The Chief Injustice

three-wheeler protest

Image via Passion Parade, which has more.

The impeachment case against the Chief Justice is getting more and more farcical. Above you can see that three-wheeler drivers have been protesting for the government. They are using the same smears that anyone who opposes the government gets – that they’re corrupt, that they work with NGOs, etc. In fact, the only charge is going against the king (Mahinda) and the only point these drivers are making is that they’re loyal. Which is fine, if this were 982, but it’s 2012 and it’s really quite silly.

As the CJ’s lawyers said in her initial response, there are actually no charges in law here. It’s honestly a pada show, and it’s shameless when people like the Island’s political columnist say stuff like this:

We have reached a situation where the Chief Justice of the country refuses to acknowledge that there is a conflict of interest in her continuing to remain the Chief Justice and the ex-officio Chairperson of the Judicial Services Commission while her husband remains a suspect in a case before a magistrate’s court. ()The Island)

While I agree that the CJ’s husband is dodgy, that A) isn’t her and B) has to have some legal connection to justify impeaching a Supreme Court Justice. The precedent the Island columnist seems to want to set is that you can impeach anyone whose spouse appears before a magistrate’s court. Which is the lowest level of courts. So, if an official’s husband is arrested for like, public urination and summoned to the Kesbewa magistrate’s court, that official should be impeached. I mean, really? Even if there is a point to be made about dodgy spousal dealings, this isn’t it.

300 judges also made a statement regarding the farcitude of the whole thing. This is referring to the process whereby toady MPS decide to impeach the CJ (many without even reading the charges) and then appoint themselves to sit on the panel judging her.

“Conducting an inquiry by the parties who brought the impeachment allegations is a blatant violation of the natural justice. We reiterate that nowhere in the world those who make allegations will hear their own case,” the statement added. (Reuters)

The thing is that offending the King is a de facto crime here so they may end up getting away with this impeachment. The way they’ve handled it, however, is so clumsy and dumb that it’s the government and the king that end up looking bad. Like Ceynor Seafood Restaurant.

14 Comments

  3. Some useful commentary here:

    “This week, a committed New Delhi based civil rights advocate and incidentally a good friend, observed in a dispassionate aside to an otherwise entirely different conversation in that country that ‘this situation that Sri Lankans are facing regarding the political impeachment of the Chief Justice is quite alien for us to grasp here, even in the abstract. How could checks and balances in your constitutional and legal system break down to that terrible extent? Even with the war and all its consequences, how could the centre of judicial authority implode with such astounding force?’”

    http://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/legality-of-government-actions-rendered-politically-irrelevant/

  4. Impeachment begins of Indian High Court judge

    NEW DELHI — India’s upper house of parliament initiated the impeachment on corruption charges of a high court judge Wednesday, against a backdrop of mass anti-graft protests across the country.

    http://tinyurl.com/dy8ft9z

  5. I’m not really concerned about what’s going on. We are far past the point of being concerned. It’s not as if the Chief Justice was Justitia come alive. She has always been part of Mahinda’s game and now Mahinda’s simply changed the rules. That’s all.

    If we should’ve ever been concerned about anything, it was when the utter morons that is the Sri Lankan electorate gave them a 2/3 majority in the parliament. What happened afterwards is just natural.

    This is actually what’s wrong with democracy. A democratic act should be something that promotes democracy, not something that democracy wants. But democracy can only do what it wants to do. In other words, it always leads to tyranny of the majority.

  6. MR suffers from Megalomania. See description below:-
    “Megalomania is a psychopathological disorder characterized by delusional fantasies of power, relevance, or omnipotence. ‘Megalomania is characterized by an inflated sense of self-esteem and overestimation by persons of their powers and beliefs’. Historically it was used as an old name for narcissistic personality disorder prior to the latter’s first use by Heinz Kohut in 1968, and is used these days as a non-clinical equivalent.”

    Sad, but facts are facts. We have somebody akin to Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, Idi Amin, Polpot etc ruling us!

  7. at least they have proper charges there. Whereas ours is just another sham.

  8. yes, but the thing is, when WILL we be concerned? when will we finally get rid of this massive national-level political apathy that we have and finally realize we’re being screwed harder than a doornail?

  10. @Lutronman
    Agree 200% with you. It’s a sad fact that it took some educated people this long to see MRs true face. Sadly there are still educated people who suck up to MR with the hope of getting to lick the bones that are thrown their way. Shame on them. They too will learn a lesson one fine day I hope.

  12. Just out of curiosity, does your surname opens doors or shut them?

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