Former Supreme Court judge Justice Abhay Oka has defended Justice Ujjal Bhuyan after a row over remarks on mass disenfranchisement of voters. Justice Oka said the sitting judge committed no judicial impropriety.
Justice Bhuyan had said no court condones the removal of voting rights from millions of citizens. Justice Oka spoke in an interaction with former Judge Advocate General Nilendra Kumar, Founder-Director of Lex Consilium Foundation.
Justice Oka said he heard the full speech Justice Bhuyan gave at NALSAR. The occasion was the valedictory function of a moot court competition on the right to vote. Justice Oka found no comment on the merits of any case pending before the Supreme Court. He also found no criticism of any order in the SIR matter.
A sitting judge should not comment on the merits of a case pending before a coordinate bench or their own bench, Justice Oka said. A judge is also a citizen and stays alert to national issues. A sitting judge must not go to the media or write on a national issue. At a law college, however, a judge speaks as a student of law and is free to discuss legal questions without commenting on a pending matter.
“I don’t think he has crossed limits. On the contrary, I feel he has told the importance of adult franchise to the young students,” Justice Oka said.
Justice Bhuyan traced adult franchise from the 1895 Swaraj Bill through both Government of India acts and the draft Constitution.