It is most rejoicing to read that none other than Hon’ble Mr Justice VG Arun of the Kerala High Court as recently as on September 24, 2022 while inaugurating and addressing the great event titled Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham and the Kerala Misra Vivaha Vedi as part of ‘SECULAR 2022’ mega event. Hon’ble Mr Justice VG Arun said most commendably, cogently and convincingly that, “To live without adhering to any religion in our democratic secular country is certainly in tune with our Constitutional principles”. Moreover, it cannot be denied that religion only teaches us discrimination ingraining in our mind that, “We are Hindus and they are Muslims and so on” as we see in Ayodhya where we saw how due to the temple and mosque controversy thousands and thousands of people lost their invaluable lives due to riots, bomb blasts and what not in name of Lord Ram and General of Babur whose name I don’t remember in whose name Babri mosque was built and who legend goes had destroyed Lord Ram temple and then built a mosque over it.
We all know that Lord Ram had given a boon to Lord Hanuman who considered himself his servant that those who worship you will be most dear to me. This alone explains why inspite of so much of rioting and fighting over Lord Ram we rarely see a temple dedicated to him and instead India is flooded with temples of Lord Hanuman. I saw one such temple named Raghunath temple in Jammu. I cried in joy as Hindus are deadly against placing idol of Lord Ram in most of the temples and believe firmly in worshipping his servant named Lord Hanuman and it was for first time in my life in 1991 that I saw idol of Lord Ram.
Till 1989, I considered Lord Hanuman as only a monkey and when my mother used to do pooja in my childhood days prior to 1989, my cousin brother Suresh Sirohi whose house name is Pappu used to start laughing and after him, I also used to start laughing then my cousin brother Naresh, cousin sisters Manju and Kamal and so also my real brother Rajeev whose home name is Raju used to start laughing and then after pooja used to be over we used to all get beaten. Then we all would fight that who laughed first and when it came out that Pappu had laughed first then all my brother, cousin brother and cousin sisters used to get angry on him and he used to never disclose the reason but to me he disclosed as I was closest to him and he then said that, “See we worship a “Bandar” (Monkey) as God and a Rakshasni (lady demon) named Kali who kills men and then beheads them, drink their blood and wears garland of skulls.” I then took it as truth but my best friend of school times named Rahul Sharma educated me in about June or July 1989 that Lord Hanuman is incarnation of Lord Shiv and Kali is not Rakshasni but a Devi who is anger form of Ma Gauri who kills demon and explained the Raktabija boon that he had got of thousands springing up from blood that fell on ground due to which Goddess Kali devoured him. Rahul said that my Mother worships Goddess Kali and treats her like ‘Mother’ more than ‘Devi’! It was only then that I too started treating Goddess Kali whom I considered a Rakshasni till then as my own mother and got emotionally very attached with her which continues till date.
Isn’t it strange that we fight maximum over Lord Ram, Lord Krishan and Lord Shiv in case of Hindus and Muslim Generals and Mughal Kings like Aurangzeb in case of Muslims? Lord Ram had left his own wife in forest to keep his people happy which alone explains why most eminent lawyer – late Ram Jethmalani openly termed Lord Ram as “A good king but bad husband”! I myself will prefer to die than fight with Muslims over any religious site as I believe fully that Hindus and Muslims can worship together at same place and same time like I and my best friend Sageer Khan used to pray from 1993 to 1995 and God favours sacrifice and not fighting like dogs over a sacred site which I learnt best from Sageer Khan who strongly believed that not a single mosque should be built in Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura!
Why is it that BJP which fought most strongly over Lord Ram temple and who fought a long legal battle also is most happy by spending crores and crores of rupees on Ram temple in Ayodhya, renaming it from Faizabad to Ayodhya but is dead determined never to allow even a Single High Court Bench in any nook and corner of Uttar Pradesh where maximum holy cities are located not even at Ayodhya as they are all legally worthless? Why PM Narendra Damodardas Modi proudly spends crores of rupees on temple renovation at Varanasi but considers it totally unfit for High Court Bench? Why PM Narendra Damodardas Modi very proudly visits Lord Augharnath temple in Meerut in West UP where lawyers have gone on strike umpteen number of times even for six months but he like his worthy predecessors very strongly feel that for High Court Bench and High Court only the city famous by name of “Allah” named Allahabad and the city famous by name of “Nawab” named Lucknow deserve High Court and a Single High Court Bench in whole of UP respectively?
Why is it that Yogi Adityanath thundered for a High Court Bench in Parliament for Gorakhpur way back in 1998 as an MP and even placed a private member Bill in 2015 again as an MP for High Court Bench at Gorakhpur and why inspite of his second term in office he is totally helpless on this front as Centre is dead determined not to allow any High Court Bench anywhere in UP as the world’s greatest jurist and greatest barrister trained most rigorously in UK named fondly as Pandit Nehru was dead against any High Court Bench anywhere else except at Lucknow so near to Allahabad? This also explains why former PM late Atal Bihari Vajpayee thundered in Parliament as Opposition Leader in 1986 for High Court Bench in West UP but did nothing after becoming PM!
Why talk about politicians only? Even all Chief Justices of India from 1947 to 2000 very strongly believed in interest of justice that the people of hilly areas now named Uttarakhand considered Devbhoomi should most stupidly, senselessly and like idiots travel happily thousands of kilometers away all the way to not even Lucknow which is about 200 km before Allahabad but right till Allahabad as this they considered best! A former Supreme Court Judge named Justice Jaswant Singh was appointed Head of Commission to look into where all Benches are needed by former PM late Mrs Indira Gandhi in late 1970s. It recommended High Court Bench at Aurangabad in Maharashtra which was promptly created in 1985 and which already had two High Court Benches at Nagpur and Panaji and which even now tops in justice index list and now fourth Bench also approved by former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray at Kolhapur for just 6 districts and so also in West Bengal at Jalpaiguri which already had a Bench at Port Blair and in Madurai in Tamil Nadu! The worst part is that Justice Jaswant Singh Commission recommended 3 High Court Benches for undivided UP yet not a single created and lame excuses were forwarded like we see now of getting sanction from the concerned High Court Chief Justice, Chief Minister etc etc!
It must be mentioned here that Justice Jaswant Commission had also recommended a Bench at Raipur in undivided Madhya Pradesh which already had two Benches at Gwalior and Indore which was not implemented but it was compensated generously as Centre later gave High Court itself for that region of Madhya Pradesh now famous by name of Chhattisgarh at Bilaspur in 2000 and which has just about 2 or 3 crore population!
As if this was not enough, Centre led by PM Dr Manmohan Singh most pompously announced two High Court Benches for Karnataka which has just 6 crore population at Dharwad and Gulbarga for just 4 and 8 districts respectively but for a big state like UP which is most populated more than 25 crore population and maximum pending cases and what not yet no Bench approved even though the President and Secretary of Meerut Bar which is leading the sacred struggle for a High Court Bench in West UP along with senior lawyers of West UP repeatedly kept meeting the then PM Dr Manmohan Singh and former UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and all they got was empty assurances. Former Union Minister RPN Singh then in Congress and now in BJP had disclosed that Kapil Sibal as Law Minister had recommended High Court Bench at Meerut but Centre and the then UP CM Akhilesh Yadav did not thought it worthy to be implemented actually!
When a woman lawyer KL Chitra filed PIL for setting up a High Court Bench in West UP which came up for hearing before the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi who is now Rajya Sabha MP said he sympathized with her pleadings which was fully justified but distanced himself saying that it is for Centre to look into it and dismissed the petition! The lawyers of West UP have gone on strike for 6 months many times as in 2001 and one month strike also many time as in 2009, and so also four to five months as in 2014-15 and one month hunger strike also as in 1978, boycotted Lok Adalats and have been going on regular strike every Saturday since 1981 May till now and many times even on Wednesday which now has been discontinued yet Centre remains dead determined never to allow even a Single High Court Bench in any nook and corner of UP on one pretext or the other!
The 230th report of Law Commission of India headed by Justice Dr AR Lakshmanan in 2009 recommended that High Court Benches must be created in all States but most disgracefully it was implemented only for an unworthy State named Karnataka where there was no need of any Bench but lawless State like Bihar as even BJP Union Ministers term it where there is not even a single High Court Bench and so also Uttar Pradesh termed by former UN Secretary General Ban ki moon while in office as “rape and crime capital of India” was considered totally unfit for it!
No matter how many people are killed or beheaded in Uttar Pradesh or in Rajasthan but Centre is dead determined that they should not have more than High Court Bench and most lawless State Bihar from where former Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hails should not have even one Bench! The lawyers of Udaipur where most brutal beheading took place notoriously just recently and adjoining regions have been demanding Bench since long time but again Centre is just not prepared for it!
All told, we really ought not to forget that Hon’ble Mr Justice VG Arun of Kerala High Court expressed his firm belief that gatherings like these could materialize the ideals put forth by Ambedkar, Sree Narayan Guru and Sahodaran Ayyappan in simply viewing men as men and loving each other regardless of religion. Who can dispute or deny this? He further said that he believed that the evergreen lives of VK Pavithran, “where humanitarian blood in us”, could serve as the motto in the journey of mankind to attain this goal. Absolutely right! It is our politicians and judges who need to remember this most who are remote controlling everything in our nation and yet doing precious little to ensure that brazen violation and merciless trampling of right to “speedy trial” and “justice at doorsteps” and “right to equality” as enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution is discontinued forthwith!
Sanjeev Sirohi