Guru Purnima

 Today, 31st July, is Guru Purnima

My advice to youth is : while ordinarily respect should be given to gurus, one must not blindly accept whatever they teach. You should also study the subject and use your own head and critically examine whether what the guru has taught is correct.

 While many teachers in our schools, colleges, universities and Institutes are indeed learned and competent, others are not, and were probably appointed for extraneous considerations. Such incompetent teachers treat teaching as any other job for filling their stomachs. Many of them hardly know their subject, so what will they teach ? In fact they may do do great harm to students.

 I remember when I was a student of philosophy  in Allahabad University ( from 1963-1965 ) my teachers taught me that the difference between the 6 classical systems of Indian philosophy, or shatdarshan,  viz. Nyaya, Vaisheshik, Sankhya, Yoga, Purva Mimansa and Uttar Mimansa ( Vedanta ), and the 3 non classical ones, viz. Buddhism, Jainism and Charvak, was that the former rely on the authority of the Vedas while the latter do not.

 But when I had passed out of the University and did my ''svadhyaya'' I came to know that what my teachers had taught me was not correct.. The first 4 of the 6 classical systems, viz. Nyaya, Vaisheshik, Sankhya and Yoga, do not rely on the authority of the Vedas. It is only the last two, viz. Purva Mimansa and Uttar Mimansa which rely on the authority of the Vedas, the Purva Mimansa, placing emphasis on the Brahman part of the Vedas ( which lay down the method of performing the various Vedic yagyas ), while the Uttar Mimansa ( or Vedanta ) placing emphasis on the Upanishad part of the Vedas.

 I may also add that when I was a Judge in Allahabad High Court ( 1991-2004) several cases came before me of Principals or teachers in schools or colleges in U.P. facing criminal charges of having embezzled the school or college building funds, scholarship funds, etc. Many teachers hardly come to their institution for teaching, while drawing their full salary from there, and spend most of their time running coaching classes at home or elsewhere.charging heavy fees. Only students who attend the coaching class will be given good marks.

 Can such teachers be respected ?

Petition against Indian Parliament

I had filed a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution before the Supreme Court challenging the resolutions of both Houses of Parliament condemning me for my statements against Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bose. I had in my blog ( see justicekatju.blogspot.in ) called Gandhi objectively a British agent, and Bose a Japanese agent.

 The writ petition is listed for admission hearing on Monday, 3rd August at serial number 9 in Court number 3, the Judges being Justices Thakur, Gopala Gowda and Bhanumathi. My senior lawyer is Mr. Gopal Subramaniam, former Solicitor General of India, and my advocate on record is Mr.Shadan Farasat ( mobile 9818009824 ). Shadan holds a degree of Master in Law from Harvard University.

 The main points in my petition are (1) natural justice requires that no one should be condemned unheard, but the resolutions of Parliament were hurriedly passed without giving me a hearing (2) I have the right to express my views as freedom of speech is a fundamental right.guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, and (3) the resolutions affect my reputation, which has been held by the Supreme Court to be part of Article 21 of the Constitution.

 Let us see what happens.

Indian society has been largely communalized.

Indian society has been largely communalized. My guess is that today 80-90% Hindus are communal ( i.e.anti Muslim ) and 80-90% Muslims are also communal.

 I am informed that the communal virus has even spread to many parts of rural India.

 In the Yakub Memon episode the Hindus largely wanted him hanged, while Muslims wanted him not hanged.

  I was of the opinion that the evidence against him was very weak, and hence his conviction was wrong, This no doubt has made me very unpopular among most Hindus, who constitute about 80% of our population. So I am isolated from the majority of my own countrymen.

 But that does not matter. I am not a popularity seeker. One is often isolated in life when one takes an unpopular stand, as I have often done.. The important thing is that the stand should be correct.

Hang him for his bad verses

Living in a crowd of buffoons, is extremely dangerous. The crowd has a mob mentality, like the Roman mob in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, and is often bloodthirsty .

 When Mark Antony incited the mob against Caesar’s murderers, the mob went around seeking them ( see Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar'Act 3 Scene 3 )

They caught hold of a poet called Cinna, who was different from Cinna the conspirator, and although he kept protesting that he was Cinna the poet, and not Cinna the conspirator, they lynched him saying, “Hang him for his bad verses.”

Third Citizen

Your name, sir, truly.

CINNA THE POET

Truly, my name is Cinna.

First Citizen

Tear him to pieces; he's a conspirator.

CINNA THE POET

I am Cinna the poet, I am Cinna the poet.

Fourth Citizen

Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for his bad verses.

CINNA THE POET

I am not Cinna the conspirator.

Fourth Citizen

It is no matter, his name's Cinna; pluck but his

name out of his heart, and turn him going.

Third Citizen

Tear him, tear him! Come, brands ho! fire-brands:

to Brutus', to Cassius'; burn all: some to Decius'

house, and some to Casca's; some to Ligarius': away, go!

Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

 Dr. Kalam, who died yesterday, set the highest standards of public life in India.

When he was President of India, he insisted on paying from his own pocket the travel, food and other expenses of his relatives and friends who stayed in Rashtrapati Bhawan, since they were his private guests.

  Whenever a name was recommended to him for appointment of a Judge of the Supreme Court or High Court he would get a secret enquiry made about the person, and if anything adverse was found he would return the file to the government with his objections. He also returned some bills passed by Parliament which he thought were unconstitutional.

 This made him unpopular with the UPA government, which refused to give him a second term as President, and instead chose Pratibha Patil, who was a rubber stamp.

 When I was Chief Justice of Madras High Court I went to Rameshwarm, his home town. I visited his home, and was received by his elder brother. The house was a simple cottage of a few rooms, with no ornamentation whatsoever. I thought that if it would have been another President, the house would have become a palace by now.

 Even after retirement he continued teaching students, which was his passion.

 He was Chief Guest at the Pongal-Sankranti Day which was a function organized a few years ago at my residence, whose picture you can see on my facebook page

Have no hope for Yakub Memon

Many people are pinning hope in some relief to Yakub Memon by the Supreme Court today, but I have no such hope. The petition will certainly be dismissed by the Supreme Court.

 The President of India has already rejected his  mercy petition earlier ,and will almost certainly reject it again, if any is filed.

 So Yakub Memon, whom I believe to be innocent ( for the reasons given in my earlier posts ), is almost certain to be hanged on 30th July.

 In the communalized atmosphere prevailing in the country today, the bloodlust in a large section of the majority community against the minority, is very strong

Difference between Owaisi and me

A fb comment on my last post, and my response :

Abdul Salam : Katju sab the person who first raised voice about this issue is #Hyderabadi, take u r chudees back.......

Markandey Katju Has Owaisi ever raised his voice protesting against atrocities on Hindus e.g. Kashmiri Pandits, or minorities in Pakistan ? He only protests against atrocities on Muslims in India, obviously with the Muslim vote bank in mind, whereas I protest against atrocities on  everyone,'Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, etc, even those in Pakistan, e.g. Ahmedis, Shias, Christians, Hindus, etc.

I am not in politics, so I have no vote bank in mind. I want that no one should be oppressed, and everyone should be allowed to live with dignity and honour, whatever his religion, race, caste, colour, language or region

Choodis will remain with Owaisi until he sits on dharna before the residence of the CM of Telangana demanding that Abdul Qadeer be pardoned. But I know he will not, because he is a dramabaz and ''politisstitute''

Yakub Memon- Begunahon ka lahu piyo, izn-e-aam hai

I believe there has been gross travesty of justice in the case of Yakub Memon.

I have carefully studied the judgment of the Court. The evidence on which he has been found guilty is very weak. This evidence is (1) retracted confession of the co-accused, and (2) alleged recoveries.

 As regards the first, everyone knows how 'confessions' are obtained by the police in our country--by torture. And torture is such a terrible thing that one will confess to anything under torture. Joan of Arc confessed to be a witch under torture. Moreover, in this case, the alleged 'çonfession' was retracted.

 As regards 'recoveries', anyone having even the slighted knowledge of the working of the police knows that such alleged recoveries are often planted. The truth is that our police usually cannot nab the real culprits because it is not trained in scientific investigation, and yet it has to solve the crime. So the best thing to do in terrorist cases is to implicate half a dozen Muslims, since it is well known that Muslims have nothing else to do except throw bombs.

 As regards the judiciary, I fear it is becoming increasingly populist. Many judges want to show to the public that they are 'tough on terror', never mind if innocent people are convicted and hanged...

Outsourcing judicial powers

In para 110 of its judgment in BCCI vs. Cricket Association of Bihar, C.A. 4235/2014 decided on 22.1.2015, the Supreme Court gave power to a 3 member commission appointed by it consisting of retired judges headed  by Justice Lodha, former CJI, to impose punishments on IPL cricket teams and persons associated with IPL.  Accordingly, the Commission, after an enquiry, imposed punishments.

 The power to impose punishment is with the court. Can the court outsource this judicial power to another body, e.g. a commission appointed by it ? If this is legally permissible, then why can not every judicial function be outsourced ? I have grave doubts whether such outsourcing is valid.

 This is a crucial jurisprudential question which needs to be considered.

The monsoon session of the Indian Parliament is approaching.

The 'Hon'ble' members of Parliament cannot unite on any issue in the House, except one : condemning me for my 'outrageous' statements, as they did  regarding my statement on Gandhi in March. So may I make a humble suggestion to them.

I have made a large number of 'outrageous' statements over the past few months, on Gandhi ( British agent ), Subhas Chandra Bose ( Japanese agent ), Tagore ( British stooge ), Syed Ahmed Khan and Madan Mohan Malviya, ( both serving British policy of divide and rule, and so British agents ) Amartya Sen ( mediocre, highly overpraised ), beef ban ( stupid, reactionary step for vote bank politics ), The Court of Last Resort being the need of the hour ( thousands of innocents are wrongly in Indian jails ),  Pakistan is a fake country, most politicians in India ( which would obviously include most 'Hon'ble' MPs ) should be shot for having looted the country, etc, etc.

  So in the monsoon session let the 'Hon'ble' MPs decide the agenda beforehand : all the items should be condemning me.

There will be no turmoil,  no jostling and shouting, no rushing to the well of the House, no ten members speaking simultaneously, no disruptions or adjournments by the Chair. No one will be able to criticize the members as being a set of unruly, indisciplined hooligans. Everything will proceed smoothly and unanimously. There will be no complaint that the public money is being wasted.

as no business is transacted in the Houses.

 Everyone will then say, like Mark Antony speaking at Caesar's funeral, " And sure, they are 'Hon'ble' members "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DI4BfGDl5I