'Justice Loses Its Character If It Turns Into Revenge': CJI Bobde A Day After Hyderabad Encounter

CJI Bobde's remarks came a day after all the four accused in the gruesome rape and murder of a young Hyderabad veterinarian were shot dead in a pre-dawn encounter by Telangana Police. However, he did not particularly mentioned this event in his speech.

Bobde was speaking at the inauguration of a new Rajasthan High Court building. (File Photo/ PTI)

Jodhpur: Newly appointed Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde on Saturday said that a justice loses its character if it becomes a revenge. Speaking at an event organised in Jodhpur, Rajasthan CJI Bobde said, " I don't think justice can ever be or ought to be instant. And justice must never ever take the form of revenge. I believe justice loses its character of justice if it becomes a revenge." His remarks came a day after all the four accused in the gruesome rape and murder of a young Hyderabad veterinarian were shot dead in a pre-dawn encounter by Telangana Police. However, he did not particularly mentioned this event in his speech. Bobde was speaking at the inauguration of a new Rajasthan High Court building with Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in attendance. After the event, while talking to news agency ANI, he said, "recent events in country have sparked off the old debate with new vigour. There is no doubt that criminal justice system must reconsider its position & attitude towards laxity and eventual time it takes to dispose off criminal matters." The Chief Justice also mentioned that there is a need in the judiciary to invoke self-correcting measures, but whether or not they should be publicised is a matter of debate. "We have to devise methods for not only speeding up litigation but all together preventing it. There are laws which provide for pre-litigation mediation," he said, adding that there was a need to consider compulsory pre-litigation mediation.

#WATCH: Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde: I don't think justice can ever be or ought to be instant. And justice must never ever take the form of revenge. I believe justice loses its character of justice if it becomes a revenge. pic.twitter.com/oKIHKecHqt

— ANI (@ANI) December 7, 2019

"I believe the institution (judiciary) must correct itself and indeed it did during the time when the much-criticised press conference was held. It was nothing more than a self-corrective measure and I do not wish to justify it," Bobde said. The CJI further said, "All judges were eminent and Justice (Ranjan) Gogoi in particular showed great competence and led the judiciary from the front." He stressed as an institution, the judiciary must remain committed to making justice accessible to people by strengthening the existing avenues and evolving newer means to achieve an affordable, quick and satisfactory settlement of disputes. "At the same time, we must be aware of the changes and perception about the judiciary," the CJI said. He said recent events in the country had sparked off an old debate with new vigour, where there was no doubt that the criminal justice system must reconsider its position and attitude towards the time it took to dispose of a criminal matter. Over the recent past, the country has witnessed a sudden rise in protests and agitations, especially in the wake of surging rape and violence against women. Several people have come on roads raising eyebrow at the government, the police and even judiciary. The dawn of Friday broke with a strange twist in the Telangana veterinarian's rape and murder case, with all the four accused being shot dead in what the Telanagana police termed it as an 'encounter'. While the move has been cheered by many as "instant justice", experts and human rights activists have expressed anger and termed it "bad precedent". The shock and ire that the incident evoked in denizens and netizens were unprecedented as for almost a week, the media and public discourse was dominated by the incident and more importantly, the delivery of justice after the perpetrators were apprehended by the authorities.