Hans Raj Khanna was one of the strongest pillars of justice for the Indian republic during the tumultuous period of Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi from 1975 to 1977. Justice Khanna was, without a doubt, India’s bravest and most fearless Supreme Court judge who was so fair in his dealings that he didn’t mind risking the post of Chief Justice Of India in his endeavour to dole out justice.
Justice Khanna was born in 1912 in Amritsar, Punjab, to the freedom fighter family of Sarb Dayal Khanna. Although his family was essentially a traders’ family, his father was a prominent lawyer and, subsequently, became the mayor of Amritsar. HR Khanna came to limelight when, in an unexpected move, he was appointed as the sessions and district judge by Sir Eric Weston.
Living up to the confidence restored in him by the Chief Justice of Punjab, Justice Khanna convicted India’s leading industrialist Ram Kishan Dalmia for corruption. He was also one of the first judges of the Delhi High Court and went on to deliver verdicts against many ministers in Orissa. Khanna served as the Chief Justice Of Delhi High Court before being appointed as a judge in the Supreme Court Of India in 1971.
Justice Khanna belonged to the finest class of professionals in the history of Indian courts, and the same became apparent in one of the historic judgments of independent India in the Habeas Corpus case during Emergency.
In 1976, ‘The New York Times’ wrote an editorial on the case, and it aptly describes this man’s contribution to Indian democracy.
“If India ever finds its way back to the freedom and democracy that were proud hallmarks of its first eighteen years as an independent nation, someone will surely erect a monument to Justice HR Khanna of the Supreme Court. It was Justice Khanna who spoke out fearlessly and eloquently for freedom this week in dissenting from the Court’s decision upholding the right of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s Government to imprison political opponents at will and without court hearings… The submission of an independent judiciary to absolutist government is virtually the last step in the destruction of a democratic society; and the Indian Supreme Court’s decision appears close to utter surrender.”
The judgment which went along with the view of the government noted the opinions of each of the five judges involved: “Four judges agreed with the government’s view that right to life stood abrogated during Emergency, and Khanna’s dissenting opinion, claiming that the Constitution did not permit a right to life and liberty to be subject to executive decree”, is still regarded as one of the most landmark judgments in India’s political history. If it had not been for his dissenting voice at the darkest hour of the Indian democracy, the idea of India might have been lost into the dark canals of an authoritarian state as propagated by the ruling party of the time.
Before conveying his opinion, Justice Khanna said to his sister: “I have prepared my judgment, which is going to cost me the Chief Justice-ship of India.”
He interpreted the political scene right, and because of his contrarian views on the Habeas Corpus case, Justice Khanna was overlooked and superseded for the post of the Chief Justice of India while another judge, who voted in favour of Indira Gandhi, was given the post.
HR Khanna later on served as a law minister and was also nominated for the post of the president of India. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second biggest civilian honour, in 1999. On 25 February 2008, Khanna passed away in his sleep at the age of 95, and India is yet to see a fairer judge.
Source-Mensxp.com
