Nistula Hebbar: Justice in the line of fire

BACKSTAGE/ U C Banerjee

The last time retired Justice U C Banerjee made it to newspaper headlines was when he donated money to set up two law centres in the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), a very different occasion than his dominance of headlines in the past two weeks after he submitted the interim report on the Godhra incident.

At that time his friends and colleagues Chief Justice B N Kirpal and A R Lakshmanan, then chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, were there to provide support for a good cause this time round it is not just the report but also the alleged political connections that have come under the scanner.

The report, which has given a punch to Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad's campaign for Assembly elections in Bihar, has undeniably focused attention on the retired judge's friendship with some politicians in the ruling coalition.

His report, which is politically sensitive, made news not just for its content "" which was explosive enough "" but also the timing.

As one political analyst puts it "not only does it relieve the minority community of a guilt complex over Godhra, it does just before the Assembly elections in a state crucial for the ruling coalition."

During a low profile but steady career, Banerjee did not make the headlines as some other contemporaries of his did.

However, all agree that he chose his friends with care, and sometimes was just plain lucky in them.

As a student in London University, he is reported to have been a room mate of former chief justice of India and now National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairperson Adarsh Sein Anand, a friendship that was reinforced when Banerjee was elevated to the Supreme Court bench in 1998, when Anand was Chief Justice of India.

More significantly perhaps, Banerjee has had a long friendship with present Law Minister Hansraj Bharadwaj.

According to a prominent lawyer practising in the Supreme Court, Banerjee and Bharadwaj had been close ever since the latter first became law minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government between 1985 and 1989.

At that time Banerjee was a permanent judge in the Calcutta High Court. "This is actually nothing unusual; there is a lot of interaction between the judiciary and the law ministry, and such friendships are not uncommon," he said.

During Bharadwaj's second stint as law minister in the Narasimha Rao government too, the friendship continued, with Banerjee being highly regarded in government circles as well.

During this period he came out with judgements pertaining to environmental law, worlds removed from the politically sensitive Godhra issue.

His elevation to the Supreme Court bench followed soon after.

After retiring in 2002, Banerjee had remained without a government sinecure, till his old friend returned as law minister.

While there have been reports that it was Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee who got him his present job (a contention that Chatterjee has denied subsequently, although he admits to "knowing Banerjee"), the smart money is on the wily law minister.

As a judge, Banerjee was discreet and well regarded and although he was not identified with the passionate way in which his friend Justice Anand defended human rights in the courts, he was considered a fair judge.

All this, of course, seems to be subsumed by the volley of criticism that his friendship with Congressmen seems to be getting him.

Banerjee himself has decided to sit out the storm. Question him on his closeness with law minister Bharadwaj and he is quick to retort "why the law minister? According to some reports I am close to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee as well."

"I have done my job, and will continue to do so. I have been a judge and a lawyer all my life. I have many friends, I refuse to defend this," he said.

Life in legal circles is supposed to be full of contradictions. As a lawyer one is expected to flamboyant while espousing one's case passionately; after becoming a judge, discretion is the better part of valour.

For Banerjee, who managed these contradictions with care all his life, post-retirement has become more lively than anticipated.