In view of the lockdown, the Supreme Court has decided to conduct a virtual farewell function for Justice Deepak Gupta on May 6, 2020.
New Delhi: On Wednesday, Supreme Court Justice Deepak Gupta said in his farewell address that the country’s legal system is harnessed in favour of the rich and powerful.
He said that the legal system seemed to work quicker if a rich person was behind bars while trials of poor litigants get delayed.
“The country has great faith in the judiciary. I mean, we say it time and time again but at the same time, we cannot hide our heads like an ostrich and we must recognise problems with the judiciary and deal with them,” he added.
Justice Gupta said the bench and bar have an obligation towards the poor litigants “to ensure that their cases are not put on the backburner”.
He was addressing at a virtual farewell hosted by the Supreme Court Bar Association on his last working day.
Justice Gupta became the first judge in Indian history to get a farewell through video conferencing because of the national lockdown due to coronavirus crisis.
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“In times of crisis, especially a crisis like this it is not you and I, whose constitutional rights will be violated. It’s the poorest of the poor, whose constitutional rights are always violated,” he said.
“The most important attributes of the judiciary and judges are independence, fearlessness and impeccable integrity,” Gupta told the audience.
Justice Deepak Gupta said every judge’s Bible in court should only be the Constitution of India.
Supreme Court Justice Deepak Gupta, during his tenure, has been part of many notable judgements and orders including the 2017 verdict that sex with minor wife despite consent is rape.
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