Former Supreme Court judge Justice Markandey Katju has lashed out at former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi for accepting the Rajya Sabha nomination just weeks after relinquishing his post as the country’s top most judge. Calling Gogoi a ‘sexual pervert’ and ‘shameless and disgraceful,’ Justice Katju said that there was ‘hardly any vice which was not in this man.’
Justice Katju tweeted, “I have been a lawyer for 20 yrs and a judge for another 20. I hv known many good judges & many bad judges. But I have never known any judge in the Indian judiciary as shameless & disgraceful as this sexual pervert Ranjan Gogoi. There was hardly any vice which was not in this man.’
I have been a lawyer for 20 yrs and a judge for another 20. I hv known many good judges & many bad judges. But I have never known any judge in the Indian judiciary as shameless & disgraceful as this sexual pervert Ranjan Gogoi. There was hardly any vice which was not in this man
— Markandey Katju (@mkatju) March 17, 2020
His tweet has gone viral on social media with more than 4,000 retweets and nearly 15,000 likes. He found plenty of support from his followers on the microblogging site.
Justice (Retired) AP Shah told NDTV that this was the ‘death knell for the separation of powers and independence of judiciary.’ He said, “The message it sends to the judiciary as a whole is that if you give judgments that are favourable to the executive, you will be rewarded. If you don’t do so, you will be treated adversely or you might be transferred or not considered for elevation.”
Justice (retired) Madan B Lokur, who was one of the four Supreme Court judges, who held the extraordinary press conference in January 2018, had said that former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi accepting the Rajya Sabha nomination from the BJP government will redefine ‘the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary.’
Gogoi, for his part, has said that he will speak about his Rajya Sabha nomination only after taking the oath. “I will go to Delhi probably tomorrow. Let me first take oath, then I will speak in detail to the media why I accepted this,” he was quoted by NDTV.
Justices Gogoi, Lokur, J Chelameswar and Kurian Joseph had held an extraordinary press conference in January 2018 to raise serious questions on the independence of the judiciary under the then Chief Justice of India Deepak Misra.
