High Court that was challenged in the apex court, Justice Ramana said "whatever fight you may take, that is alright. But do not try to malign the courts. I am watching in this court also, it is a new trend". When senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi said he was not pressing that point, Justice Ramana further said that "no, we are watching it every day. You are a senior counsel, you have seen this more than us. It is a new trend. The government has started maligning judges. It is unfortunate".

The judiciary is the last resort for the citizen to get relief from executive highhandedness. Hence, the government must accept judicial pronouncements with an open mind and should not go after judges. If we have a pliant judiciary that does the bidding of the executive, very soon India will become a banana republic and rule of law will be forgotten. More than being unfortunate, this new trend is dangerous. The executive should respect the judiciary and fight cases on legal points instead of maligning judges.