Judicial Independence Under Threat Because Of A “Lobby” Of Half A Dozen People: Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi

Former Chief Justice of India, and recently nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, Ranjan Gogoi caused a flutter on Thursday when he said that the "independence of judiciary means breaking the stranglehold of half-a-dozen people over it".

Speaking of a “lobby of half a dozen people”, the retired judge said that judges would be maligned if a judgement did not go as per the wishes of the said ‘lobby’.

“They hold judges to ransom. If a case is not decided in a particular way advocated by them, they malign the judge in every way possible. I fear for the status quoist judges, who do not want to take them on and who want to retire peacefully”, he was quoted as saying.

Saying that he was the darling of the 'lobby' when he addressed a press conference in January 2018 against the then Chief Justice Dipak Mishra, Gogoi added that the lobby wants judges to decide 'cases in a certain manner' and that 'only then they will certify them as 'independent judges''

"If a judge decides a case fearing what the half-a-dozen people will say, then he is not true to his oath", Gogoi added.