Taking a strong view of the country’s judicial system, Supreme Court judge Justice G S Singhvi on Sunday said the judicial system had become a business in the eyes of the people. Recalling the days of freedom struggle, Sanghvi said there was a time when lawyers fought not for money, but for sacrifice. “Whether it is lawyers or judges, have we forgotten our task towards society?” he asked.Commenting on the mindset of judges, Justice Sanghvi said the general mindset was how many cases are disposed of in a day and there was a need to redefine their role in society. Addressing a seminar on ‘Responsibility of Judicial System Towards the Society’, organised by the Intellectual Associations Chandigarh, Justice Sanghvi said due to the harassment suffered by the common man in his struggle for justice, 95 per cent of the people do not go to courts at all, suffering silently. “Those 5 per cent who do go, wait in queue for many years, empty their pockets to hire a lawyer. It’s a nightmare for the common man to travel to a higher court,” he said, adding that this was the reason people had started taking law in their hands. “Who is going to return the 10 years of a common man’s life who is then acquitted? Recalling an incident when a woman wrote to him that she was granted bail, but unable to furnish a Rs 2000 security, she spent another year in jail. Have we become totally insensitive? Each one of us needs to join hands to contribute towards the society,” he said.
