Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/justice-nv-ramana-a-judge-who-upheld-civil-liberties-krishnadas-rajagopal.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Justice NV Ramana, a judge who upheld civil liberties -Krishnadas Rajagopal | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Justice NV Ramana, a judge who upheld civil liberties -Krishnadas Rajagopal

-The Hindu

Justice Ramana, as Supreme Court judge, has been part of various decisions ranging from electoral issues to rights of women to bringing the Chief Justice of India’s office under the ambit of the Right to Information.

Several years before he began his journey, which will eventually see him being sworn in as the 48th Chief Justice of India, Nuthalapti Venkata Ramana undertook an arduous journey by truck with 10 in his pocket.

The journey was to the home of his maternal aunt. The year was 1975. The young man had heeded his father’s advice to stay away from their agrarian home at Ponnavaram village after word spread that the government was going to proclaim Emergency. The father feared that the police may arrest his son, who had never hid his passion for civil liberties.

“In hindsight, I wish my father had given me some more money,” Justice Ramana recounted the incident recently.

Justice Ramana said excesses like Emergency impact generations.

In January 2020, a Bench led by Justice Ramana ripped the veil of secrecy shrouding months of restrictions imposed in Jammu and Kashmir. The Bench made it mandatory for the government to publish each and every one of its orders which crippled the fundamental freedoms of over 7 million Kashmiris following the abrogation of Article 370.

The Bench held that a right cannot be used against itself. The extensive reach of the Internet cannot be cited as a reason to restrict the right. “Freedom of speech and expression includes the right to disseminate information to as wide a section of the population as possible,” Justice Ramana observed in the judgment.

Justice Ramana, as Supreme Court judge, has been part of various decisions ranging from electoral issues to rights of women to bringing the Chief Justice of India’s office under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI).

In 2019, a five-judge Bench, of which Justice Ramana was a member, declared the CJI’s office as a public authority accountable under RTI to provide information sought in public interest. However, Justice Ramana, in a separate opinion, said “RTI should not be used as a tool of surveillance”.

Please click here to read more.