The Justice Dinakaran issue and caste

Among all the arguments that have been voiced during the Justice Dinakaran issue, one has stood out for its outrageous nature. The chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Buta Singh – a man not exactly renowned for his fine judgement – detected an upper-caste conspiracy in the campaign against Justice Dinakaran’s elevation to the Supreme Court. He put the whole thing down to "anti-dalit and casteist elements in [the] Bar Council of India, Bars [in the] states and judicial activists who are known for having casteist attitudes towards the increasing strength of SC/STs in the judicial services of the country". So, the NCSC – through which the statement was released – would have us believe that Justice Dinakaran was ‘targeted’ because he was a Dalit and not because he encroached on nearly 500 acres of land. It didn’t matter that Kaverirajapuram village, the site of the alleged encroachment, is home mostly to Dalit families. It didn’t matter that ‘poramboke’ land – comprising the village’s lakes, pathways, canals, streams, and pastures – had been illegally seized. The fact that the Thalam Charitable Trust and the Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam – organizations that have spearheaded the agitations in the village – have always fought for the rights of Dalits and landless farmers completely eluded them. Even after the Thiruvallur district collector V.Palanikumar had conducted a detailed study of the area and confirmed the allegations against Justice Dinakaran, claims of caste bias refused to go away. M.Udhaya Bhanu, president of the Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedker Advocates’ Association maintained that advocates belonging to a certain caste were lobbying hard to have an advocate belonging to their caste elevated to the Supreme Court in place of Justice Dinakaran. “This dream of theirs will be shattered if Dinakaran goes to the apex court as only two persons can represent a State” he said. “That is why the [some]one like [the] lawyer Shanti Bhushan is being engaged to unleash baseless charges.” Let us assume for a minute that the charges against Justice Dinakaran are indeed motivated by a prejudice against his caste. Does this then absolve him of all his wrongdoings?

The judiciary has been a favourite target of all champions of caste-based reservation. In December 2007, over 10,000 people took out a rally in Delhi demanding reservation for SCs and STs in the judiciary, among other institutions. Dr. Udit Raj, the then National Chairman of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations, addressing the rally, rued the fact that out of a total of 610 judges in the country, only 20 belonged to the Dalit community. The idea that all sections of society must have proportional representation in the judiciary is one thing but believing that members of a particular caste are best served by a judge from the same caste is a silly – not to mention incorrect – notion.

Have we, as a society, degenerated so much that we cannot see anything for what it is? Or has the rot set in so deep that our thinking cannot remain uncoloured by caste anymore? A good judge is a good judge and a corrupt judge a corrupt judge – caste has as much to do with it as blood type. Some of India’s politicians – and we all know what high esteem they are held in – have built entire careers on caste-based polarization. Let us leave the judiciary alone. Please.