"Avoid performing religious rituals in court premises": SC Judge Abhay Oka to legal fraternity

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], February 4 : Supreme Court Judge Justice Abhay Oka advised the legal fraternity to avoid performing "Pooja (worship) in the court premises during events while asking to inaugurate any event by bowing down before the copy of the Preamble to the Constitution.
He was speaking at a foundation laying event of new court building in Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune District on Sunday.
Justice Oka said, "This year on November 26, we will complete 75 years of adopting the Constitution given by Baba Saheb Ambedkar. I always feel that our constitution has two important words in the Preamble, one is secular and second is democracy. Some may say secularism means (Dharmnirpekshta or Sarv Dharm Sambhav) but I always feel the core of the judicial system is Constitution".
"Therefore sometime Judges have to say some unpleasant things, I want to say that now we have to stop doing pooja Archana or lighting lamp kind of rituals during any events related to Judiciary. Instead we should keep the Preamble of the Constitution and bow down to it to start any event. We need to start this new thing to respect our constitution and it's values ....," he added.
He further added, "During my tenure in Karnataka I tried to stop such religious rituals but couldn't stop it completely but somehow managed reduce it .."
Backing Justice Oka's suggestion, SC Judge Justice Bhushan Gavai said, "He has given a good suggestion. Instead of performing pooja of a specific religion we should mark the foundation with a spade. We should inaugurate the event by watering the plants instead of the lamp lighting ceremony as suggested by our colleague Anil Killore. It will definitely send out a good message to society in terms of environment".
A bhoomi pujan of the new court building was done by Supreme Court justice Bhushan R Gavai at Pimpri Chinchwad. Along with Justice Gavai, Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Prasanna B Varale of the Supreme Court along with Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay, the chief justice of Bombay High court and Guardian Justice of Pune, High Court Judge Justice Rvati Mohite Dere were present at the event.
While speaking on the fundamental right of getting Justice, Justice Bhushan R Gavai said "Justice should be speedy" and "at affordable price" .
Referring to the increase of pendency of bail matters at Supreme Court, Justice Gavai said, "Every bench of the Supreme Court attends minimum 15 to 20 cases per day of bail matters. I think if we as judges have courageous and unbiased nature like Ramshastri Prabhune within us, why should we fear to grant bail. These days, the situation is like bail are not granted in the district court. Also, it has become a challenge to get bail even in the high court. The pendency of bail matters at the Supreme Court has gone up."
"Despite (a criminal) spending around nine to ten years in a jail before the trial is over, if the judges do not consider a bail plea, we should think about the current system," he added .