The sudden resignation by Bombay High Court’s Justice S.C. Dharmadhikari has stunned the legal fraternity. We do not know as yet what really prompted the very outstanding and brilliant Justice Dharmadhikari to put in his papers. But this is a great and enormous loss for our now-crumbling judiciary.
Justice Dharmadhikari was a fair, and no-nonsense, Judge with an impeccable and unblemished record. It is extremely anguishing that the Supreme Court was unable to find a way out to retain one of the finest jewels in the judiciary. Did justice elude Justice Dharmadhikari? Or did his impeccable principles and integrity reign supreme, leaving the learned Justice with no option but to be the master of his own destiny? Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. His statement: “Hope this institution does not bend before the mighty state, the biggest litigant before it” should be an eye-opener.
As Caroline Kennedy, attorney, diplomat and daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy, observed: “The bedrock of our democracy is the rule of law and that means we have to have an independent judiciary, judges who can make decisions independent of the political winds that are blowing.” Or, as the late President Andrew Jackson of the United States stated: “All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous judiciary.”
Aires Rodrigues,
Ribandar, Goa
