It is alleged that the daughter of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, is married to the son of an influential PMLN member, and that is why the CJP is not taking strong action against the PDM Govt and its leaders, who are clearly guilty of contempt of court by defying the Supreme Court order of 4th April fixing 14th May for holding elections to the Punjab Assembly.
A video has also appeared in the public domain of an alleged phone conversation between the CJP’s mother-in-law and a PTI lawyer, the insinuation being that the former is trying to influence her son-in-law.
In my opinion, even assuming all this is correct, a Judge should be totally detached and uninfluenced by all this, and should have, what Justice Frankfurter of the US Supreme Court often called, ‘disinterestedness’
A historical example to illustrate this ‘disinterestedness’ or indifference can be given.
In the South Indian sultanate of Bijapur there was a Sultan whose son, the Crown Prince (wali ahad) had committed the crime of raping a poor girl.
When the Sultan heard of this he made inquiries and found the allegation to be true. He then ordered his son to be given 100 lashes as punishment.
When the 90th lash was given the son died. Then the Sultan picked up the whip and gave 10 lashes himself to the dead body of his son, so as to complete the sentence.
When that was done, the Sultan broke down in tears, became a father again, and himself buried his son, weeping inconsolably.
This is what true justice should be like, totally impersonal and unaffected by any influence.
