Justice Madan B. Lokur, a former judge of the Indian Supreme Court, voiced his great worry about the Supreme Court\u2019s \u2018inaction\u2019 in response to the hate assembly\u2019s calls for genocide against Muslims in Hardiwar in December17-19,2021.
\nHe underlined that a call for genocide is the same as genocide itself, according to Article 3 of the Genocide Convention, to which India is a signatory.
\nIn a forceful and outspoken interview, Justice Lokur, said he is \u201cterribly disappointed\u201d the Supreme Court has not taken cognizance of the calls for genocide.
\nThe Supreme Court, according to Justice Lokur, should have intervened promptly and has both a legal and moral obligation to do so. A call for genocide is judged to be the same as genocide itself, according to Article 3 of the Genocide Convention, to which India is a signatory. As a result, India has committed genocide under the Convention, making the Supreme Court\u2019s silence and lack of action all the more perplexing and troubling.
\nJustice Lokur said in a 17-minute interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire that even if the chief justice didn\u2019t want to act suo moto, which he could and should have done, he should have acted after receiving a letter from 76 lawyers, including a former law minister, requesting the Supreme Court\u2019s intervention.
\nWhen asked what the Supreme Court\u2019s taking cognizance would entail, Justice Lokur responded that the court must first ask the government, both at the state and federal levels, what it is doing and give them no more than 24 hours to respond. Following that, the court should order a new and thorough inquiry to be conducted in a short period of time. Third, the court must demand that those who called for genocide be apprehended and \u201cplaced behind bars,\u201d as Justice Lokur put it.
\nWhen calls for genocide are made, Justice Lokur believes the Supreme Court has both a legal and moral obligation to respond. He explained that the court is known as \u201cthe sentinel on the qui vive,\u201d which means it guards against any breach of fundamental rights. The demand for genocide is unmistakably a violation of basic human rights.
\nJustice Lokur questioned why the court had not acted even four days after reconvening after the New Year\u2019s vacation. Indeed, he claimed, the Supreme Court should have responded to the letter from 76 lawyers as soon as possible, if not earlier on a suo moto basis.
\nIt is worth mentioning here, besides 76 lawyers\u2019 letter, former Union minister Prof Saifuddin Soz, Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind (M) and others also wrote letters to the Chief Justice of India on the hate matters.
\nJustice Lokur concurred with a point made by Rekha Sharma, a former judge of the Delhi high court, in an article in the Indian Express that each Supreme Court judge has the power as well as the obligation to intervene in this case, and that they do not have to wait for the chief justice to do so. He also agreed that this meant that none of the Supreme Court\u2019s 30 judges has deemed it appropriate to take cognizance of cries for genocide and act. He agreed that the situation is really troubling.
\nFinally, when asked what would happen if the Supreme Court failed to intervene and take up this case, Justice Lokur remarked it would be \u201ca dreadful scenario.\u201d We\u2019d be \u201cheading for trouble\u201d in those circumstances, he warned.
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Justice Madan B. Lokur, a former judge of the Indian Supreme Court, voiced his great worry about the Supreme Court\u2019s \u2018inaction\u2019 in response to the hate assembly\u2019s calls for genocide against Muslims in Hardiwar in December17-19,2021. He underlined that a call for genocide is the same as genocide itself, according to Article 3 of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[195,2741,2742,292],"class_list":{"0":"post-237595","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-india","9":"tag-justice-lokur","10":"tag-muslims","11":"tag-supreme-court"},"yoast_head":"\n