The Madras High Court is in the headlines again, and again for the wrong reasons
Those familiar with the goings-on in the Madras High Court will not be surprised at the recent behaviour of a lawyer during an online hearing. The advocate, engaged in an erotic act with a woman, was caught live much to the shock of the judges and others. The pictures have since gone viral. This is the peak of absurdity and shamelessness, which has sent the noble profession of law reeling. But, going by past instances, Tamil Nadu is made of sterner stuff. This kind of an act was waiting to happen, thanks to the misdeeds of a section of lawyers and judges whose roots are in the High Court. In 2014, the then chief of Tamil Nadu Police had told the court in an affidavit that 1,200 State lawyers had criminal backgrounds with 1,424 pending cases. The charges ranged from murder, theft, harassment, SC/ST Act, dowry and holding kangaroo courts. Justice Kirubakaran, hearing a public interest litigation seeking a ban on advocates holding the law degree from private colleges in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, had come down heavily on the Bar Council of India for its alleged indifference to the need of raising the standards of legal education in the country.
The Madras High Court gained notoriety when lawyers clashed with the police on the court’s campus on flimsy grounds. Hundreds of instances of kangaroo courts have been brought to light by vernacular media and some of these lawyers have emerged literally as dons who summon the ‘appellants’ and ‘respondents’ for settling cases, of course for a ‘fee’. The court has the dubious distinction of seeing a sitting judge gatecrashing into a courtroom presided over by a brother judge. A former Chief Justice had to seek police protection in his chambers to ward off marauding lawyers who were not impressed by the judge’s colour and complexion. Then there is the instance of unruly behaviour from lawyers who were brazen enough to throw rotten eggs at Subramanian Swamy, who had appeared in the court in connection with a case. We do not waste any opportunity to recite psalms that judiciary is the only avenue that sustains our country as a democracy. When the fence set up to protect the crop itself starts eating the crop, we must become cautious and look for immediate remedial measures. Let truth alone win!