As fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi’s extradition gets clearance from United Kingdom’s (UK) district court, it has also come down heavily on former Supreme Court Justice of India Markandey Katju for his comparison of the Government of India to Hitler, as reported by Bar and Bench.
Justice Katju made a very contentious statement in the UK court when he had said that “It is just like Hitler and the Jews’. Nirav Modi is the Jew that must be blamed for all the problems in India”. He gave this testimony concerning the treatment of Modi who had fled from India. The UK court called Justice Katju’s assertion “astonishing, inappropriate and grossly insensitive.”
The UK court went on to trash Katju’s assertion that the Indian judiciary is compromised and dismissed his expert testimony in the case. Apparently, Katju, who was famous for making very controversial and insensitive remarks, asserted before the UK court that the “Indian judiciary is compromised” and that Modi would not get a fair trial in India.
However, the court rejected such assertions, and the court’s District Judge Sam Goozee had said, “I reject any submission that the GoI has deliberately engineered a media onslaught. I attach little weight to Justice Katju’s expert opinion.”
The judge went on to state, “His evidence in Court appeared tinged with resentment towards former senior judicial colleagues. It had hallmarks of an outspoken critic with his own personal agenda.” He further said, “I found his evidence and behaviour in engaging the media the day before giving evidence to be questionable for someone who served the Indian Judiciary at such a high level appointed to guard and protect the rule of law.”
“Despite being highly critical of the “trial by media” and its impact on NDM’s case, he took the astonishing decision to brief journalists in relation to the evidence he was giving in these proceedings, creating his own media storm and adding to the heightened media interest to date,” the judgement added.