Kapil Sibal-SC

In today’s newspapers, there is one news item that caught my eye, is about Rajya Sabha MP  and senior advocate of the Supreme Court (SC). His comments on SC judges and the working of  SC really took everyone by surprise. He has been practicing in SC for more than 4 decades, and when he is nearing 80 making these comments shows that after making his career and earning crores of Rupees from his legal practice, he is choosing to comment now when some of the verdicts given by the SC judges have gone against his clients.

Kapil Sibal was speaking on some forum about “ Judicial Rollback of Civil Liberties”, and there he made the remark that “ If you think you will get from relief from SC, you are hugely mistaken. And I am saying this after completing 50 years of practicing in SC”. He further added that “even if landmark judgment is passed by the SC, it hardly changes the ground reality. SC gave judgment on privacy, and ED officers come to your home-where is your privacy?

He further added that “ sensitive cases are assigned to only select judges and the legal fraternity usually knows beforehand what would be the outcome of the judgment.

My take on Kapil Sibal’s statements are;

• Because he in the recent past has lost so many cases, which were not the scenario earlier, his name and reputation have gone down.
• He was a congressman till recently and was Law Minister in Congress government at the centre, and everybody in this country knows how the decision was taken for assigning the case to judges, and how the legal department of the central government was involved in the same.
• His comments on privacy and ED is clearly out of line. What he thinks, is that after someone commits a crime, and on the privacy clause ED can not visit the criminal’s house. In this way, no investigating officer will be able to enter the house of the criminal.
• He says that the legal fraternity usually knows the outcome of cases beforehand- I think he is talking about what used to happen during Congress’s role. In the recent past, he was involved in so many cases like Ramjanam Bhumi, PMLA, Zakia Jafri challenging the clean chit given by the special investigation team (SIT) to Narendra Modi & others, and corruption & money laundering cases of many ministers of UPA government, where the judgment was not in his client’s favour, so he is making his comment.

In reality, he knows that the judiciary is changing for the better under the NDA rule, and he is finding it difficult to find any SC judges who will favour him by bending the law.

There have been widespread comments from India’s legal fraternity on his statements. All India Bar Association’s (AIBA) Chairman commented that “ Courts decide the cases by applying the law to the facts presented by cases before them. They owe allegiance to the Constitution and none else. The criminal cases which were instituted by the earlier government as a political witch-hunt, had to be given burial as there was no substantial evidence found. No fault can be found with judicial system. Courts are not to deliver judgments of  hanging people just to appease the feeling of particular community. Kapil Sibal is a seasoned advocate, it does not look good him to decry judges and judgments just because the courts did not agree with his or his colleagues’ submissions. It has become a trend that when a case is decided against someone, that person starts denouncing judges on social media alleging that the judge is biased or judicial system has failed’.

The Law Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed Sibal and said “ It was very sad for the entire country, that opposition leaders start attacking the constitutional authorities when their judgments do not favour them. Statements made by Kapil Sibal is in  line with his existing mindset. For Congress & like-minded people, Courts/constitutional authorities must favour them or work as per their interest, or else they start attacking constitutional authorities. It is sad that prominent leaders & parties are criticizing constitutional authorities & agencies, which are absolutely autonomous”.

BJP’s IT cell in–charge said “ Kapil Sibal, who is widely believed presides over caucus that manages cases in the top court, questions SC’s latest judgment on PMLA, a law he signed on as a minister in the UPA. He also questions power of Chief Justice if India (CJI) and other decisions of the SC. Will SC invoke contempt?

BJP leader and SC advocate Nalin Kohli said “ Everyday the country and millions of people look at the SC with hope. The judges can not speak except through their judgments. There is no way they can respond to this kind of allegation”.

In the latest development, two lawyers- Vineet Jindal and Shashank Shekhar Jha-have filed the request letter to the Attorney General of India for  his consent to proceed with criminal contempt of court against Kapil Sibal for allegedly ‘scandalizing the Indian judiciary and disgracing its dignity’.

It looks like after losing so many recent cases, Kapil Sibal does not know how he is going to proceed in the future for his remaining legal practice.

Waiting for your views  on this blog.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

9^th August 2022.