By Sruti MD / News Click
The Madras High Court on July 28 ruled that, if the golden statue of Sita can be a substitute for her physical presence, then why can’t marriage be registered through virtual appearance?
The bench of Justice G.R. Swaminathan stated, “there came a time when Rama was going to perform a huge sacrifice, such as the old kings used to celebrate. But no ceremony in India can be performed by a married man without his wife. So, as a substitute, a golden statue of Sita was made, in order that the ceremony could be accomplished.”
In this case, the writ petition was filed to direct the respondent to solemnise the marriage of the petitioner with the bridegroom through video conference and register the same under the Special Marriage Act, 1954.told NewsClick, “times are changing and it is good that video conference marriages are considered by the law. But, what is the need to quote from mythology to argue for virtual registration of marriage?”
Justice Swaminathan is being accused of underscoring a political bias in his judgements because he draws heavily from Hindu mythologies in court hearings.
Lawyer K Bharathi of the Democratic Advocates’ Association told NewsClick, “he is purposely doing it to promote a certain politics; he is of the attitude ‘I will do what I want, let me see what anyone can do about it”.
Justice GR Swaminathan is said to have been a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the past and is criticised for carrying his political leanings into the courtroom. He is repeatedly accused of taking the same stance as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and also of being biased towards the party.
COMPLEMENTING BJP LEADER
In the passport scam case, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on July 27 complimented Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai for bringing the scam to light. Justice Swaminathan said, “he has played the role of a watchdog in a democracy. If it wasn’t for him, the matter would not have come to light”.
Lawyer Bharathi wrote to the Chief Justice of the Madras high court, Munishwar Nath Bhandari, calling for the resignation of justice GR Swaminathan for appreciating Annamalai, on the grounds that the judiciary should be independent and cannot support any party or party leader.
Advocate Bharathi told NewsClick, “the person who filed the Public Interest Litigation could have been appreciated. Why was he not complimented? The judge has the intention to praise the BJP president and foreground the party.”
He added, “this ruling was given a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to Chennai. We doubt that it was done with the intention to grab his attention by praising the state president of the BJP, popularising the party in Tamil Nadu and gaining a reputation for himself”.
He further said, “the judge gave a clean chit to Devasirvatham, who Annamalai charged was behind the scam. Thereby, Annamalai’s claim itself is proved wrong, but is appreciated”.
“The passport scam issue was raked up around three years ago, it was not Annamalai who exposed it,” he added.
This story was originally published in newsclick.in . Read the full story here