Former Supreme Court, and High Court judge write to CJI NV Ramana to take suo moto cognizance.
The letter signed by 12 former judges and senior lawyers has urged the Court to intervene to arrest the “deteriorating law and order situation” in Uttar Pradesh.
Former Supreme Court and High Court judges and top lawyers have written to Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana seeking the highest court to take suo motu cognizance of the demolition of protestors’ homes by Uttar Pradesh State authorities and the imprisonment of a large number of demonstrators.
The letter, signed by twelve retired judges and top attorneys, urges the Court to act in Uttar Pradesh’s “deteriorating law and order situation.”
The signatories to the letter are:
- Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy (Former judge of Supreme Court);
- Justice V. Gopala Gowda (Former judge of Supreme Court);
- Justice A.K. Ganguly, (Former judge of Supreme Court);
- Justice AP Shah (Former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court and former Chairperson of Law Commission of India);
- Justice K Chandru (Former Judge of Madras High Court);
- Justice Mohammed Anwar (Former Judge of Karnataka High Court);
- Shanti Bhushan (Senior Advocate, Supreme Court);
- Indira Jaising (Senior Advocate, Supreme Court);
- Chander Uday Singh (Senior Advocate, Supreme Court);
- Sriram Panchu (Senior Advocate, Madras High Court);
- Prashant Bhushan (Advocate, Supreme Court);
- Anand Grover (Senior Advocate, Supreme Court).
Urge to rise to the Occasion
The letter underlined how recent statements made by several BJP spokespersons (now suspended) about the Prophet Mohammed had resulted in protests across the country, notably in Uttar Pradesh.
“Rather than allowing protestors to be heard and engage in peaceful demonstrations, the UP state government appears to have sanctioned the use of force against such persons.
In an official letter, it is said that the Chief Minister has urged officials to “take such punishment against the guilty that it sets an example so that no one commits a crime or takes the law into their own hands in the future.”
The letter said that the Chief Minister’s words spurred police to mercilessly and illegally abuse demonstrators.
“Consequently, the UP police have detained more than 300 protesting residents and filed FIRs against them.”
Videos of young men in police custody being beaten with lathis, houses of protestors being demolished without notice or justification, and protestors from the minority Muslim community being chased and beaten by the police are circulating on social media, rattling the nation’s conscience, it was stated.
It was also charged that such a ruthless crackdown by a governing government is an intolerable subversion of the rule of law, a violation of people’s rights, and a mockery of the Constitution and fundamental rights provided by the State.
“The coordinated way in which the police and development authorities have behaved leads to the obvious conclusion that demolitions constitute an unlawful form of collective extrajudicial punishment,” the letter stated.
In the past, the judiciary has risen to the occasion in similar situations, as seen by its suo moto intervention in the migrant laborer’s case and its orders in the Pegasus case, as stated in the letter.
“In the same spirit, and its role as guardian of the Constitution, we, therefore, urge the Hon’ble Supreme Court to take immediate suo motu action to arrest the deteriorating law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, specifically involving the high-handedness of the police and state authorities, and the brutal suppression of citizens’ fundamental rights,” the letter urged.
The statement stated that it is hoped and believed that the Supreme Court would rise to the occasion and not let down the public and the Constitution at this crucial time.
