New Delhi, Sep 24 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Tuesday bid adieu to Justices Rajiv Shakdher and Suresh Kumar Kait, who have been appointed as the chief justices of high courts of Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, respectively.
In the farewell reference organised by the high court here, Justice Kait expressed his gratitude to his family members and paid homage to Dr B R Ambedkar, saying he would not have succeeded without the Constitution.
Justice Kait, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste category and ranks at serial no. 5 in the All India Seniority List of High Court Judges, including chief justices, was appointed the chief justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court on September 21, following a recommendation made by the Supreme Court collegium.
“Last, but not the least, I am a person who hails from a rural background. I have been able to achieve this height because of our Constitution and for this I pay my homage to the father of the Constitution, Dr B R Ambedkar,” he said.
Justice Shakdher, whose appointment as the chief justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court was cleared on September 21 following the recommendation of the top court’s collegium, spoke of his struggles after joining the Bar and underscored that even those without connections and training can fight against the biases of caste and economics in the system.
“I came from a service background, had the opportunity to go to the best institutions, had a roof over my head and was not differently-abled and yet it was not easy to break into the profession. When you look around, there are many who were not as lucky as me,” Justice Shakdher said.
“You can become, if not Arjun, certainly an Eklavya. You may be unconnected, uninitiated and untrained, but if you have fire in your belly, you can unshackle the entrenched system, fight biases of caste, creed and economics,” he said.
Drawing inspiration from the Mahabharta, Justice Shakdher also spoke on the importance of “proportionality” in one’s conduct.
Chief Justice-designate of the high court, Justice Manmohan, in his address, lauded Justices Shakdher and Kait for their contribution to the field of law.
The function was attended by the judges of the high court, the families of Justices Shakdher and Kait as well as many lawyers.
Born on October 19, 1962, Justice Shakdher was appointed as an additional judge of the Delhi High Court on April 11, 2008 and became permanent judge on October 17, 2011. At present, he was heading the high court’s Committee on Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Accessibility.
During his tenure, he delivered several landmark judgements on a variety of issues, including the criminalisation of marital rape.
Justice Shakdher, in May 2022, ruled in favour of criminalising marital rape, even as the second judge on the bench, Justice C Hari Shankar, held to the contrary and refused to strike down the exception.
In his judgement, Justice Shakdher said the immunity to the husband is “steeped in patriarchy and misogyny” and non-consensual sex in a marriage is an antithesis of what matrimony stands for in modern times i.e. the relationship of equals.
In a decision delivered this year, Justice Shakdher, while heading a two-judge bench, sounded an alarm against the use of “deep-fake” in alleged adultery cases.
He said in the era of deepfake, photographs placed by a spouse alleging adultery by the other partner would have to be proved by way of evidence before the family court.
Justice Kait was born on May 24, 1963 and became the first in his family to become an advocate. He became an additional judge of the Delhi High Court on September 5, 2008. He was appointed as permanent judge on April 12, 2013.
Earlier this year, a division bench headed by Justice Kait granted bail to an alleged ISIS supporter in a case under the anti-terror law UAPA, saying his “fascination” with the banned terrorist organisation cannot be dubbed as his association with it and that he was furthering its cause.
His bench also refused to grant then Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal any protection from coercive action in an excise policy-linked money laundering case, and granted bail to student activist Sharjeel Imam in connection with a 2020 communal riots case involving allegations of sedition and unlawful activities.
In January, Justice Kait’s bench held that attempting suicide and then trying to put the blame on the husband and his family members is an act of extreme cruelty by wife.
Justice Kait was transferred to the high court in Hyderabad in April 2016 and he returned to the Delhi High Court on October 12, 2018.
Justice Shakdher also had a stint in the Madras High Court between April 2016 and January 2018. PTI ADS ADS KVK KVK
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