Mahabharata, Lord Krishna Appears as ‘Reference’ on ‘Janmashtami’ in Supreme Court

After much publicized story of lord Ram, now the ‘ethics and codes’ of lord ‘Krishna’ seems to be the part of discussions in India’s Apex court.  It all came into notice on Tuesday, when the Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde, made reference to Lord Krishna and the Mahabharata, in two separate cases. The Court seemed to have smelled Janmashtami fervor. 

While hearing a bail petition, Bobde said, "Today Krishna was born in jail, right? You want bail or to be in jail”. Birth of Lord Krishna was celebrated on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, as it is believed that Lord Krishna was born at midnight in jail. "You want to leave jail. But Lord Krishna was born in jail”, the CJI said. The petitioners Lawyer replied, "Yes, My Lord. We want bail”. However, the CJI said, "Great…religion is not something you are attached to in extremity". The matter pertained to a bail plea filed by Dharmendra Valvi, a Congress party member and five other party workers, who were convicted for the alleged murder of a BJP worker in 1994.

The life imprisonment and conviction of these leaders were upheld by the Bombay high court in September 2017. The appeal against the high court verdict is pending before the Supreme Court since 2018. Valvi was granted bail by the Apex court after this brief exchange.

Consequently, in another case, the CJI referred the Mahabharata, while directing the Allahabad High court to expedite hearing on the plea challenging the detention of Dr Kafeel Khan in a case arising out of the anti-CAA protests, senior advocate Indira Jaising questioned whether the appearance of Dr Khan in court via video-conferencing would count as “personal appearance”.