----- Original Message -----
From: Niloufer Bhagwat
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 4:09 PM
Subject: Re: [humanrights-movement:2994] Sign an Open Letter to the CJI
inSupportof Prashant Bhushan
Dear Venugopalan ,
I have signed the Petition , though I believe that the institutional
and systemic bias in the legal system as a whole , is even a more serious issue
, including by Bar Associations, against the weaker sections of society which
denies them real as against formal access to justice . No Bar Association has
taken any serious steps in the aftermath of the assassination of Shahid Azmi a
lawyer who appeared for scores of innocent accused belonging to the poorer
sections of the minority who was assassinated by contract killers who were
called " patriotic ". Similarly the Pune Bar Association by a resolution
directed lawyers not to appear on behalf of the accused allegedly charged in
the Pune Bakery Blast Case . The Bhopal Gas Victims were further victimised
when a five Judge Bench headed by Chief Justice Pathak was institutionally
biased in favour of Union Carbide and exonerated its officials from all
criminal liability dictating consent terms which is illegal in consideration
for a paltry compensation . To-day there is no reference to this Judgment or
the Consent terms in recent reports on the case .It was this decision which
began the denouement of the victims of the largest industrial disaster which is
evidence of the failure of a legal and political system not limited to a single
political party .
The political system as a whole suffers from bias in favour of special
financial and corporate interests and their camp followers reflected in the
Bhopal Gas litigation and this is the foundation for the institutional bias by
all organs of the same State including the legal system .
Funded PILs are sometimes filed by NGOs, including lawyers, to create an
impression that there is liberal access to the legal system and that anyone and
everyone can approach the Court . This is not the on the ground position .This
camouflages the reality .
When I appeared before the Sri Krishna Commission, I was subjected to
discrimination by the Bar itself, at the instance of the intelligence mafia
of corporate and financial interests interested in the outcome as this was the
beginning of the manufacture of a serious divide . I was harassed by
political formations using including by some members of the Bar Council of
Maharashtra second to none in filing frequent PILs . The harassment and
isolation lasted for over a decade . A so called leading lawyer at the Supreme
Court ( now representing the State ) gave advise that I should be proceeded
against and one of the first acts of the Maharashtra Women's Commission was
to proceed against me, ably assisted by a number of political parties and their
representatives right and left . My professional work was sought to be
completely disrupted and my computer and telephone privacy invaded including
by lawyers till date . So I have personal experience of how just the legal
system is . During the period when I was targeted I could get little or no
support from professional colleagues and it was a lonely uphill struggle . This
despite my social status . What happens to those whom the accident of birth has
condemned to poverty or a lower economic strata ??????
We all know what happened in Chhatisgarh ????? Who were the judges of the
Supreme Court who denied bail to a Gandhian Medical doctor who was alleged to
have met Maoist prisoners ????? This was not necessarily for money ?????It was
class bias of which the system reeks .
Prashant Bhushan is being hauled up in a Petition filed by a Lawyer .At the
same time labeling some Chief Justices and exonerating others could be termed
by many as ' selective'.
We must never forget that the legal system actually consists of not only the
Judges , it includes lawyers , the departments , the investigating machinery of
the Police Agencies , the Law Ministries , the Advocate General , the Attorney
Generals , Solicitor Generals etc and the litigants .
Powerful and mischievous litigants whenever there is an adverse order passed
against them are also not above making false complaints against Judges .In any
legal system false complaints have also to be proceeded against . Similarly
powerful members of the Bar have sought to victimize those Judges who have
cautioned them on their lack of preparedness and incorrect submissions being
made in the Court by making false allegations of corruption camouflaging those
Judges favourably inclined towards them or whom they know personally .
The mirror must show up all sides to the legal system .Corruption is only one
aspect . The government and corporate interests prefer those Judges who are
amenable to those who are not and quite often those who are relatively
independent Judges are sought to be brought under the scanner because they may
turn out to be too INDEPENDENT as they are financially incorruptible .
Therefore one has to read between the lines . A former Chief Justice who had
accepted foreign awards while Chief Justice is not in the list .
While focusing on serious issues of the ' Justice System' and reform let
us see our legal system as it really is, all its parts , which includes lawyers
, funded NGOs , litigants who abuse the system , the investigating agencies
among others, all an integral part, an extension of the political system and
society as a whole .
Correctives can only be applied if the system is viewed dispassionately as a
whole , sometimes allegations of corruption can conceal the more serious issues
which can be papered over merely because no one has taken money , yet has
incarcerated an innocent person or persons in jail and left them languishing at
the instance of state pressure .
Prashant Bhushan is very fortunate there are many to circulate his affidavit
even within the system .While my article on the ' Independence of the Judiciary
' an incite into leading cases which reveal the institutional economic and
social bias looked at from the point of view of decisions of the US and Indian
Supreme Court never leaves my computer despite best attempts at forwarding .
There should be no double standards among activists and NGOs whether funded
by Corporation foundations abroad or in India .
Niloufer Bhagwat
----- Original Message -----
From: Venugopalan K M
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 8:31 AM
Subject: [humanrights-movement:2994] Sign an Open Letter to the CJI
inSupportof Prashant Bhushan
Dear Friends,
I have just read and signed the online petition:
"Sign an Open Letter to the CJI in Support of Prashant Bhushan"
hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition
service, at:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/CJI/
I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might
agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider
signing yourself.
Best wishes,
K M Venugopalan
--
You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot build up
a nation, you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you will build on the
foundations of caste will crack and will never be a whole.
-AMBEDKAR
http://venukm.blogspot.com
http://www.shelfari.com/kmvenuannur
http://kmvenuannur.livejournal.com
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