Supreme Court Justice DY Chandrachud, who is set to become the Chief Justice of India in November this year, has had enough of the criticism of Indian Judges. Justice Chandrachud reached his breaking point after reading a news article, “India’s top court delays hearing anti-Christian violence plea”, which was published on July 19 in various publications.
On Thursday, an advocate asked for an urgent listing of a petition on violence against the Christian community, and it reminded Justice Chandrachud of the news article mentioned above. He cited the news reports and slammed a trend of levelling personal attacks against the Judges.
“I was down with Covid, so the matter could not be taken up. But I recently read a news article saying the Supreme court is delaying the hearing in the matter. Give us a break! One of the judges was down with covid, that’s why we couldn’t hear it. There’s a limit to how much you can target judges”, Justice Chandrachud said.
The honourable judge also went on to wonder who is publishing such news. He agreed to an urgent listing of the petition, lest there be another similar news item saying that Supreme Court is delaying the listing.
Justice Chandrachud is not the only Supreme Court Judge to be disturbed by media reports in recent times. Last week, Chief Justice of India, N.V. Ramana alleged that the media is creating difficulties for the judiciary and harming democracy. He expressed concerns about the “concerted campaigns” in media and social media against judges, and debates on media on cases heard by the courts calling them “ill-informed and agenda-driven.”
CJI Ramana was making these remarks amid the backlash the judiciary is facing in recent weeks over controversial remarks and judgements, especially over oral remarks against Nupur Sharma.
The petition was filed in the Supreme Court by controversial Archbishop of Bangalore Diocese, Peter Machado
In a repeat of the 2015 propaganda campaign to say ‘Christians are in danger in India’, Archbishop of Bangalore Diocese, Peter Machado, and National Solidarity Forum, the Evangelical Fellowship of India filed this petition in Supreme Court on the alleged attacks on Christians in India.
Machado, the petitioner in the case has a very colourful past with multiple allegations of corruption against him.
In June 2020, the former judge of Bombay High Court, Micheal F Saldanha, had accused Machado of colluding and covering up murders allegedly committed by Bishop of Mysore KA William. He had accused Peter Machado and Bishop K A William, of ‘criminally misappropriating’ ₹49.5 crores collected for Coorg Disaster Relief work in 2018.
Accusing Machado of misappropriation, ex-Judge Michael F Saldanha wrote, “Perhaps Archbishop Peter Machado can tell us how many night shelters for homeless persons he has constructed because this was one of his appeals made more than a year back at the time of the concert. If it is there in writing in the annexure so he is certainly accountable.”
In the same year, the Karnataka Catholic Christian Association (AKCCA) accused him of being involved in a multi-million dollar scam. Machado, a vocal critic of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), was appointed as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangalore by Pope Francis.
On August 28, 2020, AKCCA demanded an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the financial misappropriation of Asha Charitable Trust, which is owned by the archdiocese. The group, in a press conference held at Bangalore, accused the Trust of siphoning off ₹3 billion ($42 million).
