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Journalism of Courage
Had I been an ordinary citizen, I would have filed an FIR against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi,8217;8217; said outgoing the Chief Justice of India, V.N. Khare. He felt so revolted by and so pained over the lack of action by the state government against the rioters that he wished he could do something against those who had been found wanting.
Justice Khare did not use the word 8220;complicity8221; for the Gujarat government but said all that to convey it while talking about the transfer of the Best Bakery and other cases outside the state. He said a word or two to suggest that he expected the Centre to act when the state had failed. He was particularly critical of the Gujarat high court. 8216;8216;The entire approach suffers from serious infirmities, its conclusions are lopsided and lack proper or judicious application of the mind,8217;8217; he noted without mincing words.
When I met him at his residence, 5 Krishna Menon Marg in New Delhi, on the eve of his retirement 8212; he turned 65 on Sunday 8212; Justice Khare told me how he had to play many roles, including that of prosecutor, to get things moving in the state. He said that 8216;8216;there was no cross-examination8217;8217; of even those 36 witnesses who had turned hostile after having recorded their statements before the police on what they had seen.
8216;8216;When ghastly killings take place in the land of Mahatma Gandhi, it raises a very pertinent question as to whether some people have become so bankrupt in their ideology that they have deviated from everything which was so dear to him,8217;8217; he pointed out. 8216;8216;When a large number of people, including innocent and helpless children and women, are killed in a diabolic manner, it brings disgrace to the entire society.8217;8217;
When I told him that he had restored the faith of India in the Constitution, in justice and in pluralism, he smiled in humility and preferred to keep quiet. But then I thought how lonely were people like him in the country when even intellectuals were getting saffronised and justifying the massacre in Gujarat as if it were something 8216;8216;inevitable8217;8217;, coming to the Muslims because of 8216;8216;their temerity8217;8217;.
What about the minorities in India? Justice Khare was asked this question when he recently led a delegation to Islamabad to attend the SAARC judges8217; conference. 8216;8216;So long as the Supreme Court is there, they have nothing to worry,8217;8217; he replied. A similar question was put forth to him in South Africa and he gave the same reply. He said he never felt like a stranger in Pakistan. It was like going from one locality to another, from Old Delhi to New Delhi, not from Delhi to Lahore. He said as much to President Pervez Musharraf who asked him at a dinner whether Pakistan had treated him well.
Justice Khare8217;s belief in pluralism is unwavering. He said that in a country like India with heterogeneous religions and a multiracial and multilingual society which necessitated protection against discrimination, 8216;8216;taking lives of persons belonging to one or the other religion is bound to have dangerous repercussions and reactive effects on society at large and may tend to encourage fissiparous elements to undermine the unity and security of the nation on account of internal disturbances8217;8217;.
Justice Khare is a self-effacing person who overwhelms you with his modesty, integrity and devotion. He hates to talk about himself and takes life in his stride. He was on the bench for 22 years, first at Allahabad and then in the Supreme Court. I got the impression that he was a person who did not mind fading away from the limelight like a distinguished general. Whatever his future, he will continue to hold an important place in the annals of India. His judgement on the Gujrat riot cases will always be remembered.
He lives all by himself. His wife died a few months ago. His two sons have taken to his profession and practice at Allahabad. His daughter is married to an economist living in the US. 8216;8216;They will be coming now that I am retiring,8217;8217; he said. 8216;8216;I had only 200 days with me and I did whatever I could,8217;8217; he added about his 14-month stint as the Chief Justice of India. 8216;8216;I had so many things in mind but had no time to execute them.8217;8217; He talked about the constitution of an all-India judicial service to the prime minister, who was receptive to the idea. 8216;8216;But nothing has moved,8217;8217; he regretted. 8216;8216;The problem with the government is that its wheels turn too slowly.8217;8217;
I thought this was an opportune time to tell him about the general impression that the judiciary was usurping the executive8217;s territory. 8216;8216;What do we do when the government does not act,8217;8217; countered Justice Khare. 8216;8216;It makes laws but does not implement them. We in the judiciary do not feel happy when we have to intervene in affairs which the executive should itself take up. Disappointed and exasperated people come to us for remedy. We have no other option except to do something.8217;8217; On the appointment of judges, he was all for a judicial commission. But he did not want government members to be in a majority. A commission of five should have three from the judiciary, he said. 8216;8216;Otherwise, it would lapse into the same old system8217;8217; where the chief ministers had their way.
As I left the drawing room where we sat, I couldn8217;t help but notice how drab was the official residence of the Chief Justice of India. The government should properly maintain the house and decorate the drawing room with paintings by some well-known Indian artists. Justice Khare had only a framed Jamini Roy reprint beaming from one of the walls. The others were bare.
