Markandey Katju, former Supreme Court judge and current Press Council chairman, has tweeted that the situation has worsened in the judiciary since former Chief Justice of India (CJI) SP Bharucha implied in 2001 that as many as 20 per cent of judges might be corrupt.

Katju tweeted about the topic after a column on amending contempt of court laws was published by him in the Times of India and his blog:

If someone calls a judge a fool inside the courtroom and goes away, in my opinion it is not contempt, for he has not stopped the functioning of the court.

But if he keeps shouting in court the whole day, and despite warning does not stop, he is obviously not letting the court function, and this would be contempt. After all disputes in society have to be adjudicated, and judges must decide cases to justify payment of salaries to them.

I submit that the time has come now for Parliament, the judiciary and others concerned to take a fresh look at the law of contempt of court in the light of what I have said above, and bring about necessary amendments.

Less than a week after Katju had raised a national storm by alleging that a late high court judge, Justice S Ashok Kumar, was corrupt, he yesterday (27 July) had also blogged about why he would never write his memoirs, despite requests from his fans.

Katju claimed that he had “seen the darker side of the judicial system intimately. To disclose everything would raise such a storm that I may not be able to withstand it":

There was a comment on Facebook by someone that I should write my memoirs. I replied that I will never write my memoirs. The person asked why ?

I said that by mentioning just one incident ( the corruption by a Madras High court Judge ) I was furiously attacked by many people. Mentioning all incidents will be opening up a Pandora’s box. I have been deep inside the judicial system at several levels ( lawyer, High Court Judge, Chief Justice, and Supreme Court Judge ), and so have seen the darker side of the judicial system intimately. To disclose everything would raise such a storm that I may not be able to withstand it.

So let me remain quiet and preserve my peace of mind.