Kiren Rijiju concerned over ‘unpalatable remarks’ against judges online

“In the court, we know what the judges do and what their responsibilities are. But many people don’t understand the life of a Judge. There are some unpalatable remarks being made on social media and various forums, but when you see closely how much judges have to perform, it’s difficult for people like us to comprehend,” Rijiju said at the Legal Services Day celebration, organised by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) at Sharda University, Greater Noida.

“We are from public life and we are very open, but judges cannot be that open. They have their own limitations. It is not easy for judges to perform in courtrooms and then come out and dedicate time for services like providing legal aid,” Rijiju said.

Chief Justice of India N V Ramana, the patron of NALSA, spoke on the expanded role of legal aid in present times. “Earlier, the idea of legal aid was confined to court rooms. Notions of access to justice were understood from traditional viewpoints. But, over the course of 26 years, the legal services authorities have broken the traditional notions of legal aid and given an expanded meaning to access to justice. Today, the role of legal services authorities is not constrained merely to the provision of court-based legal representation. They also work towards legal awareness, legal literacy, social action litigation, settlement of disputes through alternate dispute resolution mechanisms, among others,” the CJI said.