KOCHI: Coming down heavily on those who turned against him for upholding a vigilance court order directing further probe into the bar bribery case, Justice B Kemal Pasha said on Sunday that criticising a judge on the basis of a judgment was unfair. “Criticising a judge for a judgment is similar to flogging someone after tying him up. I have many enemies because of my verdicts in various cases. But I don’t fear,” said Pasha while speaking at the Justice V R Krishna Iyer commemoration meeting. Justice Pasha was the chief guest. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was also present during the speech.
Further stressing his point, Justice Pasha said: “Judges are also human beings. They also have tears and sorrows. They will bleed if somebody stabs them. Judgments can be criticised. But it should not be against the judges. I know how to reply to those criticisms, which are made out of ignorance of law. But I have to be calm since I respect the judiciary. I have never avoided any cases because of proximity factor. If I do so, it will be against the oath I took as a judge. Whatever a judge has to say, it has to be said through his judgments only.”
He lauded Justice Krishna Iyer as someone who took extreme care to keep his commitment to people.
“Justice Krishna Iyer was a judge who had upheld the commitment to people. He wrote down difference of opinion in judgments. But his verdicts were always within the limit of the law. Justice Krishna Iyer had also upheld the privilege of judges to interfere in law-making. He represented social justice and social commitment at the same time,” said Justice Pasha.