A video of the actress questioning the country’s judicial system on its delay in giving verdicts on prisoners languishing in several jails without a trial has gone viral on social media platforms
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – Prominent Bollywood actress Swara Bhaskar has come down heavily on Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud for inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his home for Ganesh Puja celebrations recently.
A video of Bhaskar questioning the country’s judicial system on its delay in giving verdicts on prisoners languishing in several jails without a trial has gone viral on social media platforms.
She, along with other prominent personalities including politicians, activists, legal experts, and artists like Digvijay Singh, Dipankar Bhattacharya, Kunal Kamra, Nargis Saifi, and Justice Madan Lokur attended Curtailed Freedoms: A Travesty of Justice hosted by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) and Concerned Citizens Delhi at the Constitution Club of India here earlier this week.
The video shows Bhaskar questioning the CJI’s priorities: “What are you afraid of? You have time to perform a puja with PM Modi, but you don’t have 20 minutes for justice” she said.
She referenced the long-pending cases of individuals like former JNU student and activist Umar Khalid, who has been imprisoned for over four years without trial. She said: “I also raised my voice and was one of the protestors during the movement. But I was not jailed? Why? Because coincidentally, I was born into a Hindu family. They must have thought that putting me behind bars would be too much. It was not convenient enough for the authorities.”
Highlighting her privilege of being born as a Hindu to a former naval officer and a professor’s mother Bhaskar stated that their (Umar Khalid and others) Muslim identities made them easy targets.
“You can label a Muslim a terrorist, but they must have thought that to tag the daughter of a Hindu ex-navy officer as a terrorist, “ye shayad thoda jyada ho jayega” (perhaps it would be too much), she added.
Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and other activists have been languishing in under the draconian anti-terrorist law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 (UAPA) after the Delhi riots in 2020.
Bhaskar also criticised Delhi High Court judge Amit Sharma, who recently recused himself from hearing Umar Khalid’s bail plea. She questioned his decision, asking, “What are you afraid of? Aren’t you educated and paid by our taxes? By recusing yourself, aren’t you betraying the people of India?”
