Expressing concern about the current state of justice, MP Rajya Sabha and attorney general Kapil Sibal on Sunday said some members of the institution were “disappointed” and “hanging my head in shame” over what had happened in the past. In an interview Sibal also said that over the years, free speech, and the way it was interpreted by the Supreme Court, unfortunately, a constitutionally allowed environment is not allowed. Attacking the BJP-led government at the Center, he said there was an emergency “present” in which “throttling” institutions. The law is “broken” every day, he says.
Sibal also said that the current era seeks ‘Opposition-mukt Bharat’ and not just ‘Congress-muktBharat’.Asked about the arrest of Alt News founder Mohammad Zubair, Sibal said it was “deeply disturbing” that some members of the judiciary were “disappointed”.”Some members of the institution (judges) that I have been a part of for 50 years, have let me down. I shame my head in shame that it has happened by telephone from the UK.
Commenting on Zubair’s arrest and his denial of bail by a Delhi court, he said in a tweet four years ago without public results, it was “unthinkable” that the man had been arrested.”Furthermore, as they have now realized that the arrests will not continue, the investigating unit is looking at other issues unrelated to the previous arrests. It is clear what we are seeing is the mala fide arrest and subsequent fishing investigation,” Sibalisaid.What investigators are now doing is arresting a person, and then they start investigating what he or she may have broken. So they wanted to get more records and then go back to court to plead guilty to other charges for trying to deny the defendant bail, which he filed.
Asked about criticism of certain parts of the Supreme Court decision in the case of Zakia Jafri in which the high court agreed with the SIT to then-Gujarat minister Narendra Modi and 63 others in the 2002 public hearings, Sibal said as a member. Jafri’s lawyer should not have commented immediately.“But I can tell you what we have seen in the past, the judges extracting the findings of the unresolved issues, the judges extracting the findings of the unresolved issues and the judges disregarding copyright infringement and supporting conflicting administrative measures. they cannot defend themselves, ”said Sibal.
“I do not want to comment on any particular matter but as I have said I have been a part of this institution, in the past, I hang my head in shame,” he said.At a UN Human Rights office expressing concern about the arrest of Zubair and activist attorney TeestaSetalvad, Sibal said “without a doubt” the image of India is affected around the world but insisted that people should rely on Indian courts to protect human rights.
“Our people at work, the people who are part of the institution, including the legally married judges, it is time for all of us to speak openly, openly without fear of the current situation,” he said.Commenting on Nupur Sharma’s controversial statement about the Prophet Muhammad, Sibal said this was the result of a culture of intolerance and deep-seated hatred in our national discourse.”All of this is happening, why, because hatred has become an instrument of electoral gain. of a community-based agenda; a divisive agenda rather than a cohesive one, “he said.
In a recent statement by the BJP on Emergency Situations imposed in 1975 by then-government Indira Gandhi, Sibal said the state of emergency was declared by the powers provided for in the Constitution.”The act of declaring an emergency was unfortunately considered legal by the Supreme Court. This only shows that the courts are innocent. We would like to forget that ‘dark day’ when that decision was made,” said the former union minister. , who recently left the ANC.
Sibal said today the situation was worse because, without the rule of law, there was an “emergency”.”What we are seeing is the movement of all the institutions built under the Constitution to protect us. As the authorities take over almost all of these institutions there is an emergency where the law is being violated on a daily basis,” he said.Sibal, who was about to start a new term after being elected inconsistently with Rajya Sabha of Uttar Pradesh as an independent candidate with the support of the Samajwadi party, said the opposition had no choice but to stand united.
“You can see that it has been a game since the overthrow of the officially elected government in Uttarakhand. After that, we saw the demolition of Arunachal Pradesh, the majority of the non-governmental states in Goa and Manipur, governments were also overthrown in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, now and Maharashtra,” he said. The elected governments are being overthrown by the reversal of the election decision and the misuse of the Tenth Schedule in a way that is clearly wrong, he said. This means that the current government wants not only “Congress-mukt Bharat but Opposition-mukt Bharat”, asserted Sibal.
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