The best character is not to get caught.

Ever since former judge of the Supreme Court and presently Chairman of the Press Council of India, Markandey Katju revealed how a corrupt judge of the Madras High Court was protected by 3 former Chief Justices of the Supreme Court, under pressure of the then Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, there has been a strong demand against the present system of appointing judges in secret by a collegium of Supreme Court judges. The government is looking to build consensus on a Judicial Appointments Commission Bill and a Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill to remove any corruption from the judiciary. It is even being suggested that ' men of character ' must be entrusted with the responsibility of appointing judges. Entirely laudable. But where do we find such men? Just because there are no charges of corruption against a fellow does not mean that he is squeaky clean. He could be very clever, or powerful, or both, so that we would know nothing about him. The Madras High Court fellow not only escaped detection till today but has gone and died, so that it is no use booing him. No wonder the Hon'ble Supreme Court is unhappy. In the current parliament 185 or 34% of members face criminal charges, of whom 112 or 21% face serious charges of rape, murder and kidnapping. 13 or 30% of ministers face criminal charges of whom 8 or 18% face serious charges. The present Prime Minister had suggested that these cases should be fast-tracked so that the parliament maybe cleansed but the Supreme Court has responded with a loud raspberry. " If fast-tracking of trials pending against MPs is needed, it is equally true for cases involving women and senior citizens," said the judges. Hang on. Who said anything about women? We thought it was all about men of character, good or bad, as the case maybe. Surely, it is a pure red herring. An Additional District and Sessions Judge of Gwalior has resigned because of sexual harassment by a High Court judge in Madhya Pradesh. Now we understand. That woman! This lady judge, who was head of the District Committee against Sexual Harassment, was asked by the High Court judge to visit his bungalow alone. Not only that, she was asked to " perform dance on an item song " at his home. Why were we not told that a judge has to know how to dance to an item song from a movie to qualify for her post? Surely it is within our human rights as citizens to be fully informed. That is why we need ' men of character ' to guard our human rights as well. Is that asking for too much?