Access to judiciary has been weaponized, posing a great challenge to our governance: VP

Vice-President, Jagdeep Dhankhar today said that the access to judiciary has been weaponised in recent years and it is posing a great challenge to our governance. Interacting with a batch of participants from Indian Institute of Democratic Leadership (IIDL) at Vice-President’s enclave today, Shri Dhankhar said that, “ We have a fundamental right in the country, and the right is we can access judiciary. It’s a fundamental right. But in last few decades, access to judiciary has been weaponised! It has been weaponised, to another level, it is posing a great challenge to our governance, our democratic values”.

Expressing his concern over the current situation he stated, “ Day in and day out, you’ll find advisories emanating, executive functions being performed by bodies that have no jurisdiction or jurisprudential authority or competence to perform those actions. To put it in layman’s language, a tehsildar can never record an FIR. How so very strongly he may feel. Because our constitution ordains institutions have to work within their own domain. Are they working? I’ll answer for you, no”.

“Institutions are yielding ground to other institutions, and that is being done out of expediency. These placatory mechanisms may result in short-term gain, but they cause incalculable spinal damage in the long run. And therefore I urge you, you have to think. Once you think, connect with the people. Make them aware no nation is as rich in human resource as Bharat. But we have to audit ourselves. We can’t rest on laurels that are surficial”, he further added.