Corruption in Judiciary

There was a Judge in a High Court who had a very bad reputation about his integrity, and on this account was transferred to Allahabad High Court. Later with passage of time he became very senior and Acting Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court.

Some people started demanding that he be made Chief Justice of some High Court, and later brought to the Supreme Court.

The then Chief Justice of India, Justice Kapadia, had received several complaints about this Judge that even at Allahabad he was indulging in corruption,and Justice Kapadia requested me to find out the true facts about that Judge ( I was then a Judge of the Supreme Court).

At that time I had to go to Allahabad, my home town for attending a function, and while there I contacted some lawyers I knew, and got 3 mobile numbers of the agents of this Judge through whom he was taking money. On returning to Delhi I gave these 3 mobile numbers to Justice Kapadia, and suggested that he get these numbers tapped through intelligence agencies. 

About 2 months thereafter Justice Kapadia told me that he had done as I had suggested, and the conversations tapped revealed the corruption of this Judge.

After this, Justice Kapadia should have called this Judge to Delhi and asked for his resignation, failing which he would refer the matter to Parliament for impeachment, but he did no such thing,(though he did not allow the Judge to become Chief Justice of any High Court or a Supreme Court Judge)

Most Chief Justices of India are reluctant to expose corruption in the judiciary thinking that this will defame the judiciary, and so they prefer to bury corruption under the carpet, not realizing that the bulge under the carpet will show. 

Some think that exposing corruption defames the judiciary. My reply to such people is : Does corruption by Judges defame the judiciary, or does exposing such corruption defame it ?

I may give another example. When I was Acting Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court I went to Delhi and met Justice Lahoti, the then Chief Justice of india, and gave him a chit containing names of 5 judges of Allahabad High Court who were doing shocking things. Justice Lahoti asked me what should be done ? I replied that if he permitted, I would solve the problem in 24 hours. He asked, how ?

I replied that I was going back to Allahabad by the night train, and on reaching there would call the Registrar General and tell him to telephone these 5 Judges, and tell them that the Chief Justice had instructed that they would not be allowed entry into the High Court premises. Police was being posted at the gate of the High Court with instruction from me that these judges were not to be allowed entry. Their chambers had been locked, and they will receive their salary checks at home, and they need not come to the High Court. I did not want to see them inside the High Court premises as they had disgraced the High Court.

When I said this Justice Lahoti said "Please do not do this, because then the politicians will get a handle, and then they will set up a National Judicial Commission". I replied that since he was not permitting me to do this, i would not, but he may take whatever action he thought fit.

Later some of the 5 judges whose names I gave were transferred to another High Court.

But is transfer a solution ? Such corrupt judges should be sacked, but this is not done to ' avoid defaming the judiciary'. I again ask : does corruption by Judges defame the judiciary, or does exposing such corruption defame it ?

I have given only two instances of corruption in this post, but I can give several more.

My 12 questions to Karunanidhi:

It is reported in the press that Mr. Karunanidhi has stated that my allegations against him ( regarding supporting a corrupt Judge of Madras High Court) are ' blatant lies'. it is also reported that he has written to the Vice President of India seeking my removal as Chairman Press Council of India.

Since Mr. Karunanidhi has chosen to attack me I demand that he first disclose:-

1) His entire movable and immovable assets including bank balances, any foreign account holdings and assets in foreign countries. 

2) What are his assets before joining politics and what is it today?

3) What are the movable and immovable assets of each of his two wives?

4) what are the assets movable and immovable of each of his children i.e. M.K. Muthu, M.K. Alagiri, M.K. Stalin and Kanimozhi?

5) What are the assets of the spouses of each of his children?

6) What are the assets movable and immovable of each of his grandchildren?

7) What are the assets movable and immovable of each of the maran brothers?

8) What are the movable and immovable assets of the spouses of the maran brothers?

9) What are the assets movable and immovable of the children of the maran brothers ?

10) In which companies do your family members, including your wives, children, children's spouses, your grand children, grandchildren spouses, own shares?

11) In which companies do the maran brothers, their spouses and their children own shares?

12) What is the market value of the aforementioned shares of yourself, your family members, maran brothers and their family members?

Let Mr. Karunanidhi first answer these questions which I have posed to him before making any unsolicited comments against me.

Venkat Subbu Reddy

With Venkat Subbu Reddy, my hostelmate of Kambar Hostel in Annamalai University in 1967-68. He came to meet me in the High Court Guest House, at Greenways Road where I am staying. He travelled all the way from Pondicherry to meet me. We had met for a short while when I was Chief Justice of Madras High Court in 2005. Now we are meeting again.He retired as a College teacher in Pondicherry 4 years ago, and now does farming on his farm which is 18 km from Pondicherry city.

We exchanged old memories for almost an hour.He told me that I had come to his farm in 1967, but I have forgotten about my visit then. It was almost half a century ago.

Allahabad is the city in U.P. where I grew up, got educated, and became a lawyer and then High Court Judge.

Tamilnadu is the land where I came first in 1967 to learn the language here, and then again in 2004 as the Chief Justice, and where I was simply overwhelmed by the love and affection which the people here gave me.

Whenever I am in Tamilnadu, I feel i am at home

The Death of Dr. Kotnis

The Death of Dr. Kotnis

By his wife Guo Qinglan

At 6.15 a.m. on 9th December 1942 Dr. Kotnis breathed his last. He was just 32 years old. He had spent over 4 years in China during the War of Resistance against the Japanese, treating the wounded and sick Chinese.

On 27th November 1937, at the suggestion of of the eminent American correspondent, Agnes Smedley, Zhu De, Commander-in-Chief of the ...Chinese Eighth Route Army wrote a letter to the Indian National Congress leader Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru expressing gratitude for supporting the anti- Japanese struggle of the Chinese people and requesting for support in the form of a medical team and medical supplies from India. Consequently Pt. Nehru proposed that a Medical Mission be sent to China. China Day was observed all over India on 29th June 1938. Dr. Kotnis, who had qualified as a doctor from Bombay Medical College, saw the demonstrations in support of the Chinese, and determined to join the Medical Mission. He went to Sholapur, his home town, and told his family about it. At first they tried to dissuade him, His brother Mangesh said " For the sake of our education father had to borrow a lot of money. Now our parents are old and need a helping hand." However, when his father saw that he was adamant he said " So, Dwarka ( Dr. Kotnis' first name), you have decided to go. I would like to remind you not to let the Indian people down. Since you have decided to go, you must do a good job and good things to the Chinese people, and win laurels for your family and country". 

At midnight, September the 5 doctors of the Aid China Medical Mission, led by Dr. Atal, boarded the P.&O. liner , S.S. Rajputana. They were seen off by Mrs. Sarojini Naidu and others. On 14th September they landed at Hong Kong, and after a 17 days voyage reached Guangzhou. From there they travelled by road to Changsha, and then to Wuhan, where they were met by Zhou Enlai, who asked Dr. Kotnis " How old are you ?". " I am 28", replied Kotnis.

" Wonderful" said Zhou Enlai, " You can do much work for friendly relations between India and China".

They travelled then to Chongqing, which was the capital of the Chinese. government under Chiang kai Shek. At Chongqing, Dr. Kotnis received a letter from his brother in India, which was handed over to him by Dr. Cholkar, the deputy leader of the Indian Medical Mission. It said " Father has passed away suddenly ". This was a bolt from the blue, and he could not stop crying. His colleagues tried to persuade him to go back to India, but he said that he will never let his father down, and the best way to commemorate him was to help the Chinese people eject the Japanese invaders. So he continued with the Mission to Yenan, where they lived in caves. They spent the next 4 years treating the wounded and the sick Chinese.

During these 4 years Dr. Kotnis had overloaded himself with work for a long period until his health completely broke down working for the cause of the War of Resistance against Japan and liberation of the Chinese people. He went without food and sleep for long periods, and endured extreme pain during this period,and sacrificed all he had till his last breath.

On 7th December 1942 he performed operations on 5 wounded patients. On 8th December he taught his students and performed a practical operation for over 20 students in the operation theater. He was operating on a hernia patient.The operation was difficult as the tissues of the patient were very adhesive. Sweat started oozing out of his forehead as he was very tired. . After the operation Dr. Kotnis was completely exhausted and hungry. He grabbed a bite of a stuffed pancake when he suffered an attack of epilepsy. Earlier also he had suffered epileptic attacks. After regaining consciousness he convened a meeting to have a briefing of the day's work.

That evening he returned to his dormitory-cum-office, and started the compilation work of his proposed book 'Surgery in Detail'. At 8 p.m. he went to his room to be with me and our 108 days old child. As he was talking he remembered that the younger brother of his landlady was seriously ill. He went there to treat the patient, and returned after 2 hours totally exhausted..

At midnight he asked me for some boiled water as he was thirsty. Having taken it he felt better, but an hour thereafter I was suddenly awakened by the groans of his pain, only to discover that all his four limbs were severely twitching. His complexion had turned pale. He had suffered another attack, and it was serious. I staggered all the way to the Medical School for assistance. After a while, Principal Jiang Yizhen reached our house in a great hurry. On regaining consciousness Kotnis said " Principal Jiang, thank you for your visit. I am sorry to interfere with your rest. Please do not worry about me and go back to rest. "

Principal Jiang was aware of the convulsions Dr. Kotnis had suffered in the past, which never exceeded 3 to 5 minutes. This time the convulsions would not stop, foam oozed out from his mouth, and he went into coma. Dr. Jiang gave him morphine and camphor liquid, but to no avail. The doctor then tried spine puncturing, but it was of no use. Dr. Kotnis breathed his last at 6.15 a.m. on 9th December 1942. He was just 32 years old.

I cried bitterly with my infant Yinhua in my arms and fainted a couple of times. He parted from me and our infant boy , his wounded patients who were waiting for him, his international friends, and the army and civilians of the Shansi-Qahar-Hebei Border Region who were engaged in a bloody battle with the Japanese on the battlefront. I glanced at the table only to see the manuscript of 'Surgery in Detail' that he had written upto page 175.

After his sudden demise, Dr. Kotnis' dead body was kept inside a courtyard on a flagstone.

Dr. Kotnis had spent the last period of his life in the Tang County, treating patients day and night. There was not a single person in this area who did not know him.

The sudden demise of Dr. Kotnis left everyone in the Tang County in grief, and even the Tang River wept. The people in the County felt they were rendered orphans. An atmosphere of grief shrouded the entire valley. The villagers of the Ge Gong valley came to our place from all directions. Everyone who came was crying in the streets and in the courtyard, where his body lay.

Shortly after his death, the Bethune Medical School, the Third Divisional Command of the Middle Hebei Military Region, and the County Committee of Tang County, organized a funeral committee.

On 17th December 1942, around 1 p.m. the Shansi-Qahar-Hebei Military Region convened a mourning ceremony at the southern square of Ge Gong village. There was an ocean of people inside and outside the square. People from Shennan, Shenbei, Niangzishen Doufu, and other neighbouring villages walked to the mourning ground wailing and weeping. Some of the country folk were even stamping the earth and crying bitterly. People had never witnessed wailing and weeping of such intensity, and that too over the demise of a foreign doctor. Many fainted with grief.

As for me, my grief was even worse. All my tears dried up and I fell unconscious. I lost my hunger, thirst and sleep, and became very weak.

The memorial ceremony was conducted in accordance with the Chinese traditional funeral. A canopy was put for the departed soul, in the middle of which hung a portrait of the deceased, and to both sides of the coffin lay the floral wreaths and mourning couplets offered by people from all walks of life. An oblong sheet of silk was hung with the words " Doctor who rivalled the glory of Dr. Bethune". The place was filled with posters stating " Learn from Kotnis ". The memorial committee consisted of representatives of Commander Nie, Zuo Huaiying, Cheng Zihua, Wang Ping,etc 

The memorial ceremony started with funeral music played by a military band, followed by floral tributes and bowing in silence, and then speeches commending Dr. Kotnis' outstanding achievements and spirit. This was followed by a grand funeral.

Among the crowd were many elderly men and women burning incenses and paper money. Some people sang a song which they had composed for the occasion :

" You came from the shores of the warm Indian ocean

To brave the cold of North China

For the world of tomorrow

You fought four autumns in China

Alas! At the end of a long night

The fountain of your life ran dry

Oh, Comrade Kotnis, our beloved

Your image will always be with us

And your memory will live forever in our hearts"

The news of Dr. Kotnis' death was soon carried to Yenan. On 18th December 1942, Zhu De, the Commander -in-Chief of the Eighth Route Army, and Peng De Huai, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief communicated the sad news to Dr. Kotnis' family. The news was flashed in the Liberation Daily newspaper published in Yenan, carrying an article by Zhu De.

On 30th December, a memorial service was held addressed by Zhu De. He said " Dr. Kotnis, our Indian friend, came to China from afar to assist us in our War of Resistance. He worked for four years in Yenan and North West China, giving medical treatment to our wounded and sick, and died owing to constant overwork. The army has lost a helping hand, and the nation has lost a friend. Let us always bear in mind his internationalist spirit ".

Zhou Enlai sent a message of sympathy to Dr. Kotnis' family :

"Dr. Kotnis is a symbol of the friendship between the great Indian and Chinese nations, and a shining example of the Indian people, who are taking an active part in our common struggles against Japanese militarism and world fascism. His name will live forever in the hearts of the two great nations to whom he dedicated his life."

Soong Qingling, widow of Sun Yatsen and Chairperson of the China Defence League, also wrote to Dr. Kotnis' family :

" His memory belongs not only to your people and to ours, but also to the whole roll-call of fighters for the freedom and progress of all mankind."

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Bottom of Form

The Language Question

I do not wish to comment on the present C-SAT controversy in the UPSC examination.

However, I wish to say that we in India cannot do without English. That is because all scientific knowledge today is in English. If one goes to any engineering college he will find all the books are in English. So also in Medical Colleges or scientific institutes. For progress of our country knowledge of modern science is absolutely essential.

Moreover it is not only for learning science that knowledge of English is necessary. If one goes to a lawyer's office he will find all the books in his library are in English. Most of the history and biography books are in English.

The Allahabad High Court celebrates Hindi Diwas every year. When I was a Judge there the office bearers of the High Court Bar Association would come to meet me and request me to attend. I would tell them that it is better I do not attend because I will say things which some people may not like, and then there will be a controversy. But they would press me to come. When I went to the function I heard some speakers say " Angrezi dasi hai " ( English is a slave girl ), or Angrezi hatao ( abolish English ). When my turn came to speak I said that English is a window to much of modern knowledge, so how can we do without it ? I would also say that in fact English should be spread further, and your children's future depends on learning English. Don't you care for your childrens' future ? I would add that Hindi is my mother tongue too, and I love it, but that does mean that I should behave like a fool.

Those who say that in Germany, France, Russia, etc scientific books are in the mother tongues forget that in those countries there have been scientific books in those languages for a very long time, often over a century. On the other hand in India they are all in English. Translating even one book may take several years. So it is better to learn English and read them in English.

For more on the subject, read my articles:

1) http://justicekatju.blogspot.in/2014/06/the-language-question.html

2) http://justicekatju.blogspot.in/2012/09/think-rationally-about-learning-hindi.html

An appeal to learn Hindi

I appeal to all Tamilians to learn Hindi. That does not mean I want imposition of Hindi. I am against imposition of anything. This is the age of democracy, and nothing should be imposed. But the fact is that Hindi has developed as the link language of India. When Tamilians come out of Tamilnadu they face a lot of problems since they do not know Hindi. So for purely practical reasons Tamilians should learn Hindi.

Once I said this in Anna University where I had been invited to give a talk. At the end of my talk one elderly gentleman ( perhaps a Professor ) stood up and said that English is already the link language of India, so why should Tamilians learn Hindi ? I replied that English is known only by the 10% or less elite class in India. If a Tamilian goes to, say, Delhi he has a lot of difficulty. The taxi and auto drivers do not know English, so there is a lot of difficulty in communication. Even people in many non Hindi states, e.g. West Bengal, Kashmir, Punjab, Orissa, Maharashtra, Gujrat, North East, and many people even in south Indian states know manageable Hindi ( apart from their mother tongues ).

In fact Tamilians were learning Hindi upto the 1960s ( due to Hindi films, Hindi Prachar Sabhas, etc ), but then there was a reaction because some short sighted North India politicians tried to impose Hindi, which was unfortunate. But that is a matter of the past, and we have to move ahead.

Some people said that Tamil should be the link language of India. but the fact is that Hindi is known by 15 times or so more people in India than Tamil. I am not saying that Hindi is superior to Tamil. Tamil is a great language, with a very rich literature. I regard all languages as equal. But the fact is that Hindi is known by many more people in India than Tamil, and it has already developed as the link language of India.

For more read my articles:

1) 'The Language Question'

2) Think rationally about learning Hindi and it will make sense

Aeroplanes, Atom Bombs and Missiles in ancient India

Some people say that in ancient India we had aeroplanes, atom bombs and guided missiles. In support of this argument they refer to the Ramayan and Mahabharat.

It is true that the Ramayan mentions Pushpak Viman, an alleged flying chariot, on which Lord Ram is said to have brought Sita from Lanka to Ayodhya, after defeating Ravan. On this basis it is claimed that there were aeroplanes in ancient India.

My reply to such people is this :

We must first understand what are Ramayan and Mahabharat ? They are epic poems ( mahakavyas). In poetry there is a thing called 'poetic licence', which gives a poet the right to exaggerate. So one must not take all things in the Ramayan or Mahabharat literally. As in much of poetry, many things are imaginative.

Everyone in the world knows that the first aeroplane in the world ( the Kitty Hawk ) was built by the Wright brothers in 1903. Hence we make ourselves a laughing stock before the whole world by claiming that there were aeroplanes in ancient India.

If there were aeroplanes in ancient India then there must have been engines in ancient India ( because an aeroplane requires an engine). In that case soldiers should have fought in tanks instead of in chariots and horses in the Mahabharat.

Similarly, the claim that there were guided missiles and atom bombs in ancient India,( because there is mention of brahmastra, agnyastra, narayanastra, etc in the Mahabharat and Ramayan ) is also nonsense. These were only poetic imaginations.

Such people who talk such nonsense do not know the real great scientific discoveries of our ancestors, e.g. the decimal system in mathematics, plastic surgery in medicine, etc ( I have mentioned about some of them in my article 'Sanskrit as a language of Science'). Instead they make us a laughing stock before the whole world by talking such nonsense.

Justice Dave's Statement

I totally disagree with Justice Dave's statement that Gita and Mahabharat  should be made compulsory in schools.

In a country of such diversity as ours, nothing of this kind should be compelled or imposed, as that is against our nation's secular feature and Constitution. Muslims and Christians may not want their children to be taught these books. Should their children yet be forced to read them ?

Some people say that Gita only teaches morality, and has nothing to do with religion. But Muslims may say that only the Quran teaches morality, Christians may say that only the Bible teaches morality, Sikhs may say that only the Guru Granth Saheb teaches morality, Parsis may say that only the Zend Avesta teaches morality, etc

 In my opinion such compulsion or imposition will do great harm to the unity of our country.

What is to be done?

The test of every system, whatever it may be called, is one and only one : does it raise the standard of living of the masses ?

In other words, does it provide employment to the masses with adequate incomes and abolish unemployment, does it provide good eduacation, good healthcare and housing for the masses, etc ?

Now to raise the standard of living of the masses requires a massive, highly developed and modern industry, for that alone can generate the wealth necessary for this purpose. Agriculture alone cannot do this. in fact modern agriculture requires a highly developed industry to supply it tractors, combines, pesticides, fertilizers, etc.

Money does not fall from the sky, it can only come from a highly developed industry on a large scale. Even for setting up one primary school requires a great deal of money, to buy land, build schoolrooms, pay salaries to teachers and other staff, etc. We have to build tens of thousands of primary schools, high schools, colleges, Universities, scientific institutes, Medical colleges, Engineering Colleges, hospitals, etc. Where will the money for all this come from ? It can only come from a highly developed industry.

But to have a large, modern industry we must have a large market, because the goods which are manufactured must be sold. That is why we must remain united as a country, otherwise we will not have a large domestic market.

Over dependence on foreign markets is very precarious, because that foreign market may be captured by some other countries goods,or there may be a recession in that foreign country due to which it may not be able to buy our goods, and then our export industries will close down. So for stability we must mainly depend on our domestic market.

But if our people are largely poor they will not have the purchasing power to buy the goods which our domestic industry produces. That is why we must raise the purchasing power of our masses by raising their real incomes, that is, incomes relative to the price index, so that the goods manufactured can be sold.

The problem is therefore not how to increase production. There is no difficulty in increasing production, for the position today is very different from what it was in 1947. In 1947 there were few industries ( the British policy was to keep India largely unindustrialized so that our industries do not become a rival to British industries ),and few engineers and managers as compared to today. Today, however we have thousands of bright engineers and managers, and industry has grown compared to 1947. We can at any time increase steel production, or chemicals production, or production of anything with the help of our engineers and managers, many of whom are brilliant ( the Silicon Valley in U.S.A. has thousands of bright Indian engineers). We have also huge natural wealth which can give us all the raw materials we require, because India is huge in size.

But the point is that the goods manufactured have to be sold, and how can they be sold if the people are poor and do not have the purchasing power to buy them ? That is why the problem is not how to increase production ( for that can easily be done ) but how to increase the purchasing power of the masses, which will automatically raise their standard of living and give them decent lives, and also ensure that the goods manufactured are sold.

It is here that our genuine and patriotic intellectuals must apply their minds.

Taslima Nasreen

I read in the newspapers today that Taslima Nasreen's visa has been extended by the Indian government by only 2 months. In my opinion she should be given a permanent visa to reside in India.

Several bigots and fanatics have hounded her ever since she wrote her book 'Lajja'. I have read the book. It only depicts the atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh after the demolition of Babri Masjid. There is nothing against Islam in that book.

She had to flee for her life to India, but even here the bigots and fanatics hounded her. Evidently writing about the persecution of Hindus is anti-Islamic, according to these fanatics and bigots.

I think it is time now to charge sheet and try in Court these bigots and fanatics, and if found guilty these criminals should be given long sentences of rigorous imprisonment, because nothing else will bring them to their senses.