Come Out On The Streets, Don't Be Under Impression That Supreme Court Will Give You Relief- Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal
Come Out On The Streets, Don't Be Under Impression That Supreme Court Will Give You Relief- Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal
Senior Advocate and Rajya Sabha Member Kapil Sibal, while criticizing the functioning of the Supreme Court, urged people to come out on the streets and protest, and said that if people are under the impression that they will get relief from the Supreme Court, they are mistaken.
He started by saying that there is a huge gap between what is said in the important judgments of the Courts and what is happening on the ground. He claimed that Supreme Court's "progressive" judgments were not being followed on the ground. He gave the example of the privacy judgment (Justice K. S. Puttaswamy and Anr. v Union of India and Ors.) and asked what happens to one's privacy when Income Tax or Enforcement Directorate officers come to one's house.
"Kaagaz par likhna baat alag hoti hai, uska palan karna zameen pe baat alag hoti hai. Mai iss nateze pe pahuncha hu ki jabtak samaj ka mansik soch nahi badlegi tab tak na kanoon badlega na samaj badlega. Toh aapko sadak pe aana hoga. Aur ye socho ki Supreme Court ke dwara aap ko rahat milne wali hai, app ko badi baari galat faimy hai. Ye mai 50 saal ke experience ke bad appk to ye bat bata rah hu" (Matters written on paper and what happens on the ground are different. I have come to the conclusion that until the mindset of society changes, neither the law nor the society will change. So you have to come out on the street. If you think that you will get relief from the Supreme Court, you are under a big mistaken impression. I am saying this based on my 50-year experience), Kapil Sibal said in his address.
"After 50 years of practicing in Supreme Court, I feel I have no hope left in the Supreme Court.", he said while speaking at an event called the People's Tribunal on the Judicial Rollback of Civil Liberties at the Constitution Club in New Delhi.
While questioning the independence of the Court, he criticized the manner in which cases were allocated to Judges.
"In a court where judges are seated through a process of compromise and where the chief justice decides which matter will come before which judge and when the matter will be heard, such court can never be independent.", he said.
He said that the independence of institutions can only be achieved when people stand up and demand for independence again.
He also spoke about the way accused got bail within a day or two in hate crime cases.
He emphasized on the need for reformation of criminal procedure in India. He said that FIR can be lodged against anyone and immediately the person is arrested and then the matter is investigated. He said that it is a colonial law that is being followed.
He said that to implicate an innocent person, a case is filed against him under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code. He further said that bail was not given to those accused persons until they prove their innocence.
"Such a law which is upheld by the Supreme Court, then what can you expect from such a court.", he said in his speech.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal also stated that during the hearing of Zakia Jafri case, as per the intelligence agency the fire brigade did not pick up the calls. He said that the SIT constituted by the Supreme Court had failed to investigate the matter as to why the fire brigade failed to pick calls. Kapil Sibal was the lawyer for Zakia Jafri before the Supreme Court and the Court had dismissed the petition.
While speaking about Siddique Kappan's case he said that Kappan has been in prison since 2020 and asked under what basis was he behind the bars. Kapil Sibal had appeared for a union of journalists that had approached the Supreme Court seeking relief for Siddique Kappan.
He also criticized the ruling of the Supreme Court on the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that upheld the Enforcement Directorate's extraordinary powers of seizure and arrest. He said that ED has crossed the limits of individual liberty. Kapil Sibal had led the arguments on behalf of the petitioners in the batch of cases challenging various provisions of the PMLA, which challenge was rejected by the Supreme Court.