New Delhi: A champion of civil liberties, an authority on criminal law, and an academician at heart. This is how newly appointed Justice Joymalya Bagchi is remembered at his parent high court in Calcutta, where he served for 14 years as a judge before his elevation to the Supreme Court this week.
Justice Bagchi is in line to become Chief Justice of India (CJI) in May 2031 and will be the seventh judge from the state to occupy the office. The last CJI from Calcutta High Court was Justice Altamas Kabir who retired in 2013. The SC collegium chose him despite him being a much junior judge in hierarchy, keeping in mind that there has been no CJI from the Calcutta HC for more than a decade.
Old colleagues, lawyers, and juniors refer to him as a vast reservoir of knowledge, with a deep dedication to his work and the ability to sit after hours, even during the vacation benches. Justice Bagchi’s appointment to the apex court brings with it a sense of responsibility, rather than euphoria with the Supreme Court being the final arbiter of the Constitution, members of the bar told ThePrint.
For instance, in Dhananjoy Chatterjee vs. State of West Bengal (1994), which became famous as the first case of the 21st century where a person was judicially executed for murder, Justice Bagchi fought for the main accused, a lift operator who had raped and murdered a schoolgirl in Calcutta in 1990. He argued in favour of abolishing capital punishment. The accused was hanged to death in August 2004 after the Supreme Court rejected his mercy petition.
Another instance was in 2005 when he obtained relief for the exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, whose book ‘Dwikhondito’ was banned by the West Bengal government a year earlier. A three-judge special bench of the Calcutta High Court lifted the ban in 2005, noting that it went against the freedom of speech and expression.
While some remember his love for cricket, movies, theatre and music, others referred to him as a “bold judge”—known not only for his landmark constitutional and criminal law matters, but also for inculcating trust in the hearts of advocates and clients that justice will be served.
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How the bar reacted to his elevation
Speaking to ThePrint, senior advocate Sabyasachi Banerjee, who practices at the Calcutta High Court, remembered Justice Bagchi as a “brilliant judge” with a fine sense of balance.
“Justice Bagchi was a great human being who gave innumerable opportunities to juniors to develop as confident lawyers. His knowledge and command over the law is unparalleled,” Banerjee said.
Senior advocate Ritzu Ghosal told ThePrint, “I am of that generation that both sitting SC judges from the Calcutta HC (Justices Dipankar Datta and Bagchi) were my teachers at the University of Calcutta’s department of law. While Justice Bagchi taught us administrative law, Justice Datta taught us constitutional law.”
He recalled how the coffee shop Cherchen—which used to be a bar on the court premises during the colonial era—also served as an “adda” for Justice Bagchi, and the late Justice Pratik Prakash Banerjee, along with the juniors. “All of us used to flock there to have our quick coffee and cigarettes while listening to Joymalya Da, talking about cricket, movies, theatre, music, and not just law.”
Ghosal also shared an instance which showed Justice Bagchi’s depth of knowledge.
“One time I was arguing an admiralty matter before him, which dealt with a shipping case, I was amazed by the way he questioned me about the case,” Ghosal said. “He was so well-versed with this branch of law that it showed through his in-depth style of questioning, even though his known area of expertise was criminal law.”
According to advocate Kallol Basu, who mainly practices at the Calcutta High Court and has appeared before the judge several times, called Justice Bagchi a “humble and hardworking judge with a vast reservoir of knowledge”.
“He is a genius who can decide on any case as he has a lot of knowledge about a wide range of issues. I appeared before him in a few matters. By the time his name was nominated for judgeship, he was one of the brightest minds in the legal field.”
Lauding his impartiality and fearlessness, and terming his elevation to the top court as an “asset to the country”, Basu said, “Justice Bagchi’s idea of justice was that he saw the Constitution as a bridge between human rights and human suffering. A lesser known fact about him is that he is also a champion of human rights and personal liberty.”
“His Lordship’s elevation to the Supreme Court will certainly leave an indelible mark on the legal field,” Basu added.
When he was arguing the case of Taslima Nasreen, Basu shared that former advocate general late B.C. Roy advised all youngsters to listen to the arguments made by Justice Bagchi, since listening to him was nothing short of a “treat”.
Advocate Touseef Ahmad Khan, also based in Calcutta, said, “I have also been hearing about him since I was in my third or fourth year of law school. During those times, he was called a champion of criminal law.”
Highlighting that Justice Bagchi’s appointment as a judge took place at a relatively young age, Khan said, “Although the unwritten rule is that 45 years is the minimum age at which a lawyer can be called to the bar, Justice Bagchi was appointed when he was around 44 years old.”
Shreya Tiwari, a senior policy manager at the United Kingdom’s Office of Communications (Ofcom) told ThePrint, “He is one of the first workplace mentors I had as a young lawyer. During my short stint with him, I learned legal skills like brevity in writing from him, and life skills like being on time and checking in on my team and colleagues.”
She interned at the chambers of the Calcutta High Court judge in 2016, when she was a third-year law student at the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab.
Calcutta-based lawyer Jishnu Datta said, “Justice Joymalya Bagchi is often called a ‘bold’ judge in the lobbies of Calcutta High Court not only for his legendary judgements over the years but for the trust and hopes in the hearts of advocates and clients that justice will be dispersed, no matter what.”
Underlining that Justice Bagchi’s accomplishments as a sitting judge at the Calcutta High Court can only be matched by his accomplishments as a practising lawyer, Datta said, “His passion for law, thirst for justice and unwavering perseverance are coveted by all students of law.”
A short tenure as CJI & factors taken into consideration
Justice Bagchi’s tenure as the CJI will commence after he completes six years at the Supreme Court, with the retirement of Justice K.V. Viswanathan on 25 May 2031, and last till his own retirement on 2 October 2031—a relatively short period of a little over four months.
In its resolution recommending his name for the judgeship, the Supreme Court collegium cited his “significant experience in diverse fields of law” and his 11th rank in the combined all-India seniority list of high court judges and chief justices.
It also said that Justice Bagchi’s “merit, integrity, and competence” were among the factors that were taken into consideration.
“After carefully evaluating merit, integrity and competence and also accommodating a plurality of considerations, the Collegium has recommended appointment of Mr. Justice Joymalya Bagchi, presently a Judge of the High Court at Calcutta, as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India,” the March 6 resolution said.
In its resolution, the collegium also took note of the fact that, at present, the Supreme Court is represented by only one judge from the Calcutta High Court, that is, Justice Datta.
The Supreme Court collegium is a five-member body, headed by the CJI, comprising the senior most judges of the top court, such as Justices B.R. Gavai, Surya Kant, Abhay S. Oka and Vikram Nath.
Justice Bagchi was formally appointed by the Union Ministry of Law in a notification issued on 10 March. He assumed office on 17 March.
Journey to the Supreme Court
Justice Bagchi was born on 3 October 1966. After completing his schooling at the Calcutta Boys School, he went on to pursue the five-year law programme at Calcutta University.
He stood first in all examinations while pursuing his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and enrolled as an advocate in November of 1991, commencing his practice at the Calcutta High Court, that same year.
During his time as a lawyer, Justice Bagchi appeared in several important cases relating to criminal and constitutional law, including cases that related to the death penalty, and even clemency.
After a 20-year-stint as a lawyer, during which he appeared in various public interest litigations representing human rights organisations fighting for causes like civil liberty or environment protection, Justice Bagchi was appointed to the Calcutta High Court as a permanent judge in June 2011.
Nearly ten years later, in January 2021, he was transferred to the Andhra Pradesh High Court. However, only months later, in November of that year, he was reinstated to the Calcutta High Court.
He also served as an empanelled advocate, representing the Centre, West Bengal government, and corporations like the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Kolkata Port Trust and Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation, among others.
Justice Bagchi also had a life that transcended the courts. He served as a part-time lecturer at the University of Calcutta’s Law Department and the Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri College of Law in South Kolkata.
Besides this, he was also a guest speaker at the University Grants Commission (UGC)-sponsored refresher course for lecturers on ‘Human Rights in India’ at Jadavpur University and Charu Chandra College, Kolkata.
Justice Bagchi has also written on various legal topics for reputed journals.
Notable judgments
Among his notable judgements as a judge of the Calcutta High Court, in Samsuddin Sk vs. State of West Bengal (2023), Justice Bagchi upheld the life sentence of an accused for the rape and murder of a minor girl but stopped short of awarding death or capital punishment.
He reasoned that while the case was heinous, capital punishment can only be meted out in the “rarest of the rare” cases and that the convict had already been incarcerated for 17 years.
In another decision that year, concerning the rape and murder of a 20-year-old student, he also commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment, while observing that life sentences for the remainder of the convict’s nature life are a “more humane substitute” to capital punishment.
In line with these decisions is the 2023 ruling in State of West Bengal vs Sahadeb Barman, where he, as part of a two-judge bench, ruled that both aggravating and mitigating factors must be weighed and balanced in a case. For instance, they noted the fact that the accused were first-time offenders while commuting the death sentence of three carpenters who were charged with murder and theft at the deceased’s property.
Nearly three years ago, in 2022, he also denied the bail petition of the erstwhile chairman of the West Bengal Central School Service Commission, Dr Subires Bhattacharyya, who was accused of facilitating an “enormous job scam” for the appointment of assistant teachers to classes 9 and 10 in a case initiated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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