'...Though he was the first CJI to face a sexual harassment charge, the controversy deepened when he sat on the bench hearing the case in a Saturday hearing devised by him. Justice Gogoi was absolved by a questionable due process, and then the Central government persuaded the woman not to file further internal proceedings on the promise of reinstatement for her relatives and herself. This cloud will remain on his tenure, and the court... He had his own home-grown agenda relentlessly to push the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.
'...If you followed the news in 2019, you might have got the feeling that the Supreme Court was running the country. You wouldn’t be far off. Every issue of any consequence, and many of none whatsoever, found their way to the Court. Through the course of the year, the Court decidedor chose not to decidecases that went to the very heart of India’s constitutional law and Indian society. On occasion, when concerned citizens looked to the Court to stand up for civil liberties, it let the matter slide; when it did take action, its orders often left loopholes the government could exploit.
'On 19 December, the Delhi High Court heard six petitions demanding a probe into the Delhi Police’s violent response to the protests by the student community of Jamia Millia Islamia against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019. According to numerous accounts, on 15 December, the police forcibly entered the university campus and teargassed its library and brutally beat students. That night, the police attack left at least two dozen students injured. The police detained fifty students as well, according to one of the petitions in the Delhi High Court.
The past few days have seen the most widespread and energised mass protests since the fascists came to power in 2014. And it hasn't been a great few years. People died in bank queues and trillions were wiped off the economy by the great masterstroke of demonetisation, but there were no large scale protests. There was anger and sympathy when Kashmiris were suddenly demoted to fourth class citizens, but that too didn't translate into large demonstrations across the country. The Citizenship Amendment Act, however, seemed to break a spell.
Students have been particularly courageous in protesting this Act, facing violence and demonisation, and demolishing the notion that India's youth have all been numbed to idiocy by years of relentless and repetitive propaganda. The scale of the protests have clearly taken the government by surprise. In Orwellian style, hate-monger-in-chief appealed to people not to let "vested interests" divide society. "Vested interests" presumably refers to young people some of whom wear vests. (Some also took off their vests.) And "society" presumably refers to the NDA, some of whose junior members are starting to feel a little awkward.
'The Supreme Court on Monday gave a stern message to the protesting students across the country who are protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, and said the top court will not be held to ransom or be bullied as it set the date for hearing the matter on such protests for Tuesday... The top court said it should first be assured that there is peace and no rioting, and then only it will hear the matters connected with the alleged police high-handedness on violent protests in Jamia area in south Delhi against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. Chief Justice S.A.
'The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed all 18 review petitions filed against its November 9 judgment to allot the disputed land in Ayodhya to the Hindu parties and clearing the path for the construction of a Ram temple...'
'Over three months after he was first arrested by the CBI, former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram was granted bail by the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The bail is in the case filed against him by the Enforcement Directorate. He is expected to come out of prison shortly... According to reports, Chidambaram reiterated in court that others named in the case have either not been arrested or had received bail. In October, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Chidambaram in connection with the INX Media case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
'Justice Gogoi chose a moment, a few days before he remitted office, in a public function in Delhi, to vigorously defend the NRC in Assam. It is unusual for an incumbent Chief Justice to publicly declare his views on highly politically fraught matters... The country today stands at the brink of catastrophic human suffering and injustice, if the government implements, nation-wide, the National Register of Citizens (NRC), as announced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
'There is much to write about today. But this post will follow precedent (unlike some of the major judgments delivered during the ex-Chief Justice’s tenure) and – like last year – focus on the law. I will not, therefore, discuss the sexual harassment allegations of April/May 2019, although they constitute an important part of the ex-Chief Justice’s legacy (discussed here, here, here, here, and here).
'The Supreme Court on Thursday gave a clean chit to the Narendra Modi government on the purchase of 36 fully loaded Rafale fighter jets from French company Dassault Aviation, rejecting the plea for registration of an FIR by the CBI for alleged commission of cognisable offence in the deal. The apex court dismissed the pleas seeking review of the December 14, 2018 verdict in which it had said that there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets...'
