Mamata Banerjee Calls for an Unbiased Judiciary at National Judicial Academy Conference

Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister, demanded on Saturday that the judiciary be totally impartial and pure, devoid of any political prejudice.

She was giving a speech at this location at the National Judicial Academy's "East Zone-II Regional Conference." Attending the conference were Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud of India and Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam of the Calcutta High Court.

"It is my gracious submission; it is not my aim to degrade anyone. Please make sure the judiciary is free from political bias. As someone who has recently expressed disapproval of multiple rulings, the chief minister stated, "The courts must be pure, totally pure.

In the context of her criticism of the Calcutta High Court's ruling to halt the hiring of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff for state-run schools, Mamata made her remark. She had claimed that judges were being influenced by BJP politicians.

The chief minister also took aim at Abhijit Gangopadhyay, the former judge of the Calcutta High Court, who quit to join the BJP. Later, running on a BJP ticket, Gangopadhyay won the Tamluk constituency in the Lok Sabha election.

For us, the judiciary is a sacred place. It is comparable to a church, gurdwara, masjid, and mandir (temple). It is within our absolute power to administer justice to the people. The chief minister stated, "I think the judiciary should serve everyone without considering their caste, creed, or community."

However, Justice Chandrachud, the event's keynote speaker, insisted that "constitutional morality" should come from constitutional duties rather than from one's own conscience.

"When people refer to the courts as a temple of justice, I remain silent. Since the judges are not gods, that would imply that they are. At the conference titled "Contemporary Judicial Developments and Strengthening Justice Through Law and Technology," CJI Chandrachud stated, "They are instead servers of the people, who deliver justice with compassion and empathy."

The Center was criticized by the chief minister as well for not funding fast-track courts. "We have 88 fast-track courts," the woman stated. The Government of India used to support fast-track courts financially, but they ceased doing so seven or eight years ago. Only our state operates 88 fast-track courts, 55 of which are dedicated to women.

Mamata stated that property for a new high court to be built in the Rajarhat neighborhood of Calcutta, as well as ₹1,000 crore for the growth of the judiciary, had been granted by the Bengal government.

The Chief Justice of India emphasized that in order to improve the effective administration of justice to the people, technological support is essential. He brought up the usage of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted software to help translate about 37,000 Supreme Court rulings from English into all regional languages recognized by the Constitution since Independence.

Attending the session were judges from courts in the Northeast as well as additional justices from the Supreme Court and Calcutta High Court.

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