Fifty-six retired judges, including former judges of the Supreme Court and several former chief justices of High Courts, on Friday issued a strongly worded statement condemning the move by DMK-led opposition MPs to initiate impeachment proceedings against Madras High Court judge Justice G R Swaminathan, calling it a “brazen attempt to browbeat judges”.
The controversy stems from a December 1 order passed by Justice Swaminathan, in which he held that the Arulmighu Subramania Swamy Temple was duty-bound to light a lamp at the Deepathoon, in addition to the customary lighting near the Uchi Pillaiyar Mandapam. The judge had clarified that lighting the lamp would not encroach upon the rights of the adjacent dargah or the Muslim community.
Following the order, a political row erupted, and on December 9, several opposition MPs led by the DMK submitted a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking to move a motion for the removal of the judge.
In their statement, the former judges said the move amounted to intimidation of the judiciary.
“This is a brazen attempt to browbeat judges who do not fall in line with the ideological and political expectations of a particular section of society,” the statement said. It warned that allowing such a move to proceed would “cut at the very roots of our democracy and the independence of the judiciary.”
The judges noted that even if the grounds cited by the MPs were accepted at face value, they were wholly insufficient to justify resorting to impeachment, which the statement described as a “rare, exceptional and serious constitutional measure”.
Calling the episode part of a larger and disturbing trend, the statement said, “The present move is not an isolated aberration. It fits into a clear and deeply troubling pattern in our recent constitutional history, where sections of the political class have sought to discredit and intimidate the higher judiciary whenever outcomes do not align with their interests.”
The signatories include two former Supreme Court judges, five former chief justices of High Courts, and 49 retired High Court judges.
The statement further cautioned against what it described as the “weaponisation” of impeachment.
“The very purpose of the impeachment mechanism is to uphold the integrity of the judiciary, not to convert it into a tool of arm-twisting, signalling and retaliation,” it said.
“To wield the threat of removal as a means of compelling judges to conform to political expectations is to turn a constitutional safeguard into an instrument of intimidation.”
Describing the move as anti-democratic and anti-constitutional, the former judges warned that such actions threaten not just an individual judge but the institution itself.
“Today, the target may be one judge; tomorrow, it will be the institution as a whole,” the statement said, urging MPs across party lines, members of the Bar, civil society and citizens to unequivocally denounce the impeachment attempt.
The judges emphasised that members of the judiciary must remain answerable only to their oath and the Constitution, and not to partisan political pressures or ideological intimidation.
