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18 Retired Judges Condemn Amit Shah’s Remarks on Salwa Judum Verdict, Defend Justice B Sudershan Reddy
Moneylife Digital Team 25 August 2025
Economy & Nation
In a rare public intervention, 18 retired judges of the Supreme Court and various high courts have issued a statement criticising Union home minister Amit Shah for his recent comments targeting justice B Sudershan Reddy, the Opposition’s nominee for vice-president, over the 2011 Salwa Judum ruling. The signatories described Mr Shah’s remarks as 'unfortunate' and cautioned that misrepresenting a Supreme Court judgement could have a chilling effect on judicial independence.
 
Speaking in Kerala last week, the home minister had claimed that justice Reddy’s verdict had 'helped Naxalism' and alleged that he was 'inspired by the ideology' that led to the disbanding of Salwa Judum. 
 
Home minister Shah also suggested that Maoist insurgency would have been eradicated by 2020 had the judgement not been delivered. 
 
 
Justice Reddy, who authored the verdict along with justice SS Nijjar, has declined to be drawn into the controversy, saying the ruling was not his alone but that of the Supreme Court. He added that Mr Shah would not have made such remarks had he studied the full judgement.
 
The former judges emphasised in their joint statement that the Supreme Court’s ruling 'nowhere supports, either expressly or by compelling implication, Naxalism or its ideology'. 
 
They argued that political campaigns, including those for constitutional offices like the vice-presidency, can be contested on ideological grounds but must be conducted 'civilly and with dignity'. Attacking the 'so-called ideology' of a candidate, they say, amounts to undermining both the electoral process and institutional respect.
 
“Prejudicial misinterpretation of a judgment of the Supreme Court by a high political functionary is likely to have a chilling effect on the judges of the Supreme Court, shaking the independence of the judiciary,” the statement warned. 
 
It also urged political leaders to avoid 'name-calling' in deference to the office of the vice-president of India.
 
The list of signatories includes seven former Supreme Court judges—AK Patnaik, Abhay Oka, Gopala Gowda, Vikramjit Sen, Kurien Joseph, Madan B Lokur and J Chelameswar. They were joined by three former high court chief justices—Govind Mathur, S Muralidhar and Sanjib Banerjee—alongside several former high court judges such as Anjana Prakash, C Praveen Kumar, A Gopal Reddy, G Raghuram, K Kannan, K Chandru, B Chandrakumar and Kailash Gambhir. Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde and professor Mohan Gopal also endorsed the statement.
 
The 2011 Supreme Court verdict in question had declared unconstitutional the Chhattisgarh government’s practice of arming tribal youth as special police officers under the vigilante force Salwa Judum. The bench ruled that the policy violated Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, stressing that the state could not outsource its coercive powers to civilians in a conflict zone.
 
Home minister Shah’s attack on justice Reddy has stirred controversy not only because of its political context, justice Reddy is the Opposition’s vice-presidential candidate, but also because of its wider implications for the judiciary. 
 
Legal observers note that never before have so many retired judges collectively pushed back against comments by a sitting home minister, underscoring the seriousness of their concerns over judicial independence and political rhetoric.
 
Comments
msnkumar53
8 months ago
May be there are many times more than these 18 retired judges who might agree with the statement of Amit Shah but do not want to enter into public debate on this to keep the dignity of the judges.
Reply
parimalshah1
8 months ago
Those in the right frame of mind from the judiciary should now not keep quiet and must speak up against vested interest in judiciary otherwise whatever little faith is still prevailing among the masses will soon evaporate and then there will be anarchy, thanks to the likes of Raga and the tukde gang, and Soros, Pitroda, Khan gang and the fake narrative journalists and bots.
Reply
parimalshah1
8 months ago
The judiciary is in need of urgent reforms. It is deplorable that so many from judiciary are critical of the statement but were silent when wrong was being done. A short and swift surgery is the need of the hour.
Reply
shkarandikar
8 months ago
Never before the Ex Supreme Court has tried politically influential offices.
Actual signatories show the politics inside supreme courts and there alignment.

This is ploy by Congress to put indirect rift in courts also.
Reply
deepak.narain
8 months ago

The concluding para of your report that ' never before have so many retired judges collectively pushed back against comments by a sitting home minister' shows how mistaken was the HM. Politicians must not be swayed by petty politics.
Reply
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