RAM JETHMALANI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These cases are just two in number. There may be many other cases of this nature which have not yet reached this Court but may be filed shortly. These are not ordinary criminal cases involving a few individuals coming from a small locality. These are extraordinary cases involving serious questions of great public importance touching the security of the nation as well as personal liberty of a sizeable section of the community, many of whom may have been made to believe by a dominant section of society, may be wrongly, that what they were doing was right and for that reason may not have been free agents. Hence these cases have to be dealt with differently from the usual cases which come up before this Court.

(2.) FIRST a word of caution. In the course of these proceedings every word uttered on either side of the Bar should be weighed before it is used. There is no room for heat and passion; logic and reason alone should rule the debates. There should be an alround sympathy in dealing with the complex issues which may arise for determination. In handling these cases the highest judicial talent and statesmanship are needed and hence these cases cannot just be rejected reserving liberty to the applicants to approach a Judicial Magistrate, a Sessions Judge or even the High Court. Every step taken in these cases should serve as a healing touch bringing solace to all concerned and lessening by some degree the pain and suffering through which the country and its peace -loving people have passed and are passing. These proceedings should have the effect of assuaging the outraged feelings of many who till now may not be aware of what has actually happened. Any amount of time spent by the highest Court of this land on these cases would not go in vain. There is no duty more sacred than this.

(3.) MAY I say that there can be no compromise on the following matters, namely, unity and integrity of India, the secular and democratic form of the Indian Government and the supremacy of the Indian Constitution? They must be upheld in any event. There cannot be any doubt about the right of the established Government to run the administration of the country. We should remember that India is no doubt a Union of States, but the boundaries of the State are not unalterable. There is only one citizenship in India and that all of us - - Indian citizens - - belong to the whole of India and the whole of India belongs to all of us. Man made boundaries cannot divide us. Language, religion, caste and other factors cannot be allowed to drive a wedge between one section and another. It is good to remember here what Abraham Lincoln said though in another context in 1858, 'A house divided against itself cannot stand'. The issue now before the Court involves more than the future of India. Agam to quote Lincoln from what he said in the American context :