CJI Ramana: Election is not a guarantee to avoid autocratic rule

Ground Report | New Delhi: CJI Ramana; Chief Justice of India NV Ramana has said that the right to change those in power through elections is not a guarantee of survival from autocratic rule.

He said that "in order to preserve democracy, it is necessary to give place to both rational and irrational ideas. The day-to-day political discussions, criticisms, and Opponents' voices are part of a good democratic process. They should be respected."

He said that the beauty of democracy lies in the fact that common citizens also have a role in this system.

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CJI NV Ramana said all these things while giving Justice PD Desai Memorial Lecture in Delhi. "Judges should keep in mind that loud noises don't always say the right thing," he said."New media tools have the ability to make things bigger, but they lack the ability to differentiate between right and wrong, good and bad, truth and falsehood."CJI NV Ramana

CJI Ramana said that there is a lot of discussion on 'pressure from the executive', 'but there is also a need to start a conversation on the impact of social media trends on institutions'. "It should not be assumed that the judges and the judiciary will be completely untouched by what is going on around them," he said.

CJI NV Ramana said that complete independence is necessary for the judiciary to keep a check on the power and activity of the government. The CJI said, "The judiciary cannot be controlled, directly or indirectly, by the legislature or the executive."

He said that the executive, the legislature, the judiciary are like a 'treasury of constitutional trust'. (CJI Ramana)

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CJI Ramana said the role of the judiciary is limited and it is concerned only with the 'facts placed before it'. "The boundaries of the judiciary remind other organs of the responsibility of upholding constitutional values," he said.

Talking about the pressure of social media, he said, "New media tools which have the ability to exaggerate something are unable to differentiate between right and wrong, good or bad and real or fake. Hence the media trial." , cannot be the guiding factor in deciding the cases." He said that judges should never be influenced by sentimental opinions.

Talking about the Covid epidemic, he said that "we must stop and ask ourselves to what extent we have used the rule of law for the safety and welfare of our people." He said that we must at least start the process of analyzing what we did right and where we did wrong.

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