In a significant development that can have a bearing on the relationship between the executive and the judiciary, the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee refused to take back the scathing remarks she made on the judiciary in the state assembly on 14 August.
'I will repeat [the criticism] one thousand times. I spoke about a value-based judiciary. Some judges are fair, others are not; some politicians are corrupt, others are not; some media persons are fair and others are not. Judgements have been purchased. I will speak for the welfare of ordinary citizens, and no one can stop me from doing that, even if it means that it requires my appearance in court or going to jail,' Banerjee said at the Writers Building on Thursday.
A lawyer by education, the chief minister though did not repeat the allegation about judges taking money to pass judgements. Instead, she said, 'Reforms of the judiciary was also on the Trinamool Congress’s election agenda. There are cases which take years to get justice. That affects the common man and I will raise my voice for them.'
Interestingly, the assembly session in question was not an official one.
Taking up a plea for contempt proceedings against the chief minister on the issue, the Calcutta high court on Thursday directed two newspapers and two channels to file affidavits on the authenticity of their reports on her speech. A former Mayor of Kolkata, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, had brought Banerjee’s statement on the judiciary to the court’s notice. The lawyer Kalyan Banerjee, however, defended her remark, saying that the statement did not amount to contempt.
'I will repeat [the criticism] one thousand times. I spoke about a value-based judiciary. Some judges are fair, others are not; some politicians are corrupt, others are not; some media persons are fair and others are not. Judgements have been purchased. I will speak for the welfare of ordinary citizens, and no one can stop me from doing that, even if it means that it requires my appearance in court or going to jail,' Banerjee said at the Writers Building on Thursday.
A lawyer by education, the chief minister though did not repeat the allegation about judges taking money to pass judgements. Instead, she said, 'Reforms of the judiciary was also on the Trinamool Congress’s election agenda. There are cases which take years to get justice. That affects the common man and I will raise my voice for them.'
Interestingly, the assembly session in question was not an official one.
Taking up a plea for contempt proceedings against the chief minister on the issue, the Calcutta high court on Thursday directed two newspapers and two channels to file affidavits on the authenticity of their reports on her speech. A former Mayor of Kolkata, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, had brought Banerjee’s statement on the judiciary to the court’s notice. The lawyer Kalyan Banerjee, however, defended her remark, saying that the statement did not amount to contempt.