भारतीय न्यायपालिका के शेर थे जस्टिस खन्ना और बब्बर शेर इंदिरा के वकील ननी पालकीवाला
Who is the bravest judge in the judiciary that you have seen in Indian history?
I really didn’t know the answer to this question but since it was requested by THE Bhuvi Jain, I took it upon myself to research the crap out of this. And sure enough, the answer was quite easy, as everywhere I went there was only one name that shone through. But I would like to broaden the scope of the question and substitute the word “judge” for “jurist” and include another name in my answer.
Be warned, this answer may get quite boring and banal, but I have tried my best to make it interesting.
The first name of course is the great Justice Hans Raj Khanna, the Supreme Court judge who served during the bleak, dark era of the Emergency.
We have a lot to thank for what he did and how he did it and most importantly, against whom he did it.
In a previous answer of mine, I had mentioned the ADM Jabalpur case in reference to the father-son justices YV Chandrachud and DY Chandrachud. Please read that answer here first.
Long story short, the ADM Jabalpur case also known as the Habeas Corpus case was a controversial judgement from the Supreme Court of India overturning judgements of nine different High Courts across the country.
Indira Gandhi had declared the Emergency and was beginning to use the power of preventive detention to the extreme and the government began arresting dissenters with no regard for the law or human rights.
Case in Point: The current CM of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan…
…was arrested during the Emergency by the then Congress Home Minister Karunakaran and subjected to brutal third degree torture in custody. When he was released, he came to the Kerala Assembly with his bloodied shirt and gave a hair-raising speech cementing his stature as a young, firebrand politician in the State. (I mention him because his is a prominent case I know of. There are many).
Any way, coming back, these nine high courts had ruled that the Habeas corpus writ can be entertained even during an Emergency, which meant illegal detentions by the government were going to be questioned.
But the SC, in the said ADM Jabalpur case judgement, ruled that the right to liberty cannot go against executive order meaning the government had all the rights to arrest anyone as they please when a state of Emergency is in effect. It was a five member bench (including Justice YV Chandrachud) and the ruling was four against one.
The lone dissenter?
Yes. Justice Hans Raj Khanna.
Now, let me remind you that this act of rebellion was no small feat. Indira Gandhi was the most powerful person in the nation at the time. In all likelihood and with utmost respect to the other members on the bench, she and her cronies had bullied them into overturning the verdict of nine different High Courts delivered by equally learned and experienced judges.
But he rebelled. And this wasn’t the first time he had done so.
Justice Khanna was also the one who had authored the famous basic structure doctrine in the Kesavananda Bharati case which prevented any government of the day from appropriating the fundamental rights of the citizens. Khanna’s vote was also the deciding opinion on the bench that ruled the case .
This, too was a huge blow to the Indira government’s dictatorial tendencies and coupled with the ADM Jabalpur case, put Justice Khanna in the government’s bad books.
The result? Justice Khanna was denied the position of the Chief Justice of India despite being the seniormost judge in the court. Never had any Justice been denied that rightful position except for Justice Khanna. And it wasn’t the case that this was an unexpected result for him. On the day of the judgement, he wrote to his sister saying, “I have prepared my judgment, which is going to cost me the Chief Justice-ship of India.”
Justice Khanna was the man. It may not seem to us, the newer generation, to be very brave, but my father agrees it was indeed so when I told him this story. Even today, there are countless people, important ones at that, whose names feature on the “missing” list from 1975 to 1977. The dissenting judgement that Khanna gave cost him a position that must have been his life long dream. But he sacrficed it. For us. For the nation. For its constitution. And in doing so, laid down a verdict that remains relevant to this today, a verdict every student of law learns as part of his or her coursework.
Now, the second person on this list is inextricably linked to the Emergency, Justice Khanna and Indira Gandhi herself.
Nani Palkhivala.
Nani Palkhivala was Indira Gandhi’s lawyer when the Allahabad High Court declared her election null and void and barred her from contesting elections for another 6 years (which caused her to panic and declare the Emergency). Now, Palkhivala genuinely believed that the verdict was wrong and that Indira was innocent.
But when she declared the Emergency, Palkhivala was disappointed. And in a show of protest, he stepped aside from defending Indira in that case anymore. Now, this was badass. This was balls of adamantium. Justice Khanna at least was a Supreme Court judge. Who was Palkhivala? No one. He had no constitutional authority or power. To do such a thing to Indira personally when she was enjoying a dictator-like status was absolutely unthinkable.
But he didn’t stop there.
During the Emergency, the then Chief Justice A.N. Ray constituted a 13 member bench to “revisit” the Keshavanda Bharati case (authored by Justice Khanna himself) which (at the risk of repitition) had prevented the parliament from changing the basic structure of the constitution.
Now, everyone knows what was up here. To revisit such a landmark case, at no one’s beckoning, with no petitions filed for the same, during the Emergency; all of it clearly meant Indira wanted to get things to bend her way (if I may so conjecture).
What did Palkhivala do?
He assembled a team of India’s best minds on the Consitution and argued in the Supreme Court, before the bench, for two straight days, morning to evening. He was so cogent and so eloquent that most of the judges on the bench were swept away by their feet and the CJI himself dissolved the bench.
Justice Khanna himself would later say of Nani Palkhivala: “The height of eloquence to which Palkhivala rose on that day had seldom been equaled and never surpassed in the history of the Supreme Court of India”.
Do you think this must have not angered and annoyed her highness? Of course, it must have. But he did it anyway. He saved the Constitution and Indian democracy. He did that because he was principled and courageous.
I don’t know how much justice (pun intended) I have done to the question. Sure, there must have been countless judges, some even in the lowest courts of India, who must have pronounced judgements against known gangsters, rowdies, powerful politicians and influential godmen (Justice Jagdeep Singh of the Ram Rahim verdict deserves mention), by risking their lives and that of their families.
But you cannot top the judgements and actions of these two men: Justice Khanna and Nani Palkhivala.
It is because of them, that perhaps we even have a government, or an independent judiciary that still produces people like Jagdeep Singh, or an independent election commission which conducts free and fair elections.
They risked their lives and in doing that, for me at least, are worthy enough to be awarded the nation’s highest honour. A Padma Vibhushan seems criminal. It is is a thankless job.
PS: Any criticisms or corrections are welcome because I am not a law student. As a gentleman pointed out, Nani Palkhivala did not step aside but “returned the brief” which is seen as much more serious than just stepping aside
Bravest judge in Indian history was undoubtedly Hon’ble Justice H. R. Khanna. In the darkest time of India’s democracy, at a time when the Constitution itself seemed under attack, Justice H. R. Khanna held his nerve to ensure that he stood for what’s right, and did not give in to pressure.
The time I speak of is the Emergency under the Prime Ministership of Indira Gandhi. In order to prevent herself from being disqualified as an MP, and to ensure absolute control in her hands, the Emergency was proclaimed, citing ‘internal disturbances’. The proclamation of Emergency was followed by an unpreced
Who is the bravest judge in the judiciary that you have seen in Indian history?
In my opinion, it must be this gentleman, Justice John Michael D’Cunha , at present the Additional Judge of Karnataka High Court, who has had the rare courage which led to the unseating and incarceration of two sitting chief ministers by his independent and uncompromising decisions as a judge.
His verdict in the Disproportionate Assets Case against the then Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, late J.Jayalalithaa and her accomplices, leading to their imprisonment, was a landmark judgement, delivered with a clear and objectiv
The bravest would surely be in my opinion, Justice H.R. Khanna. At the height of the internal emergency, the political detenues, who were detained without even a trial brought out petitions for the writs of habeas corpus in the various High Courts in the Country. All the Nine High Courts allowed them, holding that even in an emergency, when the right to enforce the Fundamental Rights are suspended, the Courts can still ask the Executive for a law to back them. This was a Common Law right which was the basis by which Habeas Corpus operated before the Constitution, which made Right to Life a Fun
Altamas Kabir
Altamas Kabir
Justice Altamas Kabir is the Chief Justice in the Supreme court of India. He assumed charge on September 29, 2012 from the outgoing Chief Justice S H Kapadia. Altamas Kabir is the 39th Chief Justice of India.
Jagdeep Singh, is indeed the bravest judge. This man had pronounced Gurmeet Ram Rahim guilty of raping two women and has also flown into Rohtak Jail to pronounce the sentence of 20 Years upon self styled Godman.
It is not the judgement which he passed that make him brave but the circumstances under which he did, does surely make him the bravest judge.
Jagdeep Singh joined the Haryana judicial services in 2012 and was posted at Sonepat. The CBI court posting, which is generally given after a lot of checks by the high court administration, is his second posting.
The circumstances under which he had
One and only name that strikes my mind is “Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha ” (Late)
In an election to the Lok Sabha 1971 Smt. Indira Gandhi defeated Sh. Raj Narain (who later on defeated her in 1977 parliamentary election from Raebareli).
He filed a case in Allahabad Hight Court and alleged several major as well as minor instances of using government resources for campaigning.
The case was in HC and hearing after hearing then PM Smt. Gandhi was losing her ground.
Justice Sinha again and again ordered PM Gandhi to appear in his court…..But she never turned up.
During these events Justice Sinha was being
Do you know who he is ?
He is Special C.B.I judge Jagdeep Singh .
He is competent, tough,brave and upright judge .
why ?
He gave 20 year sentence to “god-man(Gurmeet Ram Singh)” who was alleged of raping 2 woman although he knows that if he gives sentence to Gurumeet Ram Rahim Singh after that his life will be in danger .
I think that he gave a perfect verdict without coming in pressure.
Have a look to one example of his humanity.
In September 2016, When he was going Hisar to Panchkula . he saw 4 seriously injured people in road accident. firstly he called ambulance for help but when the operator tol
Calling out one brave judge out of many who have given judgements against the establishment or the system which has tried to suppress them would be unfair. It would also be fair to argue that a judge while giving a judgement is only performing his duty without being in lieu of the threat or bravado that is to follow him.
But if there is to be one judge who was the bravest, and also the most selfless, it would be Justice HR Khanna.
My words about this person won’t do justice to him and his memory. I would encourage you to Google and read more about him, and read his autobiography ‘Neither Roses Nor Thorns’.
In my opinion, Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer is the bravest judge in the history of Indian Judiciary … He has made many path-breaking judicial prouncements that changed the history of India … Imposition of emergency – a blot on Indian Democracy – is attributable to his courage of his conviction to prounce brave judgement against the elstwhile omnipotent Indira, the PM of India … His landmark judgements on crime, civil wrongs, misuse of power, Indian labour, still hold tremendous impact on functioning of Judicial, political and executive functioning in India … Though I do not vouch some of his legal jursprudence, especially in labour front which created great hurdle in growth of manufacturing sector, I appreciate his bravery …
