To preserve its independence, judiciary must remain uncontaminated from interference, Justice Ranjan Gogoi

Supreme Court judge, Justice Ranjan Gogoi today said that independent journalists and noisy judges are needed at times and if judiciary wishes to preserve its independence, it should remain uncontaminated from external interference. He was delivering the third Ramnath Goenka Lecture at Nehru Auditorium, Teen Murti Bhavan, New Delhi..Speaking on the topic ‘Vision for Justice’, Justice Gogoi began his speech by borrowing from Raj Kamal Jha..“When I talk about vision of justice, I borrow from Raj Kamal Jha – Fierce and independent. Without fear or favour. I would like to call them bedrock principles” .Observing that the judiciary has never been in news so much as it is now, Justice Gogoi said,.“I can’t recall the last time the judicial wing of the state made so much news. These bedrock principles have been the talk of the town recently. Public institutions, one of them being judiciary were tweaked when the need was felt to give life to prodigious idea of justice.’.Speaking on ‘justice’, Gogoi J. said that ‘justice’ is not a standalone concept but an amalgam of democracy, equality and liberty among others..He then proceeded to refer to the judgment of the Supreme Court in Bijoe Emmanuel v. State of Kerala, wherein the Supreme Court had observed that “the real test of democracy is the ability of an insignificant minority to find its existence in the country….our tradition teaches tolerance; our philosophy preaches tolerance; our constitution practices tolerance; let us not dilute it.”.“The judgment says Constitutional morality and not societal morality. Constitutional morality should be the guiding light.”.Quoting from Indian Express Article on “independents journalists and noisy judges”, Justice Gogoi said,.“But sometimes, we need independents journalists and noisy judges”..Gogoi ended his speech with strong words on judicial independence. Quoting Alexander Hamilton, Justice Gogoi said that liberty has nothing to fear from judiciary but would have everything to fear from its union with the other two departments..“If judiciary wishes to preserve its independence, it must remain uncontaminated from interference”, said Gogoi J..Here is the live thread on the speech by Justice Gogoi..The lecture was attended by Supreme Court judges Justices DY Chandrachud, Deepak Gupta, AK Sikri, NV Ramana, Madan B Lokur and Delhi High Court Acting CJ Gita Mittal..Here is the full video of the event. Justice Gogoi speech starts at 13 minutes 50 seconds..Read the full text of the speech below.