Congress accuses Modi government of interfering with, intimidating judiciary

Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said the top court’s rulings in favour of indiscriminate arrests of and denial of bail to the accused gave the impression of the country being a police state

A day after the sitting Karnataka High Court judge Justice H. P. Sandesh talked about the threat of transfer by “someone from Delhi” in an open court, the Congress on Tuesday accused the Narendra Modi government of “intimidating, interfering and influencing the judiciary”.

Senior Supreme Court Advocate and Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi raised the issue of the top court’s ruling, noting that “indiscriminate arrests and denial of bail give the impressions of a Police State” and asserted that Congress-ruled States would liberalise bail laws.

Neither the Law Minister nor the BJP has responded to the Congress’ accusations until the filing of this report.

“The Modi Government’s approach to the judiciary smacks of 3 Is and equally 3 Ss Approach. Intimidation, interference and influence are unfortunately the three notorious spikes of the Modi Government’s approach to the judiciary. BJP is equally on a spree to sabotage, subjugate and subvert the judiciary,” Mr. Singhvi told reporters at a press conference.

Recalling Justice Sandesh’s charge that he had received an indirect threat of transfer after he pulled up the anti-corruption bureau chief of BJP-ruled Karnataka, Mr. Singhvi said the ruling party not only tries to ‘intimidate’ the judiciary but also attempts “to install a section of judicial personnel vetted by it [BJP] and its supporters on impermissible tests of loyalty, ideology and commitment to itself”.

Speaking on the targeting of the Supreme Court bench that heard the Nupur Sharma case, he said, “When a bench of the Supreme Court made strong and pertinent observations regarding the reckless conduct and arrogance of a BJP spokesperson, we saw a three-pronged attack that has become an all-too-familiar tool of the ruling dispensation. Savage and faceless trolls spewed fake news and propaganda, an orchestrated letter by ‘intellectuals’ was dispatched and it was accompanied by one-sided reporting by sections of the media”.

Mr. Singhvi, who is a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), also alleged that the government uses delay in judicial appointments to affect seniority of judges and misuses government dossiers to make oblique insinuations about them.