Supreme Court Justice BV Nagarathna, one of the three out of 30 female judges at Supreme Court of India, is in news over her two dissenting judgments in two days. Justice BV Nagarathna is in line to become the 1st woman Chief Justice of India in September 2027.
Justice BV Nagarathna delivered dissenting judgments over the government's demonetization proposal on January 2, 2016; and on freedom of speech for lawmakers and public functionaries.
Who is Justice BV Nagarathna?
Justice BV Nagarathna is the daughter of Justice ES Venkataramiah, who was the Chief Justice of India for about 6 months in the year 1989. Justice BV Nagaratha began her practice as an additional judge in Karnataka High Court in 2008. Justice BV Nagaratha is now among the four sitting women judges of the Supreme Court.
Two dissenting judgement made by BV Nagarathna
Justice BV Nagaratha was among the 5 Judges who were on the bench to decide on the petition of making demonetization legal. In order to do so, 58 petitions were rejected. Out of 5 judges, 4 agreed with the decision of demonetisation, while one Justice expressed disagreement. Justice BV Nagarathna was the one whose opinion was different from rest of the 4 Justices. She said that although demonetisation was in the best of interest of the people, but it was also unlawful on legal grounds.
On Tuesday, she was among the bench of justice who were ruling on the freedom of speech for lawmakers and public functionaries. She said hate speech strikes at foundation values of the constitution by marking society as unequal. Justice BV Nagarathna believed that lawmakers and public functionaries are needed to be more responsible and restrained in their speech considering they are setting an example for the fellow citizens.
