Authored by: Akash Awana
JUSTICE SHARAD ARVIND BOBDE
WHO IS JUSTICE S.A. BOBDE?
This name is famously known for being the 47th Chief Justice of India who served as the Supreme Court Judge during his tenure between 18th November 2019 and 23rd April 2021 while making some landmark judgments and contributing significant observations. Although he was been a judge for his entire career without a blemish yet his time in the highest office of the judiciary did try to make some controversies for his statements and actions misinterpreted by the mainstream media. He is currently serving as the Chancellor of Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai, and Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur. He served the Supreme Court of India for eight years after being succeeded by Justice N.V. Ramanna on his retirement on 23rd April 2021.
FAMILY:
He is a blooming branch of the flourished tree of legal intellect and fruit of hardship of generations of great lawyers. His great-grandfather Ramchandra Pant Bobde, a Deshastha Rigvedic Brahmin was a notable Lawyer in Chandrapur (then Chanda) from 1880 to 1900. After moving his family to Nagpur, his Grandfather Shrinivas R. Bobde also became a lawyer. His father Arvind S. Bobde took the legacy to new heights by sitting in the Office of Advocate-General of Maharashtra in 1980 and 1985. His elder brother late Vinod Arvind Bobde was a senior Supreme Court lawyer and also a constitutional expert.
CAREER BACKGROUND:
Mr. Bobde did his schooling at St. Francis DeSales High School, Nagpur, and graduated from St. Francis De Sales College, Nagpur; He studied Law at Dr. Ambedkar Law College, Nagpur University. As soon as he enrolled as an advocate on 13 September 1978 at the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court, he never looked back, later on, he became a senior advocate in 1998 after appearing before the principal bench of Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court of India. In the year 2000, he was appointed as additional judge of the Bombay High Court and subsequently appointed the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2012. On 12th April 2013, He was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of India.
CJI JOURNEY
Based on his experience and the term of his judgeship, Collegium selected him to be the 47th Chief Justice of India and was appointed on 18th November 2019 for the post succeeding then-incumbent CJI Justice Ranjan Gogoi. It was fascinating to observe, in his whole tenure of 1 year and 5 months that he is the only Chief Justice of India who did not recommend a single judge to be appointed to the Supreme Court of India. He wrote 68 judgments out of the total 547 cases where he sat on the bench. He has written judgments majorly on Criminal Law for almost 29 judgments.
SOME NOTABLE JUDGEMENTS:
- Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute
The long-pending case of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute was concluded the bench of Mr. Bobde in a five-judge constitutional bench heard and delivered the judgment dated 9th of November 2019. It was unanimously ordered by the Bench to construct the Hindu Temple in the disputed site based on the merits and it was also observed that the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the 1949 desecration of the Babri Masjid violated the law.
- The AADHAR Judgment
His liberal thoughts and ideas can be seen in the judgments like the clarification, by the three-judge bench of which he was also part of, that no citizen of India can be deprived of basic services and governmental subsidies in the absence of Aadhar Card. He rejected the appeal of women seeking termination of their fetus, based on the report of the medical board that the 26-week-old fetus had a chance of survival.
- The controversial books: Mata Mahadevi
In 2017, a two-judge bench of the supreme court of India, comprising Mr. Bobde upheld the ban of the Karnataka Government of a book written by Mata Mahadevi on the grounds of its outrageousness towards the feelings of followers of Lord Basavanna.
The issue regarding the environment in Delhi
His environmentalist nature can be seen from his judgment of 2016 in a three-judge bench, which suspended the sales of firecrackers in the region of NCT of Delhi for exceeding the air pollution.
- Views on Sexual Laws
He also held that the act of sexual intercourse between them could not be called rape while they are living as husband and wife.
THE CONTROVERSIES
He became part of controversy while hearing an appeal against anticipatory bail given to a person accused of raping a minor, Justice Bobde asked the defendant “Will you marry her? and this sparked a debate in mainstream media over the patriarchal mindset in the minds of people sitting on the higher posts. Later on, He clarified, “We did not have any marital rape cases before us. I asked my brothers. They, too, do not remember. This institution, particularly this bench, we have the highest respect for womanhood,”
Recently, Justice Bobde was spotted with the bike at Nagpur, his hometown, and the picture of him on it had gone viral on social media where he was on a bike without a mask and helmet. Where it was hailed by some but some questioned it including lawyer Prashant Bhushan raising a controversy by saying Justice Bobde was neither wearing a mask nor a helmet and it was a limited edition of the bike of Rs. 50 Lakh. As per reports Mr. Bodbe did not know the owner of the bike and was only Sitting on it rather than riding it.
