jurist
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...
Press Council of India
The Press Council of India is a statutory, adjudicating organisation in India formed in 1966 by its parliament. It is the self-regulatory watchdog of the press, for the press and by the press, that operates under the Press Council Act of 1978., ...
. He is the son of politician
Shiva Nath Katju
Shiva Nath Katju (5 January 1910 – 9 September 1996) was an Indian lawyer, judge and an Indian National Congress politician. He was a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (1952–1957) and the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council (195 ...
and grandson of
Kailash Nath Katju
Kailash Nath Katju (17 June 1887 – 17 February 1968) was a prominent politician of India. He was the Governor of Orissa and West Bengal, the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, the Union Home Minister and the Union Defence Minister. He was ...
Markandey Katju was born on 20th September, 1946 at
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
in a Kashmiri Hindu family.
Katju's family consisted mainly of lawyers who took a keen interest in politics and current affairs. His father,
Shiva Nath Katju
Shiva Nath Katju (5 January 1910 – 9 September 1996) was an Indian lawyer, judge and an Indian National Congress politician. He was a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (1952–1957) and the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council (195 ...
, was a judge and an
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
politician and was elected a member of the
Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house filled by direct election using a single-member first-past-the- ...
and the
Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council
The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council (Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Parishad'') is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh, a state in India. Uttar Pradesh is one of the six states in India, where the state legislature is ...
. His grandfather,
Kailash Nath Katju
Kailash Nath Katju (17 June 1887 – 17 February 1968) was a prominent politician of India. He was the Governor of Orissa and West Bengal, the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, the Union Home Minister and the Union Defence Minister. He was ...
, was one of India's leading lawyers and participated in the country's freedom movement. His grandfather also served as the Governor of
Orissa
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of S ...
and
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
, the Chief Minister of
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
, the Union Home, Law, and the Defence Minister. Katju's uncle, B.N. Katju was the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court. The academic Tilottama Mukherji Tharoor, the first wife of
Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor (; ; born 9 March 1956 in London, England ) is an Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, bureaucrat and politician, writer and public intellectual who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, ...
, is also a cousin to Katju.
Katju topped the merit list of Allahabad university's LL.B. examination in 1967. He was awarded an ''Honoris Causa'' by a
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...
Doctorate of Law
A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL ...
from
Banaras Hindu University
Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916 ...
.
Katju is married to Rupa and has a son and a daughter.
Career
Katju started his law practice at the Allahabad High Court from 1970 to 1991. He specialized in Labour Law, Taxation and Writ Petitions. He has also worked as Standing Counsel for the Income Tax Department. He was elevated to the Bench of Allahabad High Court in 1991 and was appointed acting Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court in August 2004. Katju was appointed Chief Justice of Madras High Court in November 2004, and Chief Justice of Delhi High Court in October 2005. He was then elevated to the Supreme Court of India in April 2006, from which he retired on 19 September 2011; after having served in the judiciary for nearly 20 years. He subsequently served as the Chairman of the Press Council of India for three years.
His courtroom was one of the fastest in the Supreme Court, disposing of 100+ matters in a week. His strong belief in judicial restraint has been contrasted with some unconventional opinions he delivered.
Katju currently serves as the patron of the Indian Reunification Association (IRA), an organization he solely founded that advocates for the reunification of Pakistan and Bangladesh with India under a secular government.
Bibliography
He has written several books, including the following:
* Mimansa Rules of Interpretation
* Law in the Scientific Era
* Interpretation of Taxing Statutes
* Domestic Enquiry
* Justice with Urdu
*Whither Indian Judiciary
Some of his articles and speeches include:
* Injustice to Urdu in India; published in the Tribune on 3 August 2008
* Sanskrit as a language of Science; a speech delivered in the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore on 13 October 2009
* Kalidas-Ghalib Academy for Mutual Understanding
* The Role of Art, Literature and Media
* Looking back at the Caste System
* The Ideal of Women's emancipation
* Importance of Liberty and Democracy in India
* Global Economic Scenario
* The Hart-Fuller Debate by Justice Markandey Katju – Judge, Allahabad High Court
* The Role of Media in India
Controversies and criticism
* Addressing a seminar organized by the South Asia Media Commission, and subsequently in several articles and interviews; Katju said that "90 per cent of Indians are fools" and "20 per cent Hindus and 20 per cent Muslims, are communal." He tried to justify his statement on the grounds that a majority of Indians vote on the basis of caste or community, and not merit, citing the example of
Phoolan Devi
Phoolan Devi (1963–2001), popularly known as the Bandit Queen, was an Mallah woman who grew up in poverty in a village in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Her family was in a land dispute which caused many problems in her youth and after b ...
, a dacoit and murderer, who was allegedly elected to Parliament even though she belonged to a backward caste. He also explained that it was meant to awaken people to the realities of social evils like
casteism
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural ...
and
communalism
Communalism may refer to:
* Communalism (Bookchin), a theory of government in which autonomous communities form confederations
* , a historical method that follows the development of communities
* Communalism (South Asia), violence across ethnic ...
in the country, after two
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
students, Tanaya and Aditya Thakur, had sent him a legal notice.
* Katju has criticized
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and We ...
, arguing that the author is over-praised. He said that his novel 'Satanic Verses' has deeply hurt Muslim sensitivities and that an individual's freedom of speech has to harmonize with the public interest. He also noted that Article 19(2) provides for 'reasonable restrictions' on the freedom of speech in the "interest of the security of the State, public order, decency, morality, etc."
* Katju landed in legal trouble for his remark on his
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
page on 10 October 2016; after an SDJM court in Odisha admitted a petition over it. This created a vehement public outcry in Odisha. In his post, Katju had written: "I was asked to write about the Oriyas (Odias). What is there to write about these poor, dirty chaps? Ever since they got a thrashing at the hands of
Ashoka
Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...
Kalinga Kalinga may refer to:
Geography, linguistics and/or ethnology
* Kalinga (historical region), a historical region of India
** Kalinga (Mahabharata), an apocryphal kingdom mentioned in classical Indian literature
** Kalinga script, an ancient writ ...
they have been a dejected lot. Now all they have with them are a lot of pots (Patras), big pots (Mahapatras), and supposedly intelligent kings (Patnaiks). And of course, they have one Lord Jaggannath, to whom they pray every day for revenge on the abominable and disgusting
Biharis
The Biharis () is a demonym given to the inhabitants of the Indian state of Bihar. Bihari people can be separated into three main Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic groups, Bhojpuris, Maithils and Magadhis. They are also further divided into a v ...
." A day after tendering an apology for his alleged derogatory remarks about Odisha and its people, former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju on Saturday, claimed to receive a flower bouquet and a "get well soon" card from the Delhi Odia Students Association. This was informed by Katju himself through a
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
post.
* The Supreme Court on 17 October 2016 summoned former judge Markandey Katju for insinuating that the top court had "grievously erred" by not imposing the death penalty on Govindachamy in the Soumya rape-murder case. The top court has asked Katju to explain on 11 November 2016, how and where it went wrong, in not imposing a death sentence on Govindachamy. "He (Justice Katju) is a respected gentleman. We request him to come in person and debate his Facebook post criticizing the judgment. Let him come to the court and let's debate over the fundamental flaws in our verdict," a bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice U. U. Lalit said and issued a notice to Justice Katju.
Courtroom
* Comments on a judgment given by a single judge in Allahabad High Court and in light of alleged corruption, a bench of Katju and
Gyan Sudha Misra
Gyan Sudha Misra is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India. Misra was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India on 30 April 2010. She has passed several landmarks and notable judgments in the Supreme Court of India including judg ...
had observed that '"Something is rotten in the State of Denmark," said Shakespeare in Hamlet, and it can similarly be said, "something is rotten in the Allahabad High Court, as this case illustrates."' The Allahabad High Court had taken a strong exception to the apex court's remarks that "something was rotten" and there was "rampant uncle judge syndrome" in the high court, but the Supreme Court had refused to expunge the 'rotten remark.' The Government had backed the Supreme Court in this connection.
* In May 2007, while hearing a multi-crore corruption case in the Supreme Court, Katju had made the oral observation "The law does not permit us to do it, but otherwise we would prefer to hang the corrupt." In March 2013, Katju had said that it will take India 20 years to defeat corruption. According to Katju, the reason for corruption in India today is that Indian society is in a transitional phase. As the country was moving from a feudal society to an industrial society, the old moral code was being destroyed but the new moral code of industrial society had not yet been put in place.
Politics
*
Arun Jaitley
Arun Jaitley (28 December 1952 – 24 August 2019) was an Indian politician and attorney. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jaitley served as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of the Government of India from 2014 to 2019. Jai ...
, once a close friend, criticized Katju for selective targeting two non-Congress
state governments
A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, ...
in
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
and
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
and called for his resignation as PCI chairman. Jaitley said that Katju has failed every test on which a Judge whether sitting or retired could be judged. Jaitley alleged that Katju had a political bias with respect to the burning of the Sabarmati Express in Godhra. Katju responded claiming that Jaitley was "twisting facts" and "talking rubbish" and advised him to quit politics. Katju claimed that it was not his report but a report of a three-member committee of the Press Council of India which had prepared a report censuring the Bihar government for lack of press freedom in Bihar. Referring to Jaitley's comment about being against giving post-retirement jobs to retired judges, Katju reminded Jaitley that a large number of post-retirement jobs had been given to judges when the NDA government was in power and when Jaitley was Law Minister. Katju also claimed that Jaitley's accusation of Katju targeting only non-Congress governments was false since he had also targeted Congress governments in the past.
* Katju has also been critical of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for calling student Tania Bhardwaj a Maoist in a public discussion, for ordering the arrest of farmer Siladitya Choudhary after calling him Maoist when he had only asked her why she has not kept her pre-election promises, and for ordering the arrest of Professor Ambikesh Mahapatra for circulating a cartoon lampooning Banerjee. Other political parties including the CPM, the BJP, and the Congress had joined in the criticism of Mamata on these issues. Katju had also warned police and administrative authorities that they could face action for following 'illegal orders' as happened to the Nazi war criminals during the Nuremberg trials. "The West Bengal officials should take a lesson from the Nuremberg verdict if they do not wish to suffer a similar fate," Katju had said. Subsequently, the West Bengal Human Rights Commission had ordered Rs 50,000 compensation to be paid to Professor Mahapatra for the manner in which he was arrested and detained.
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
, as the link language of India. He also said that there should be no forceful imposition of Hindustani.
Indian Reunification and the existence of Pakistan
Katju's views on the legitimacy of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
as a nation have come under criticism in Pakistan including
Shamshad Ahmad
Shamshad Ahmad ( ur, ) (born 10 December 1941) is a veteran Pakistani diplomat, international relations expert and an author who served in BPS-22 grade as the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan from 1997 to 2000. He also served as the Permanent ...
, a former Pakistani foreign secretary. On several occasions, Katju has said in articles and lectures that he does not recognize Pakistan as a legitimate country, as the whole basis is the two nation theory and he does not accept this. Katju has also claimed that the eventual reunification of India and Pakistan is the only solution to the Pakistan Kashmir issue.
Katju justified his stance in a leading Pakistani newspaper ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...
'', where he reiterated that the only solution to the ongoing dispute is the reunification of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh under a strong, secular, modern-minded government. He expanded on the reasons for his support for an reunified India in an article for ''
Newslaundry
''Newslaundry'' is an Indian media watchdog that provides media critique, reportage and satirical commentary. It was founded in 2012 by Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan and Prashant Sareen, all of whom earlier worked in print or television j ...
''.
Katju's contribution to the release of fishermen arrested along the coastal areas on the border of India has earned him praise from human rights groups of Pakistan.
View on Jammu and Kashmir
Markandey Katju, himself an ethnic
Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to:
* People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir
* Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley
* Kashmiri language, their language
People with the name
* Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...
, maintains that Kashmir's handicraft industry, a major part of the union territory's economy, is dependent upon other parts of India, where these products are sold by Kashmiris; Katju opines that the "secession" of Kashmir would cause its economy to suffer, leading to high rates of unemployment among Kashmiris. He, being diametrically opposed to the partition of India, holds that the ultimate solution to the
Kashmir conflict
The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan, with China playing a third-party role. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1947 as both India and Pakistan claimed ...
Allegation of improper compromises in the collegium system of appointing judges
On 20 July 2014, Justice Katju sparked off a new controversy when on his blog, he alleged that in the year 2004, a corrupt judge was given an extension and later a permanent post due to strong political backing. He wrote that he himself raised concern about the conduct of this judge and after due probe from CJI, and his doubt was found to be true. However, this judge had political backing from a political party in Tamil Nadu, and this party threatened to withdraw the support to the UPA government if this corrupt judge was not given an extension. He also alleged that a prominent Congress leader arranged an extension to save the UPA government.
After his blog post, several parties and social groups raised concern over political interference in the posting of the judges; however some of them also questioned the timing and purpose behind this revelation. In January 2017, Markanday Katju said that proceedings of judges selection should be televised.
View on gay relationships
On 25 December 2014 Justice Katju fueled controversy by saying that he regarded gay relationships to be "humbug and nonsense." However, he later clarified that he has partially changed his mind after discussing the issue with others and accepted that he was partially wrong. After this, his position was that gay relationships should not be held to be a criminal offence, and this provision in the Indian penal code should be swiftly annulled. However, he continues to regard gay relationships as "unnatural."
Praise
Former Assistant Solicitor General of India Amarendra Sharan has praised Katju. Sharan says on Katju, "You can criticise his views, but you can't criticise the man. His integrity is unimpeachable." The noted jurist Fali Nariman commented that Katju is ''a person who doesn't merely pretend to support human rights but lives it every moment of his life.'' The former editor of ''
The Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...
'', Dilip Padgaonkar, has said that Katju is "an individual whose reputation for uprightness has been consistently above board."
Confrontation with Indian Parliament
In March 2015, in his blog, Katju called
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
,
Subhash Chandra Bose
Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperi ...
and
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
as British and Japanese agents respectively. Both the house of the
Indian Parliament
The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...
condemned his remarks and passed a resolution against him. Katju has filed a petition before the Supreme Court of India seeking a quashing of the said resolutions.
Sexism
Katju has been criticised for sexist comments on social media. In 2015, he made comments comparing
Shazia Ilmi
Shazia Ilmi (born 1970) is an Indian politician. She was previously a television journalist and anchor at Star News. She led a media campaign for an anti-corruption bill (to institute an ombudsman popularly known as the Jan Lokpal Bill). She ...
to
Kiran Bedi
Kiran Bedi (born 9 June 1949) is an Indian social activist, former-tennis player who became the first woman in India to join the officer ranks of the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1972 and was the 24th Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry from ...
, saying: "If Shazia had been made their chief minister candidate, the BJP would have definitely won the Delhi elections. People vote for beautiful faces ...Even a person like me who does not vote would have voted for Shazia." In 2020 he was criticized when screenshots of an exchange he had with a woman on Facebook went viral when he told her that "good girls go to sleep early."