“Justice Varma Should Have Been Arrested and Interrogated in Custody”: Dushyant Dave

"Justice Varma should have been arrested and interrogated in custody": Dushyant Dave, former President, Supreme Court Bar Association, to Karan Thapar for The Wire.

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In a forceful and passionate and even, at times, emotional interview, one of India’s foremost and most highly regarded lawyers and a former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association has said that Justice Yashwant Varma, in whose house large sums of unaccounted money were found, should have been arrested and interrogated in custody. Dushyant Dave says that within 24 hours the Chief Justice of India and the top two judges should have determined whether there is a case to be inquired into and, on establishing that there is, Justice Varma should been arrested and interrogated in custody by the police.



In a 30-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Dushyant Dave said that there is “no mechanism whatsoever” for in-house judicial accountability. He said it’s “completely absent”. He said over the last 40 years the judiciary has “deteriorated year by year”. He said the situation has become “unstoppable and incurable”.



Dushyant Dave said that top members of the bar – and he specifically mentioned Kapil Sibal, the present President of the Supreme Court Bar Association – should meet with the Chief Justice and top judges and immediately devise a proper statutory mechanism for making judges accountable when they err or are guilty of misconduct.



In the same interview, Dushyant Dave also said that the Collegium System of appointing judges is not working. It is ignoring good people and often promoting inferior people. He specifically said the judgement in the second judges case was a mistake and he suspects that it was an attempt to grab for the judiciary the power of appointment.



Most importantly of all, Dushyant Dave appealed to Parliament, both members of the government and the opposition, to consult judges and judicial experts and devise a new and different National Judicial Appointments Commission within the next 15-30 days and immediately do away with the Collegium System.



I will stop there. This interview is not just outspoken but will shatter most peoples’ illusions and to others seem like an explosion of dramatic criticisms and suggestions. It’s best you should see and hear for yourself what Mr. Dave has said. I have only given you a few headlines.


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