New Delhi--Unhappy with the way the Parliament unanimously condemned him for his comments on the Mahatma Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bose, former Supreme Court Justice Markandey Katju has taken the Indian Parliament to court.
His writ petition filed through former Solicitor General of India Gopal Subramaniam names the Lok Sabha Speaker, Rajya Sabha Chairman as well as the general secretaries of the two houses.
“It is a basic principle of natural justice that no one should be condemned unheard. But paying scant regard to this principle, the Hon’ble members of both Houses of the Indian Parliament all flocked together with one voice to condemn me, like the Queen of Hearts in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ who would say ‘Off with his head !’ even before she would give a hearing to someone,” Justice Katju said in a blogpost.
The post also has a copy of the writ petition under Article 32 Constitution of India filed in the apex court.
“The statements given by the Petitioner, as a private person, are academic in nature and are in fact a manifestation of scientific temper of a citizen. It is submitted that scientific temper is a way of thinking and acting which uses a method. It may include observing physical reality, questioning, testing, hypothesizing, analysing, and communicating,” he submits in the petition.
He claims the Impugned Resolution in the Houses “do not fulfill the jurisdictional requirement, and the necessary jurisdictional facts are lacking”.
“The present case is not a case of mere procedural irregularity. Further, whether or not the Petitioner’s statement are deplorable or condemnable can only be judged by bodies performing judicial function and cannot be decided by the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha,” he adds.
INDIAN EXPRESS
