Former SC judge Katju admits he was once biased in court. It was in favour of a brother Kashmiri

In a post on social media platform X, Markandey Katju said that while he was always neutral and impartial in court, there was one occasion in 1995 when he wasn’t neutral.

File photo of former SC judge Markandey Katju | @justicekatju/Facebook

New Delhi: Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju Tuesday made a candid “confession” about being biased in one instance when he as a judge in the Allahabad High Court.

In a post on social media platform X, Katju said that while he was always neutral and impartial in court, there was one occasion in 1995 when he wasn’t neutral.

He recalled an incident “when a bearded middle aged lawyer, whom I had never seen before, came before me to argue a case”. When Katju asked him his name, the lawyer identified himself as “M.H. Beg”.

“I paused for a moment as the name struck a bell in my mind, and then asked ‘Mr Beg, were you the Advocate General of Kashmir?’ He replied ‘Yes My Lord’,” Katju wrote in his post. The former judge admitted to the lawyer that Katju’s friend, Altaf Ahmed—who succeeded Beg as the Advocate General of Kashmir—had told Katju about “Beg”.

“For me that was the end of the case. I heard Mr Beg for a few minutes, then the government counsel for a few minutes, and then immediately pronounced judgment in favour of Mr Beg without considering the pros and cons of the matter,” Katju said, adding, “After all, my Kashmiri brother was appearing before me, so how could I not decide in his favour?”

He admitted that as far as Kashmiris were concerned, he was biased as he is a Kashmiri himself.

“I am a human being too, with human weaknesses, and I am biased in favour of people from the land of my ancestors,” he wrote.

From Katju’s description, he seemed to be referring to Muzaffar Hussain Baig, who was the Advocate General for the State of Jammu and Kashmir from 1985 to 1986. Baig then went on to join the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference in the 1990s, and served as the Deputy CM of the state from November 2005 to July 2008.

Justice Katju was elevated to Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court in August 2004. In November 2004, he took charge as the chief justice of the Madras High Court, and was transferred to be the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court in October 2005. He was elevated to the Supreme Court in April 2006 and he retired in September 2011. After retirement, he assumed charge as the chairman of the Press Council of India from October 2011 to November 2014.

(Edited by Viny Mishra)