Two Lama on Eve of
Retirement of Hon’ble Justice K.S. Panicker Radhakrishnan, Judge, Supreme Court
of India
(14th May, 2014)
(1)
On the Mountains of
Tibet
Younger Lama asked Elder Lama,
“What can you say about Justice
K.S.Radhakrishnan?”
“He applied Doctrine of Titanic to Judiciary.”
Replied Elder Lama
“What is the Doctrine of Titanic?”
Asked Younger Lama
Elder Lama explained,
“More than 100 Years ago
A ship called Titanic was hit by an
ice berg.
It started sinking.
Lifeboats were very few
It was not possible to save all
An officer pulled out a gun
Shot in the air
And laid down Doctrine of Titanic.
He said,
‘Only
women and children shall be allowed
To board first in life
boats.’
The rest were allowed to sink
Younger Lama asked,
“How did the Judge apply this
Doctrine of Titanic to Judiciary?”
Elder Lama replied,
“The Judge saw that the
Ship of Judiciary was sinking very fast.
He gave urgent hearings and life
boats
To those cases which affected masses.
Thus he applied Doctrine of Titanic.”
(2)
“Why do you say that
Ship of Judiciary is sinking?”
Asked Younger Lama
Elder Lama gave a long reply,
“In 1975, a Supreme Court Judge said,
‘If Legislature won’t legislate
We judges won’t be sitting here
With our hands folded back.”
Media interpreted this as a stern
warning
By Judiciary to Legislature and
Executive,
And it was a front page news headline
On all newspapers across India
That night, lamps of hopes
Were lit up in a millions of huts!
But next week
In all Supreme Court Judges' Meeting
Everyone disagreed with this
Judge
And the Ship of Judiciary
Started sinking from that day!
And in next week,
A Law Maker bluntly replied to
Judiciary,
‘It is our prerogative
To pass or not to pass any law.
It is our prerogative to pass
Unconstitutional laws also.
It is your prerogative
To strike down such laws if you can.’
And since then,
The Ship of Judiciary is sinking
At speed of
One inch per month.”
Elder Lama ended his explanation
(3)
“I can visualise a ship sinking in
sea
But I cannot visualise
Ship of Judiciary sinking
In ocean of arrears of cases!
Can you please draw a picture for me?
How will the End of Judiciary look
like?”
Younger Lama requested
Elder Lama drew a word-picture for
him,
“That day
CJI will walk into a court of
Insolvency Magistrate.
He will plead that
His Judges cannot give quality
judgements
In more than 10 cases per day.
He will pray for permission
To write off rest of cases.
The Magistrate will accept his plea,
And he will direct
That excess cases be outsourced
To judges of China, Japan and Korea
And expanses be debited to
Consolidated Fund of India
Under heading ‘Salaries of Judges'
He will further direct that
From today onward no court will
accept
More than 10 cases per judge per day
In any of the courts of India.
Elder Lama thus drew imaginary
picture.
(4)
Younger Lama asked again,
“If I were sitting in court of
Justice Radhakrishnan,
What would have I learned?"
Elder Lama replied,
“Had you been sitting there,
You would have learned
An Art which has vanished from India
since 2002.
You would have learned
‘Art of asking
questions
When you already know
the answers
And when you already
know
What reply you may get.’
Younger Lama wondered and asked,
“Why would I ask a question
If I already know the answer
And when I already know what reply will
be given?”
Elder Lama replied,
“This art is used to navigate people
Into desired submissions
And to elicit truth from them
This is done
By breaking barriers of defence
mechanism of their conscious mind.
This Art is widely used by diplomats and
peace makers
All over world
And it was practiced in India till
2002
And was also known as Art of Cross-examination”
“What happened in 2002?”
Asked Younger Lama
Again Elder Lama gave a long reply,
“In 2002, a Supreme Court Judgement held
That any types of questions
Can be asked in examinations and
cross examinations.
Objections as to questions need not
be decided
Then and there!!
This killed art of cross examination in India.
Since then evidences in criminal
trials
Are reduced to mechanical assertions and denials
on oath
And rebuttals in Sec.313.
Since no attempt is made
To elicit truth from witnesses,
Many languish in jail,
Simply because someone said something
on oath
And his lawyer did not know art of
cross examination.”
“How would Justice Radhakrishnan ask
questions?
Younger Lama wanted to know more
About the Art applied by this Judge
In his daily conversations in courts
Elder Lama replied,
“When any matter will be taken up,
The Judge will ask innocently,
‘Is this Criminal or Civil case?’
The aim of his first question will be to
disarm and to relax the counsel.
The Counsel will feel that the judge
has not read papers.
He will feel emboldened, relaxed and
disarmed.
Judge will then ask three to four even
more innocent questions.
Before the counsel realises what he
has replied,
He would have admitted the weakest
points of his case!
Here,
Before asking these questions,
The Judge already knew the answers
And he also knew what the Counsel
Was likely to reply!
With his art of asking innocent
questions,
He could navigate smoothly
Through most complicated and most contested
cases.”
Explained the Elder Lama
Younger Lama reflected
And then tried to see if he could imbibe this art.
Then he asked innocently,
“When is Justice Radhakrishnan going
to retire?”
Here, before asking this question,
Younger Lama knew what the answer was!
He also knew what Elder Lama would
probably reply!
But Elder Lama gave him unexpected reply,
“Judges don’t retire, they just stop
coming to court
To make way
For next generation of Judges.”
-Haresh Raichura
Advocate on Record
