Quite understandably, Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Varma has opted to confidently fight back. He is engaged in chest-beating and would have the world believe he’s innocence personified. The fire incident at his ‘outhouse’ on March 14 shamed the judiciary. Police went on record to say huge stocks of currency, apparently in crores, went up in flames. A video of the “recovery of the burnt cash” was also released by the police. Varma, traveling at the time, returned home not only to allege that this was part of a “conspiracy” against him – without suggesting who conspired against him. He’s unruffled. Despite the fact that the Supreme Court has taken a “serious” view of the police findings, ordered an inquiry and stopped Varma from hearing cases, chances are that this tainted judge would stand his ground, pull strings and laugh his way back to his court chamber. It’s hardly ever that cases against the high and mighty are investigated with any seriousness or taken to the logical conclusion. After a period of suspension, the sinners, bluff-masters, laugh their way back to their jobs and seats even with full back wages.
Note the fact that Varma functioned as a high court judge even as he was involved in complaints of fraud in the past. Keeping loads of unaccounted cash in one’s possession is a crime in itself. With police having provided proof, the judge should have been arrested in the normal course. Giving Varma a kid-glove treatment and ample space to hold forth on his questionable “innocence” is a worrisome trend. In dealing with situations of crime, double standards are unacceptable.
The Varma episode came as a fresh shock and a blemish on the image of the judiciary. There have been repeated exposes of judges accepting bribes, including the case of a Karnataka mining baron being released on bail by a judge after infamously accepting a bribe of rupees one crore. Public discourse today is tainted by allegations that corruption is massive in the judiciary. The sanctity of the system is seen to be a thing of the past. Ten years of Modi governance saw the overall corruption scenario worsening, even as the PM and his ministers have not been accused yet of such indulgences. The establishment as a whole is turning deeply corrupt under the PM’s direct watch. Consider the scenario some time ago when none other than the CBI chief and the ED chief accused each other of bribe-taking in crores. The judicial system requires urgent reforms, but the government lacks the nerve to act. Part of such a reform was the law enacted by Manmohan Singh during the fag end of UPA-II to set up a national judicial appointments commission on the lines of the UPSC. The Supreme Court struck it down. This exposes the rot within. Modi failed to take the matter forward.
