Delhi Sealing was most difficult case for Chief Justice Of India
Outgoing Chief Justice of India Y. K. Sabharwal on Saturday described the “sealing case” in the Capital as the most difficult of his career.
Talking to newspersons on the eve of his retirement, Mr. Justice Sabharwal said: “The issue of sealing was difficult, as on the one hand it was a question of law and on the other it was the sufferings of people.”
Several things were said about him that he had no compassion, sympathy and that he was not sensitive to humanitarian issues, he recalled. “Laws are equal to all. I had to stick to the law and I cannot make new law. I have to implement the law,” he said.
Asked whether he was under any pressure on the sealing issue, he said, “If your fundamentals are clear and your approach is clear and you stick to the oath, there is no question of pressure.”
Mr. Justice Sabharwal said he had to earn the wrath of his friends and relatives on the issue. “My friends and relatives even stopped talking to me. Yesterday one of my relatives [affected by the sealing order] told me sarcastically that I am a big man. I told him I cannot solve individual problems. The problem is because of corruption in the system and flaws in the Master Plan.” Asked whether the Government could change the law, he said: “It is for the legislature to repeal or change a law. The Government has the full right to enact any legislation.”
Describing as unfortunate the Noida Bar’s decision that no lawyer would defend the accused in the Nithari killings case, he said the accused were entitled to all legal assistance to defend themselves for a fair trial. Legal assistance could not be refused to the accused simply because the charges levelled against them were serious in nature.
“Whether it is Nithari or the Jammu and Kashmir sex scandal or any other case,” he said, “I cannot think as a man of law that an accused should be denied legal assistance or the Bar should pass a resolution not to defend them. Why do you presume that the accused have already been convicted? An accused is presumed to be innocent unless he is convicted.”
He appealed to the lawyers to keep their emotions under control and rise above such feelings.
“Whether it is Nithari, Jessica Lal case or in the past the Indira Gandhi assassination case, the lawyers have appeared and defended the accused,” he said.