PM Modi urges judiciary to introspect, cautions against giving ‘perception-driven verdicts’

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday cautioned the judiciary from giving “perception-driven verdicts”, saying “perceptions are often driven by five-star activists”, and suggested that the judiciary should have an internal mechanism of “self-assessment”.

As the PM raised the “self-assessment” issue, Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu quickly responded by saying that the judiciary already had an in-house system in place that was “functioning effectively”.

Inaugurating the conference of High Court Chief Justices and state Chief Ministers at Vigyan Bhavan, Mr Modi said it was necessary to ensure accurate judgements. He said: “It is easy to deliver judgements based on the law and the Constitution. There is a need to be cautious about perception-driven verdicts.” He said the judiciary should be both “sashakt” and “samarth” — “empowered and capable” — to play its “divine role” of ensuring the rule of law and delivering justice to the common man.

CJI Dattu, in his address, said the judiciary and the legislature should be seen as “siblings”, and the two should coordinate and “correct each other” if the path laid down by the Constitution was deviated from.