By Admin 
Retired judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Abhay S Oka has objected to the practice of pointing hearing courts as lower or subordinate. He said that this is against the basic principles of the Constitution. On Wednesday (August 6, 2025), he attended a program of Global Jurists, where he expressed his views on the theme ‘Ethics, a paradigm or contradiction in the judiciary’.
He said, ‘In fact, personally I believe that our hearing courts and District Courts are the main courts of the country. They are the main courts of the country’s law. These are the courts where a common man can go and fight the case and hence calling any court a subordinate court or lower court is completely against the basic principles of our Constitution. During this time, Justice Abhay S Oka also said that when a lawyer becomes a judge, he should keep the ideas of morality, religion and political philosophy separate.
Justice Abhay S Oka said, “While discharging his duties as a judge, he should keep his personal views separate on these three subjects.” He said that my personal idea for the judges is that what is legal and constitutional is moral and what is not legal and constitutional is immoral. Justice Abhay S Oka said that the basic rule is that judges should not be influenced by popular opinion and this is the concept of morality for them.
Justice Oka said that the basic mantra of morality for the judges is to put his mind on law and constitutional provisions and once confident about legal purity is to be given bold decisions without worrying about public opinion or so -called future prospects.
Justice Abhay S Oka gave an example of a heinous crime case, in which it was natural for the police or investigating agency to feel pressure from the public to catch the accused. Justice Oka said, “They want the trial to accelerate the trial, but today we are in such a situation that some very important people in public life, such as the leader or even the Chief Minister, are publicly saying that they will ensure that the accused is arrested and hanged. ‘
He said that before convicting the accused, people forget whether the court has to decide on the basis of legal evidence whether the accused has committed the crime or not. They said. ‘And when it comes to sentencing, the priority of the court is to follow the existing law and decide how the punishment should be heard.’
Justice Oka said that on the other hand it should be investigated in the context of the accused, whether there was enough evidence to conclude that the crime could be proved beyond proper doubt. He said, ‘And one thing that we should remember as judges should be that this traditional concept of morality is always controlled by popular opinion and we are not controlled by judges, popular opinions because as a judge, as a judge, I should be ready to give a decision that does not like the majority. This is the duty of a judge, therefore, when we talk about morality, we must remember that judges are not bound by the traditional concepts of morality. They are tied to their oath under the Constitution.
Justice Abhay S Oka said that when the judge decides a criminal case, he has to bypass the concept of social morality or his traditional morality, which is sometimes associated with religious faith.