Justice Chittranjan Dash of the Calcutta High Court reveals his long association with RSS
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – The recent assertion by a retiring judge of the Calcutta High Court that he has long been affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has revealed that the Hindutva organisation has sleeper cells in the country’s judiciary, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has said.
This week Justice Chittranjan Dash said he has been an active RSS activist and would go back to the organisation after his retirement.
In a statement, SDPI vice president Advocate Sharfuddin Ahmed said the retiring judge proudly declared his membership of the RSS, an organisation born and built up on the ideology of hatred. It was just a couple of months ago that Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, another judge of the Calcutta High Court resigned and joined BJP and became a party candidate in the ongoing general election, he noted.
“These all expose the ploy that even the constitutional offices of the country have been infested with the committed persons that have crept into the roots to change the democratic character of the country to a theocratic one,” he asserted.
Ahmed noted that Justice Chittranjan Dash has drawn strong flaks from the apex court for his ‘extra-judicial’ comments in the rape case of a minor advising adolescent girls to restrain their sexual urges instead of succumbing to momentary pleasure. The apex court termed the remarks “highly objectionable and completely unwarranted.”
According to the SDPI, the statement of the judge that he had distanced himself from the RSS, the organisation he terms as mercenary, after becoming a judge, dealt impartially with all cases and litigants irrespective of party affiliation, etc., is hard to believe as it doesn’t match with his praise of the organisation. He is proud of his RSS membership. His words that “I owe a lot to the organisation. I have been there from my childhood to adulthood. From this organisation I have learned to be brave, fair, and have an equal attitude towards all. And above all, I have learned to work with a sense of patriotism and commitment, wherever I work,” explicitly express his strong bonds with the RSS.
“Close affiliation of judicial officers with political parties, especially with organisations that propagate hatred and division in society is of dire consequences that would undermine the impartiality and credibility of the judicial system. Those who were ashamed of the people knowing their affiliation with the Sangh Parivar have turned out to be proud of declaring their RSS bond is the key achievement of the decade-long Modi rule in the country,” said Ahmed.
