When ‘Sir’ will bring wrath, has to be ‘My Lord’.
By Rajiv Theodore
NEW DELHI: Writing in his autobiography, Before Memory Fades, famous Supreme Court lawyer Fali S. Nariman observes that most of the judges enjoy being addressed ‘Your Lordship’ or ‘Your Honour”. And it’s a fact that some judges even nurse a grudge against lawyers who do not pay such respect and instead, address them ‘Sir’ or simply ‘Mr. Judge’.
It’s an age old courtesy, or an etiquette as the French would say, prevalent in Indian courts even today.
For some this is tantamount to slavery, a vestige of the Colonial past, a hangover of the British imperial rule over the sub-continent.
Some of these relics must be abolished, said a petitioner recently, as it compromises the dignity of the country. The petitioner, a 75-year-old lawyer, took this step when he was admonished by a judge in a court for not using the word, ‘My Lord’. He points out that even lady judges are being addressed as ‘My Lord’ and not ‘My Ladyship.’
The negativity involving these practices becomes more glaring when the class and caste backdrop of India surfaces in these respectful words. Words like huzur and sahib are rampantly used. In village courts, judges are addressed huzur and in small towns, it becomes ‘Your Honour’.
The Bar Council of India had passed a resolution in 2006 allowing lawyers to call judges ‘Sir’ or ‘Mr Judge’ or any equivalent word. But most of the lawyers find it difficult to do away with the colonial practice.
Before the petition, the legal fraternity had taken stock of the antediluvian practices in the courts.
Justice K. Kannan, a judge of Punjab and Haryana court, issued a circular in which he urged lawyers to do away with ‘My Lord’/ ‘My Lordship’ and call him ‘Sir’ or ‘Mr. Judge’ or ‘Justice Kannan’. This move was appreciated by many senior Supreme Court judges.
In 2006, Justice K. Chandru of Madras High Court asked lawyers to not address him ‘My Lord’, quoting the 2006 Bar Council resolution.
But much of the past seems to hang on to the present as an anachronism and worse still, the judges seem to love it.
In Madras High Court, judges enjoy odd privileges. They are led to the court hall by orderlies wearing ceremonial attire. The orderly runs in front of the judge through the corridor to warn people of ‘Your Lord’s’ Arrival’.
Against a backdrop of a whopping three million cases pending in the courts in India, it’s high time when the dispensers of justice have to shift focus from mere ceremonial behavior.
(Rajiv Theodore is a journalist based in Delhi. An alumni of St. Stephen’s College, he likes cooking, traveling, and contact sports.)