1. That a certain worthy, called Sharma, on his last day in service, poured out sheer, embarrassing nonsense that scientists and scholars universally ridiculed, doesn’t bother me so much.
Nor the fact that he prescribed Life Sentence for anyone engaged in cow-slaughter.
But that this man, whose stupidity blended with his supreme self-confidence and sense of righteousness, was an Advocate General of a major Indian state, does bother me.
That a man such as he, rose to the exalted office of the Judge of that state’s High Court benumbs me
That he got to serve his full term without impeachment or disqualification, depresses me.
2. Note that this man’s words had the power to hang you and me, unseat an elected Prime Minister [e.g. Justice Sinha on Indira Gandhi in Raj Narain case], stall virtually any law of the land, or order of the government and adjudicate disputes worth thousands of crores of rupees.
Note, too, that this man drew his wisdom from [and guided by] not Science - as you and I understand it – nor the Constitution of India, his sole raison d'être, but from scriptures that he held sacred.
The man equated myths, and his idea of morality, with Law itself.
3. Can a man - such as he – be expected to have delivered sound, fair justice, specially to people not professing his version of his faith?
Can a man - such as he – be expected not to have shown partiality and bias towards people professing his version of his faith?
4. How did such a man as he, qualify to that exalted position? What was the qualification earning him that wholly undeserved honour? How did he get to complete his whole term? How did he escape disqualification? Who reviewed his performance at different times, and how did they?
5. How Justice Mahesh Chandra Sharma - a person of lesser rationality than an average peon in a school - rose to the prestigious position of the Judge of the Rajasthan High Court, should lead us to introspect if all is well with our judicial selection, review and promotions?
More: Are we, indeed, delivering justice as enshrined by the Constitution of the Republic?
Are we being fair to all the citizens of India, equally?
Thank you, Justice Sharma, for alerting us to this terrible decay in our dispensation of justice.
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