The All India Bar Association dismissed Senior Lawyer Kapil Sibal’s remarks that there was “no more hope for the Supreme Court” as insulting.
Adish C. Aggarwala, former vice-president of the Indian Bar Association and the Supreme Court Bar Association, said Mr Sibal was free not to appear in court if he lost hope for justice in India.
Adish C Aggarwala said that the comments of the former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Union were disappointing. He also said, “Kapil Sibal is an experienced senior attorney. There is no need to blame a judge or ruling just because the court disagreed with his or his colleague’s submissions. There is no prejudice.” On social media, he denounces a judge who claims that
You owe allegiance to the Constitution and no one else.
Minister of Justice Kiren Rijiju also criticized Sibal and said that comments by him and some parliamentary leaders betrayed the notion that they should be tried in courts and other courts.
Advocates named Vineet Jindal and Shashank Shekhar Jha wrote separate letters to Attorney General KK Venugopal asking for his consent to initiate an insult lawsuit against Sibal for his comments on the judiciary.
Advocate Vineet Jindal alleged that Sibal’s remarks scandalized a Supreme Court judge’s ruling.
Advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha said the lead lawyer had questioned the Supreme Court’s independence and ‘broke its dignity.
On 6 August, Kapil Sibal expressed dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court ruling of Zakia Jafri in relation to the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Zakia Jafri, the wife of former MP Ehsan Jafri, along with activist Teesta Setalvad, challenged a report by the Special Investigations Team that acquitted Prime Minister Narendra Modi of involvement in the riots.
Ehsan Jafri was hacked to death when a mob set fire to his Gulberg Society rampage in 2002 and Modi was then the chief minister of Gujarat.
Zubair, a co-founder of fact-checking website Alt News, was arrested by the Delhi Police on June 27 on charges of hurting religious sentiments for a tweet that he had posted in 2018.
Kapil Sibal had also criticized the Supreme Court for upholding the Enforcement Directorate’s power to arrest and seize properties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Sibal had said that the judiciary has “let us down” and he wants to “hang his head in shame” after the court judgements against journalist Mohammed Zubair, and Setalvad, among others.
