‘The people are watching you and judging you. Your judgments, your work process, how you dispense justice… The people can see, and assess… They form opinions,’ Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said, as he weighed in on the debate, at an event of the Delhi Bar Association.
Mr Rijiju said the Chief Justice had sought his help about the abuse judges face on social media, also adding that in the age of social media, the people now have the power to speak.
‘It is not like the old days, when there was no platform and only netalog (political leaders) could speak.’
About the dark side of social media, Mr Rijiju observed ‘How to control that? Now, judges cannot respond to it on social media. The government was requested to take a firm step… I have taken note of it and have the solution.’
There have been many changes since 1947, so it would be wrong to think that the existing system will carry on and it would never be questioned, Mr Rijiju said. It is the changing situation which dictates the need and this is why the Constitution had to be amended more than a hundred times, he said.
Mr Rijiju has been vocal about the lack of transparency in the current Collegium system of appointment where a panel of the country’s top judges from the Supreme Court pick the names.