Extreme interference of Centre with Judiciary dangerous for democracy: Mamata Banerje

Kolkata, Jan 12: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee voiced "anguish" over the happenings in the Supreme Court where four top judges virtually revolted against the Chief Justice of India, saying the development made people sad as citizens.

She also said "extreme interference" of the Centre in the functioning of the judiciary was "dangerous" for democracy, but did not elaborate.

"We are deeply anguished with the developments about the Supreme Court. What we are getting from the statement of the four senior Hon’ble Judges of Supreme Court about the affairs of the court makes us really sad as citizens," Banerjee, also Trinamool Congress chief, said in a statement.

"Judiciary and the media are the pillars of democracy. Extreme interference of central government with judiciary is dangerous for democracy," she said.

The four judges--J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph--in an unprecedented move, called a press conference where they listed out several problems, including "selective" allocation of cases by CJI Dipak Misra. They said the problems that afflicted the top court of the country could destroy democracy.

PTI