Acted as per my conscience while granting bail to Jaya: CJI

Justice Dattu was responding to a question relating to his decision to grant bail to Jayalalithaa and three others without even issuing notice to the prosecution and a letter written by the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association Dushyant Dave.

In his interaction with journalists, the CJI said “I have no answer to the letter. I have answered my Guru, God and acted as per my conscience. A judge should not bother about what politicians or others say after any verdict.”

Asked how he would assess his tenure as CJI, he said “I have a wonderful time as Chief Justice of India; I had a satisfactory tenure; no regret in my whole judgeship.”

On the letters written by Justice C.S. Karnan of Madras high court complaining about Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and other judges, Justice Dattu said “Every Chief Justice has to handle the pressure or work or decide all issues with equanimity. Since I have passed an interim order, the matter is sub judice, I can’t say further. Let us give a quietus to it.” On the constitution bench asking the collegium to proceed with the appointments, Justice Dattu said “It is up to the incoming Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and his collegium to take a call on this.”