WORDS AND
VIEWS
 |
| LORD DENNING |
In 1982
one of the finest English Judge
Lord Denning ( Alfred Thompson Denning
) submitted his resignation as '
Master of the Rolls' ; the third senior most Judge in England. He
was in that chair for twenty years and could have continued till his Death. He
was Judge for 38 years and many Lawyers consider
him as the Greatest Judge of the
century. Many of his verdicts resulted
in changes in the 'British Common Law'. What prompted his resignation were his remarks
in a book in which he seems to have suggested that " some members of the
Black community were unsuitable to serve as Juries , and that immigrant groups may have had
different moral standards to native English". The views made the Black
Lawyers complaint to the Lord Chancellor and he was also criticized in the
Press. A distinguished career thus ended in an unnecessary blemish.
This December Peter Hollingworth, a senior Immigration Judge
had to tender his resignation after he allegedly made racist comments against
an Indian origin woman with surname Patel. she had filed a case of harassment and
was not present in the Court . When the Judge asked for her the prosecutor
informed that she was not in Court. To this the Judge stated " She can't
be doing anything important… with name like Patel she can only be working in a
corner shop…" When she learnt of his comments she complaint of the matter to
the Senior Judge.
Compared to the
above , what has happened in our country; Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti the Union Minister
of State has said in her speech whilst seeking votes for her party to elect sons
of Lord Ram ( Ramzade ) and not
Ilegitimate sons ( Haramzade ).
This provoked the opposition to seek her resignation but the Prime Minister pacified
the Members . Another Member of
Parliament Sakshi Maharaj stated that " Godse was a Patriot" but was
let off with an apology.
Freedom of Speech is
the Corner stone of a Democracy but it is
not unbridled as it has
responsibility and Accountability linked to it . Accountability to the people,
the Judges resigned because they were aware of the ethos of their Nation and
perhaps could understand the grave lapse which the 'People' would not tolerate.
The two Parliamentarians uttered those words for they knew that the people may
tolerate them or perhaps they knew that our people are too engrossed to meet
their economic sustenance to oppose such aberrations. But our Democracy will remain
flawed till such time our Law makers are
not mature and refined in their 'Words
and Views'.
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