Parliament’s condemnation doesn’t curtail Katju’s rights: SC

The Supreme Court on Monday said that it does not prima facie find that the resolution passed by Parliament against former judge Justice Markandey Katju for his remarks against Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose affected his right to freedom of speech. You don’t say that “oh, I am condemned”.

The South Carolina said Parliament’s resolution against Katju was nothing more than criticism and did not appear to have violated any of his rights.

“A resolution is not a legislative act by itself because the resolution does not make you liable for punishment”, the court said.

“Justice Katju is entitled to his views and the country may disagree with his views”.

Reminding Subramaniam that Justice Katju has moved the apex court invoking Article 32 of the constitution for the enforcement of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the constitution, the court asked him to show them how his fundamental rights have been violated by the parliamentary resolution condemning him.

“Once you are in the public domain you must accept criticism. But like he has a right to free speech, others also have a right to speak in criticism”. “The moment you write something and submit it to the judgement of the people, anyone can criticise you… anyone can disagree with you”.

Still, in the face of Subramanium’s insistence, the court said it would examine the larger issue of whether a prior notice was required.

“You [Katju] call Gandhi a British agent. Unless there is anything injurious to your reputation, there is no defamation”.

A bench of Justice T.S. Thakur, Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice R. Banumathi, while agreeing to further hear the matter, appointed senior counsel Fali Nariman as amicus curiae, as Justice Katju’s counsel Gopal Subramaniam told the court that his client could not have been condemned by parliament without being given an opportunity to be heard. “On Bose, I made the short point that through his actions, knowingly or unknowingly, he ended up perpetuating Japanese imperial interest in the Indian subcontinent”, he said. The contribution of these two great personalities and their dedication is unparalleled.

In his plea, Katju, who described Gandhi and Bose as British and Japanese agents respectively in his blog on March 10, contended that his comments made as private person were academic in nature and manifestation of scientific temper. “This House unequivocally condemns the statement given by the former judge of the Supreme Court Shri Markandey Katju unanimously”.