'Constitution protects not just good judges, but also bad ones'

Justice Hrishikesh Roy, who demitted office on Friday after a five-year tenure at the Supreme Court, has underscored a key challenge in judicial accountability - the existence of a "raksha kavach" (protective armour) in the Constitution that shields both good and bad judges.

- Utkarsh Anand

This form of constitutional and legal protection, he suggested, makes redressal mechanisms inadequate in cases of judicial misconduct, such as the controversy surrounding Allahabad high court judge Shekhar Yadav.

Justice Yadav was called for a meeting with the Supreme Court collegium, which included Justice Roy, on December 17 after his contentious remarks at a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) event raised questions of bias and constitutional impropriety. While justice Yadav's purported remarks on December 8, targeting the Muslim community and invoking themes of majority rule and the (UCC), triggered sharp criticism from political and legal circles, no public action has been taken against him so far.