The letter was addressed to the Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, where more than 600 lawyers across the country expressed their concern over the ‘Special interest groups’ employing pressure tactics to influence judicial outcomes.
Some of the prominent lawyers like Harish Salve, Manan Kumar Mishra, Adish Agarwala, Chetan Mittal, Pinky Anand, Hitesh Jain, Ujjawala Pawar, Uday Holla and Swaroopam Chaturvedi signed the letter to express discontent of these groups that are using theories like ‘bench-fixing’.
The lawyers group accuse the ‘interest groups’ for selective criticism of the court decisions based on their political agenda and create false narrative about the judges and courts and accuse our judicial institution with the outcomes.
“Their pressure tactics are most obvious in political cases, particularly those involving political figures accused of corruption. These tactics are damaging to our courts and threaten our democratic fabric, “the letter includes.
In addition, with the ongoing hearings of Delhi Chief Minister Arwind Kejriwal’s arrest expresses concern over their attempts to defame the judicial integrity. The letter states that it violates the atmosphere of trust and the functioning of the judiciary.
Further, the lawyers group focused upon the strategic timings of the tactics employed by these ‘interest groups’ while the nation is already set with Lok Sabha elections. They possess attacks directly to damage the public’s trust in our judiciary.
The letter also targeted a section of lawyers without revealing their identities and alleged that they defend politicians by day and then try to influence judges through media at night.
The group of lawyers urged the Supreme Court to stand strong and to take steps against the manipulation of the judiciary for personal or political reasons.
“Staying silent or doing nothing could accidentally give more power to those who mean to do harm. This is not the time to maintain dignified silence as such efforts are happening for a few years and too frequently” the letter added.
