The Madras High Court on Wednesday remarked that there is corruption in the judiciary and judges should not be treated as holy cows. The court remarks came while dismissing a plea seeking to ban the Tamil movie “Karuppu” for allegedly portraying the judiciary in a bad light.
In its order, bench of Justice GR Swaminathan and Justice V Lakshminarayanan noted that it had come across instances of judicial corruption and such “black sheep” were regularly shown the exit door by the full court of the Madras High Court.
The petitioner had moved the court to ban or regulate the movie. He had submitted that in one of the scenes in the movie, a judge had been shown as being involved in bribery and consuming drugs. He argued that such scenes were against the constitution and damaged the reputation of judges. He argued that the director of the movie, Balaji, had criticised the Indian judicial system without any application of mind.
While the court agreed that the system was portrayed in an exaggerated manner, it also noted that it was usual in Tamil cinema to portray everything melodramatically. Calling it artistic license, the court said that an artist is entitled to present a situation in his own way. The court said that a documentary or presentation could be tested on a stricter standard, but an artistic production would be weighed on a different scale and in such cases, the artist has greater leverage and freedom.
"None can deny there is corruption in the Judiciary. There were and are corrupt Judges.. we do know and have come across instances of judicial corruption. The Full Court of the Madras High Court regularly shows the exit door to such black sheep," the court said.
In another observation, the court noted, “Judges need not be treated as holy cows. Justice is not a cloistered virtue; she must be allowed to suffer the scrutiny and respectful even though outspoken comments of ordinary men (Lord Atkin).”
“Corruption in Judiciary cannot be committed without some members of the Bar becoming privy to the corrupt. The vigilant watch by the High Court is the sustaining stream to catch the corrupt and to deal with the situation appropriately,” the court said.
The Supreme Court recently imposed a ban on a Class 8 Social Science textbook published by the NCERT. The book contained a chapter titled "The Role of Judiciary in our Society," which referenced systemic issues like "corruption at various levels of the judiciary". The court took suo motu cognizance of the chapter, with the Chief Justice of India strongly objecting to the allegations.
The Supreme Court ruled that exposing young students to these narratives was a "calculated move" to demean institutional dignity, and ordered the immediate withdrawal and seizure of all physical and digital copies.
Following the Supreme Court's intervention, the NCERT issued an unconditional apology, officially withdrawing the textbook entirely, and announced plans to rewrite the chapter for the academic curriculum.
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