The Brave Pedestrian

Individuals can go on as many leaves as they like, including study leave, casual leave and sick-leave for much more than six months... but can the ENTIRE ORGAN OF GOVERNANCE remain closed for weeks or months? (And please, don't anybody mention vacation judges, who provide only a loincloth of judicial service!) Evidently, it can! And according to our ho n'ble judges, India is hale and hearty despite such institutionalized mass-bunking. http://tinyurl.com/part-time-judiciary So, let the whole country follow the noble example of our judges, and accordingly, let the government sanction SIX WEEK SUMMER VACATIONS FOR: 1) Police 2) Central & State Government, including Prime Minister, Chief Minister, entire cabinet and entire secretariat. 3) Entire Army, Navy, Air Force and Border Security Force. Let them coordinate the dates to match with summer vacations for the armed forces of Pakistan, China and Bangladesh across the borders. No surprise invasions and terr...

If pendency of cases were under control and appellants got a fair hearing, Supreme Court's six-week summer vacations could possibly have been justified. But such is emphatically not the case. Supreme Court judges dismiss a majority of the appeals instantly, not even giving a few second to appellants -- although appellants struggle for months, travel thousands of kilometres many times, and suffer great financial hardships to get a hearing in supreme court. Many of the Supreme Court judges are known to contemptuously THROW THE APPELLANT'S FILES on the floor after a couple of seconds of inattentive hearing, showing callous disregard for the litigants and the appeal process! Despite such hurried methods, the queue of pending cases before SC is growing longer every year. And, year after year, these high-and-mighty Supreme Court judges have the shamelessness to go on lengthy vacations, en masse! If this is not contempt of court by them, I don't know what is. ...

June 18, 2006: It’s a peculiar phenomenon. More than two decades ago, I travelled rough quite a bit in Gujarat and Maharashtra. I’d tell my parents cryptically that I’d be “in coastal South Gujarat” or “Saurashtra” or “around Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani-Pune”, and then I’d disappear for a week with maybe Rs 500 or 800. Equipped mainly with a road-map, I’d roam around, hiking all night sometimes and sleeping under trees off highways, or in nearby tea-stalls, shop-fronts, beaches, park benches, fishermen’s homes, as well as dirt-cheap, bedbug-infested lodges and  dharamshalas .  I enjoyed that. I travelled alone, and I liked my own company. I liked the silence and the introspection. I liked climbing into an ST bus on a moment’s whim, just because I liked the sound of the place where it was going, and because it was about to leave in two minutes. I liked not knowing where I would wake up the next day. However, no matter how beautiful the beaches and the mountains and the gurgli...

Our fundamental right to LIFE & LIBERTY takes a backseat to judges RIGHT TO ENJOY HOLIDAYS. Judges all over India are in holiday mood, giving dates for July when court will reopen after summer vacations starting next week. Supreme Court of India has holidays for six months in a year -- a world record. Lower courts work for eight months a year. Give thanks for small mercies  smile emoticon Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share

My main objective in running this poster campaign about judiciary is to tear the veil of silence surrounding the judiciary. I just want to throw open the judiciary to public scrutiny and debate, just like all other democratic institutions. My being right or wrong is irrelevant; I try to be right in what I say, but I am at best a journalist or cartoonist, NOT a legal expert. I’m provoking thought and discussion around various issues concerning the judiciary’s dealings with the public. BUT SOME PEOPLE FEEL THAT NOBODY SHOULD TALK ABOUT JUDICIARY. They feel that judges and lawyers must not be blamed or criticized for the nation’s ills. They feel that although we may criticize government, political parties, and individual politicians, we must never criticize anything concerning judiciary. Let us look at some of the ARGUMENTS of these people, who are self-appointed guardians of judiciary: ARGUMENT # 1: Criticism of "weaken the authority” or “erode the institution” of judiciary, ...

Does judiciary protect the common people of India? Can an ordinary man or woman seek remedies by walking into police station or a court? Are the procedures something that they can understand? Does the court mechanism facilitate people who are in difficulty? Is it sensitive to their needs and constraints? Are lawyers helpful and understanding? I think we all know the answer. Like  ·  Comment  ·  Share