Ex-CJI suggests law to check the rot in judiciary

Verma regretted that the measures he, as CJI, recommended to the Government for judicial accountability have not seen the light of the day. ‘‘I feel ashamed not for any act of my own but because I happen to belong to the same fraternity,’’ he said.

Admitting that the CJI has little powers to act against tainted judges, Verma said that unless the Government enacts a law, with safeguards to curb its misuse, the problem is unlikely to be tackled. ‘‘By and large, the people in the judiciary are honest, but there are few elements who are bringing a bad name to the fraternity,’’ he said.

Asked if he favoured death penalty for rapists, the NHRC chairman said: ‘‘It is a highly debatable question. In some countries, life term awarded to convicts means that he will be in jail till the rest of his life. That is not the case in India. Also, the principle of rarest of rare cases exists in the law.’’

Earlier, delivering the Justice M. Hidayatullah memorial lecture, Verma said that corruption is emerging as a serious threat to human rights. He recalled how late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had once said that only a small part of development funds sent by the Centre reaches the needy. Verma said that judicial activism is needed to fill the void caused by loopholes in the law or inaction by the authorities.