NEW DELHI: A group of retired bureaucrats has written to Chief Justice of India N V Ramana over the demolition of houses of people who took part in protests in Uttar Pradesh over the remarks on Prophet Mohammed. The former bureaucrats urged the CJI to take suo motu cognizance of “gross violations” of the rule of law in the state and other parts of the country.
The letter by Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), signed by 90 eminent persons, was sent to the CJI on Monday. It stated that if the judiciary doesn’t intervene, the entire edifice of constitutional governance may collapse in the country.
Referring to an appeal sent to the CJI last week by another select group of former judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts and leading advocates, making a similar appeal, the CCG said the demolition drive and the abuse of laws for political ends was just one element of a larger policy for converting the administrative and police apparatus into an instrument of brutal repression.
‘Arrogance of majoritarian power’
The signatories to the letter include AS Dulat, Wajahat Habibullah and TKA Nair, among others. “There is a sense of impunity and the arrogance of majoritarian power which seems to be driving this disregard for constitutional values,” they wrote to the CJI.