New Delhi: Hitting out at the ruling BJP government regarding its governance "antics" using the judiciary, the Congress on Tuesday said that the Modi government's approach to the judiciary hints toward the three I's – Intimidation, interference and influence and it can equally be accused of the three S's – Sabotage, subjugation and subverting the judiciary.
"This deadly combination of the three I's along with the three S's is deplorable. It is now the worst kept secret of legal circles that this control freak, micro-management and dossier-loving sarkar and its ruling party have indulged in various manipulative tactics qua the judiciary, which is the most trusted third organ of the governance," Singhvi said.
The Rajya MP and senior Congress leader also pointed out that the Centre has been "excessively but selectively" delaying the judicial appointment proposals for the High Courts and the Supreme Court.
Singhvi further said that the ruling party has "arbitrarily bifurcated" approved judicial appointee lists where few appointments have been additionally made a few months after the initial appointments from the same common list, thereby "irreversibly prejudicing their inter se seniority".
Accusing the ruling government of attempting to install a "section of judicial personnel" after being vetted by it and its supporters on impermissible tests of loyalty, ideology and commitment to itself, he said, "The BJP government has created an atmosphere of "fear, trepidation, anxiety and hesitation" among the judicial sector by the misuse of the "dossier raj".
Referring to the Mohammad Zubair case, Singhvi said that the entire army of law officers was put out to oppose bail matters related to the fact-checker.
"In a worse case of shooting the messenger while ignoring the message, they (senior law officers) were speaking in defence of those whose illegal conducts have been exposed by that fact-checker. It was a sad sight," he said.
Taking note of SC's July 10 judgement on bail jurisprudence, he said that it is much-needed guidance from the apex court about the approach to bails and about how "bail, not jail" being the norm is operationalised in practice.