Comments by "M Shastri" (@libshastra) on "Supreme Court on Pegasus, its far reaching significance for liberty u0026 free press" video.

Good start but this work should have done by the Parliamentary committee not in the Supreme Court. It's sad that the Supreme Court has become a negotiator between political parties rather than an institution that ensure it's own diktat of "Jail is the exception" is followed by lower courts.
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The Supreme court will sweep this under the rug like they did with their own diktat of "Jail is the exception". Folks are still in jail without a pre-trial, judges keep adjourning cases and the Supreme Court is quiet. Why isn't it doing it's job? These are the questions we should be asking about the most dysfunctional branch of the government.
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@pichumanisankar2617 Police reforms is not a prerequisite. Judges can and should exercise their power to squash charge sheets without proper evidence, deem evidence collected without prior consent or warrant as inadmissible, set limits through their interpretation of the law and invalidate laws with vague definitions as unconstitutional. You don't need Police reforms to do any of that, our constitutional already provides for and guarantees the independence of the Judiciary.
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I'll start believing when the Supreme Court starts enforcing it's own diktat of "Jail is the exception". Otherwise this is nothing more than pomp and circumstance.
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@kemalataturk1917 right now, the Judiciary is the most dysfunctional branch in India. At the rate at which it adjourns cases, it won't be long before it becomes toothless.
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@bullseye7541 the opposition has it's space, it's called Parliament. The problem is our opposition is really stupid - unlike the leaders of the Past like Gandhi, Savarkar, Ambedkar, Nehru, Sardar Patel etc does not offer an Idea of India, a vision. Through their dynastic control of their party apparatus they have created an inbred political culture that runs on sycophancy rather than policies and leadership. They do not understand Parliamentary process because they feel entitled to be a Parliamentarian. I doubt, there will be a civil war because the days of sycophancy are dying. Even smaller oppositions benchesh have done better work in Parliament than the current crop of opposition politicians.
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Brilliant like the previous diktat of "Jail is the exception". It's meaningless as long as the courts keep adjourning cases and keeps people in jail without finishing their bail proceedings. Our court system is the most dysfunctional branch of government right now. Even the bureaucracy these days gets more done than the courts.
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@orunabho not true. Read up Keshavnanda v. Govt of Kerala. There are limits to Parliamentary supremacy - The first limit is Parliament can't promulgate laws against the natural rights of a citizen The second limit is Parliament cannot promulgate laws that dissolves or alters the democratic nature of government The third limit is Parliament cannot promulgate laws that impinges on the Judiciary's independence.
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@anantkumar7805 Govt doesn't dictate how courts should function. It doesn't tell judges not to adjourn or limit adjournment or how cases should be handled. That's the role of the Supreme Court. Govt also doesn't instruct judges to uphold fundamental rights or follow diktats from the Supreme Court, that's the Supreme Court's job to ensure it's precedents are respected by the lower courts. Umar Khalid was jailed without trial for almost a year, if the Supreme Court cared about natural rights or haebus corpus, it would have called a suo moto and started bail proceedings immediately. You can't just blame the Govt for everything.
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@anantkumar7805 well my issue is the current set of judges adds to the mess rather than try to clean it up. There's no necessity for a judge to adjourn a case and set the date months in advance. If the Supreme Court thinks political infighting over pegasus requires a suo moto, then something as basic as violation of Fundamental rights and haebus corpus should be treated with the same amount of urgency. Nothing is stopping the Supreme Court to suo moto Umar's detention.
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@pichumanisankar2617 That's because the judges themselves keeps adjourning rather than decide on cases. Judges have the power to dispense justice. You don't need Police reform for that.
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Thanks!
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Boo, I thought I'd get to write my thank you comment.
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@ThePrintIndia there's a dearth of good journalism with wide coverage in India. The press is after all the fourth estate of any democratic society and it needs to be strong and well funded.
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