Chief Justice Chandrachud: A journey through poems (Exposed ending)

Read Part 1 (Bullish Beginning) here.

Read Part 2 (Mutative Middle) here.

THE judge and the poet— they share a unique connection. The judge sets the limits of language and the poet tests those limits.

Here is an exclusive compilation of select poems by Master of Verse Raju Z. Moray published in The Leaflet concerning Master of the Roster Justice D.Y. Chandrachud.

These poems nestle a poetic history of the tenure of the 50th Chief Justice of India (CJI), from the high hopes of his initial days to the many diversions, deviations and disappointments.

***

The R.G. Kar Medical College rape and murder shook the country and the Supreme Court took suo moto cognisance of the matter.

Milord’s nightmare

(August 13, 2024) 

Watching shocking news
Streaming from everywhere
Milord in sleep was subjected
To a frightening nightmare

He knew that human species
Were never up to much good
But he had never anticipated
Turmoil in the neighbourhood

In his nightmare he watched
Oppressors being hounded
Sacrosanct seats of justice
Being gheraoed, surrounded

Mobs of angry young people
With no pending matter or lis
Were knocking on court’s door
Screaming “We want justice!”

None had followed procedure
No one had paid court fees
But they had swords and guns
How does one deal with these?

Nightmare then turned violent
Milord saw Chief on the run
Chased by a frenzied mob
With a minor carrying a gun!

Hearing Chief’s cry for help
Milord woke up with a jolt
Was relieved to be in a country
Which suffered but didn’t revolt.

***

Then the Supreme Court froze that fear— and a solution.

Cold Storage

(August 19, 2024)

To fight against Evil
Good must be strong
If might is always right
Outcome will be wrong

Law is of no assistance
When you need it most
Those asserting rights
Run from pillar to post

We will go hold a candle
We will tweet or re-tweet
At thought of revolution
Everyone gets cold feet

Milords will say it shocks
Conscience of the court
Their anguish telecast live
Shall feature in every report

Milords apparent concern
May quell current outrage
Fate of any issue is same
It remains in cold storage!

***

Following in the footsteps of the ruling dispensation, decolonisation of the Indian judiciary became a theme for CJI Chandrachud. While it was a political issue for the ruling party, one wonders what it was for the CJI. 

Big Boss and Big Chief

(September 01, 2024)

Big Boss and Big Chief
Excel at mouthing platitudes
But what is really needed
Is a revolution in attitudes

It is all very well to be tech-savvy
Dump all old stuff as colonial
But will anything change mindset
Which is chauvinist, parochial?

New schemes get announced
And accolades get showered
Of all those who are promised
How many get truly empowered?

Legacies are not built by speeches
Publicity cannot purchase stature
If the content does not change
No one is fooled by nomenclature!

District judiciary has hardships
Highlighting their woes is fine
Why not exhibit your backbone
Instead of calling them your spine?

Big Boss and Big Chief
Are a perfect photo-op duo
But when their sun finally sets
Will it change the status quo?

***

Another thing common between the Indian Prime Minister (PM) and CJI Chandrachud is to remake the world around them in their own image. While PM Narendra Modi built a new Parliament building, introduced new currency notes, etc., the CJI introduced a new flag and insignia for the Supreme Court.

The flag 

(September 3, 2024)

Those who felt Supreme
In power race didn’t wish to lag
To demonstrate independence
Have hoisted their own flag

A flag flying high above
All the daily highs and lows
Is a useful device to gauge
Which way the wind blows

After much judicial thought
The colour chosen was blue
Courts must keep all happy
Not just royals but Dalits too!

Those imposing domes may
Resemble some mausoleum
But it’s the House of Justice
Dead letter of every adhiniyam

That round thing on top
Is the Wheel of Dharma
Meant to remind everyone
None escapes from karma

Bearing the weight of it all
Is our fundamental book
To frame whose contents
Founders much trouble took

We hope this flag flies high
And we wish all milords well
What this grand show ushers
Only time will be able to tell

Milords must never allow
The citizens spirit to sag
If “we the people” lose faith
Of what use is this flag?

***

Towards the end of his career, CJI Chandrachud threw caution (and, arguably, judicial propriety) to the wind by inviting the PM to his home for Ganesha Puja just before elections in Maharashtra and widely publicising the event.

A prime-time visit 

(September 12, 2024)

When Big Boss went
To Big Chief’s house
Big Chief welcomed him
Along with his spouse
It seems the cameramen
Were stationed in-house
Why should anybody have
Any grievance or grouse?
Gauri-Ganesha were happy
And so was their mouse!

We, the people, now know
That all is so good and well
What did bonhomie achieve?
Shortly prime-time shall tell
Executive and the judiciary
Are now bonding so well
While Big Boss folds hands
Chief’s wife shakes the bell
Is this separation of powers?
Looks like… What the hell!

***

A new high court complex with world-class infrastructure in Mumbai’s up-and-coming Bandra Kurla Complex. Does this development come at the expense of someone else’s future?

Ground breaking 

(September 23, 2024)

Before any Chief retires,
While he is still around,
He must lay foundations
And break new ground

The Bombay High Court
Has stood strong and tall
But increase in everything
Makes it seem a bit small

All that’s going to change
Once every hurdle clears
A stone laid in BKC today
Will fructify in twenty years

Due to efforts of Big Chief
Powers were approached
So what if chosen location
Is substantially encroached?

It’s the thought that counts
Consider the ultimate goal
So what if today the VIPs
Dig just another pot-hole?

Milords are most upright
They never sway or bend
Like those solid rocks
Seen from Taj Land’s End

Event coverage will be live
The after-party will be good
We hope milords purpose
By posterity is understood…

***

CJI Chandrachud’s love for symbolism continues with the installation of a new Nyaya ki Devi with her blindfold removed. Is this Indianisation or something else?

Lady Justitia’s lament

(October 17, 2024)

These milords who are
Completely above board
Have divested me of my
Beloved justice sword

They did not forget to
Take away my blindfold
So whatever I’ll witness
Stories can now be told

I am made to hold a book
They call the Constitution
I know all that it contains
Milords may need tuition

I thought they’d give me
An Indian Goddess look
Gold coins in the hand
Instead of this fat book

Scales of justice should
Also have been put away
Without fear of my sword
Who would want to obey?

Everyone is staring at me
Like a showpiece in a shop
The first thing I see clearly
Is I too am now a photo-op.

***

CJI Chandrachud made a telling remark that he worries about his legacy, not whether he had left the judiciary better off than he had found it, just his legacy.

My Legacy 

(October 21, 2024)

Will I be remembered
Or will I be forgotten?
Will those who act fresh
Dare to call me rotten?

My tenure wasn’t smooth
At times it did get messy
But I have tried my best
To establish my legacy

Those who criticise me
Can’t see the tightrope
My dictums are temporal
I am no Pandit or Pope

You feel Big Boss coming
For Ganesh Puja was odd?
The Ayodhya judgement
Was also guided by God!

I wish to be remembered
Certainly not forgotten
I think I have earned it all
Nothing has been ill-gotten

Every function I attended
Every lecture that was given
Was only for you, the people
By public good I was driven

At the fag end of my career
I have set Lady Justice free
No blindfold, it’s up to her
To see … or not to see!

I will always be available
With goodwill to operate
Call me whenever there is
Something to inaugurate…

***

Days before his retirement, CJI Chandrachud trained his guns on Justice Vaidyanathapuram Rama Iyer Krishna Iyer while deciding whether private property could be a public good in certain cases. CJI Chandrachud said Justice Iyer “was motivated by a certain idealogy” (read communism).

Helpful milords

(November 06, 2024)

For amending Constitution
One needs majority’s crown
Till then the helpful milords
Can always water it down

Bleeding hearts for the poor
Sometimes coalitions stitch
But power has mostly been
With the rich and for the rich

‘Secularism’ and ‘socialism’
Are no longer touchstones
Rulers prefer that Benches
Have their ideological clones

A politician’s job is very risky
Anytime electorate may fire
But milords once appointed
Serve faithfully till they retire

When Big Chief trains his gun
On a past acknowledged great
We, the people, should reflect
Upon nation’s destiny and fate.

***

As decolonisation of law does not happen by giving Sanskrit names to criminal codes, similarly, changing the nomenclature to ‘partial working days’ will not change the fact that judges take vacations when thousands of cases are pending, many for more than 30 years. 

Nomenclature 

(November 06, 2024)

A leopard can’t change it’s spots
Nor a cunning man his nature
But to attract more publicity
One can change nomenclature

There’s no free time for milords
Can anyone say they’re shirking?
They take absolutely no holidays
They are always ‘partially working’!

If you spot a Big Chief dozing
Realise he’s in fact meditating
Upon post-retirement options
Which in a queue are waiting

Judgments depend on the stars
Outcomes on prayers and gods
Don’t you dare ridicule the bhakts
They have won against all odds

A new driver will take top seat
Old one shall exit supreme bus
Rather than ex, former or retired
Nomenclature may be ‘Emeritus’!

***

As the CJI emptied the cup of inaugurations he was so fond of, lawyers and their associations, with whom he has had a fraught relationship, festooned him with a boycott. Not the parting gift he would want, but a telling sign of his legacy.

Boycott

(November 07, 2024)

No one likes to see a vacant space
Envision various ways to encroach
Between claims of Bench and Bar
It’s a tough subject even to broach

Old tomes moved to new building
And created a new vacant space
Bar dreamt of cafeteria and lounge
Milords too soon joined the race

While Bar associations lay claim
And their leaders continued to strive
Big Chief got all set to inaugurate
‘National Judicial Museum & Archive’

Black coats seldom oppose milords
I for one would never have thought
At the fag end of his bumpy career
Big Chief will face a big boycott!

All grew tired of the inaugurations
Of promises given, speeches made
Heartening to see that at least now
Some are calling a spade a spade!

Raju Moray writes a regular column for The Leaflet, titled ‘Adalat Antics‘.

If you love the smell of paper along with spicy satire and the ring of laughter, Raju Moray’s new book Tales of Law & Laughter is out now.