[ad_1]
A A farewell party was organized for retired district magistrate Yogesh Dutta Shukla in Madhya Pradesh’s Harda earlier this year. All the judges and officials came in formal attire. Another dance. Everything was fine until Naagin the dance begins.
Associate Justice Panjak Jaiswal, who signed the signature step, joined on the floor by two female civil judges from the 2018 batch. The dance video, which sparked public outrage and questions about the judge’s character and personality.
The next day, the city woke up to hear that the female judges were interested in the Naagin event’— ‘Mahila judges ne lagaye thumke.’ Major newspapers splashed screen grabs on the front pages. YouTube channels also shared the viral video. And the news anchors went above and beyond to express outrage.
“The Deputy Judge will be delighted [of Madhya Pradesh] Will Ravi Malimath do something?” asked anchor Neha Kaur above SS News Channell. A regional Hindi daily, Dainik Report, ran with the headline, ‘Naagini aur naagin dance karna judges ko pada mehnga.‘ The judges will pay for the work Naagin dancing
A week later, the dance judges were suspended and the Madhya Pradesh High Court ordered an inquiry. Months after their suspension, the female judges were transferred to different district courts.
This is not an isolated incident. Social media addiction is undermining the careers of district and high court judges. Some are punished. Others receive warnings. But the clash between the new age judges and the old guard is challenging traditional notions of how judges should conduct themselves in the public eye.
Police careers for women aspiring
The generational shift in justice is not just an old and young problem. With the increasing number of young women joining the ranks of small-town district court judges over the past decade, this is somewhat unusual. Some call it the ‘moral police’ for women.
Here’s to doing another goodbye. This time in Rajasthan.
In 2021, at the Jodhpur court’s farewell function for trainee judges, one of them danced to Sapna Chaudhary’s famous songs like ‘52 gaj ka daman’ mustChatak matak.‘
His roommate recorded a video and shared it on a WhatsApp group. Within days, the video was shared among senior officials of the Rajasthan High Court. This time, the trainee female judge was not suspended.
The Rajasthan High Court itself has not taken any formal action or issued a circular to the training institutes. But a male retired high court judge came in and badmouthed the judicial training institutes.
“We were told, ‘Inculcate values in fans during training, tell them to stay away from social media’,” said MK Singh, who runs a training institute in Jaipur.
Almost all judicial training centers work with retired high court judges to conduct mock interviews with candidates. The message spreads from one center to another through word of mouth.
Singh himself saw this problem unfolding recently when he uploaded videos of mock interviews of Rajasthan Judicial Service 2022 candidates last month on his YouTube channel.
“A young woman’s 13-minute video has been watched by almost one million people. But the next video, featuring another successful candidate, received only 4,500 views. And soon I received a call from the woman. He asked me to remove the video or delete the comment section,” said Singh.
Some shot poison and some spoke in gratitude, but most of them — all men — imagined that they would be arrested and brought before him in court. ‘Beauty with brains, I didn’t know judges were beautiful’ is one of Singh’s memorable comments. The comment section of the video has been disabled.
“Social media is great for discussing legal issues and aspects of legal opinion. It is not necessary to come down to the stage of defaming or insulting a judge. Remember that judges are also human beings, just like us,” said former Supreme Court judge Madan B. Lokur. “It is time to eliminate patriarchy or condescension among judges, lawyers and the public.”
Also read: Balls, lipstick, low necks—for Indian women lawyers, a merit review in feminism
Work from anonymous hands
In the ecosystem of competitive exams, most students stay away from social media. It has more to do with judicial activists. When candidates make the cut for other sought-after services like IAS and IPS, they remain popular on social media.
Judges, especially women who join the judiciary, don’t have much space on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. The oft-used line that provides compensation to the employer—’personal opinion’—doesn’t work with a judge.
A young judge from Uttar Pradesh said he likes LinkedIn where he presents a ‘more acceptable’ image of himself—one that a judge expects. But she can’t help but draw comparisons to her male counterparts who aren’t under much scrutiny.
“Look at the public comments of my boyfriends of the year. It seems they are creating their marriage life to attract the best offers,” he said with a laugh.
It is acceptable if a male judge decides to purse his lips and lift weights in the gym. But the female judge thinks twice before posting photos or glimpses of her life on social media.
These double standards are built into the system from the word go. A civil judge from Bihar remembers that during a mock interview at a training institute—when he was on track—he was asked a strange question.
“They wanted to know what I would say if the group asked what kind of clothes I would wear to the beach. Shall I wear a swimsuit?” Throughout the mock interview, he always wondered if the question was appropriate for a jury trial.
Instagram friends
Some grow, some hide. Male youth judges are moderate and popular on social media.
Harshit Sharma, a civil judge in Rajgarh, Alwar district court, and an officer of the RJS 2020 Rajasthan Judicial Services (RJS), has cultivated a large following online. And many of his group mates share similar stories, hashtags and posts.
Some of the most popular hashtags include ‘job call’, ‘first island’, ‘Satyamev Jayate’ and others. Their stories give students a look at their special moments such as their celebration of judicial training, banquets with officials, field trips, meetings with offices, first readings, and seeing their rooms and themselves and their friends.
RJS officer Mayank Pratap Singh and his 14,000 followers on Instagram share similar posts, but with a nod to the image.
Sharma’s Instagram account has more than 11,000 followers who see him working out in the gym, running marathons, working on the judges’ table, and his official visits at when he likes and dresses up. Many aspire to lead this life. Unlike the female judge on Instagram, the young male judge is a model.
“You are my favorite sir (sic),” one commenter wrote on Sharma’s post. “You always inspire us. One day, I’ll be in that room again,” one said.
Also read: ‘Bay bail’ brouhaha, lessons on life and love — how bay bails won international HC judges
Navigating small towns
Until recently, due to being posted in the rural district court, there was no opportunity for the young judges to relax in public and socialize. It’s changing now. Small towns are buzzing with economic activity and entertainment venues such as restaurants; the heroes are still coming. There are more ways for young judges to cool off.
But here too, gender comes into play. It was not easy for the women who entered the court to navigate the small towns.
“One cafe and one restaurant. I called a friend to meet and while we were sitting there eating dinner, I saw some familiar faces,” said a female judge. The chatter and laughter from the table distracted him.
“Later, I realized they were lawyers who came to my court every day,” said another young female judge.
It was his last visit to that restaurant.
This is part of a series on women judges of the lower judiciary of India. Read the full article here.
This article has been updated to correctly reflect the name of the retired Madhya Pradesh judge. The error is regrettable.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)
[ad_2]
Source link