The Image Of Judiciary Should Be Protected

Respect for the judiciary can not be blindly sought because it comes through the proper conduct. Judiciary is one of important pillars of government and state and on it depends the rule of law. Even if Indian judiciary is well known for its high ethical standards, a single infraction by any judicial officer may be led to untold harm to the entire judiciary inasmuch as every judicial officer is expected to maintain high ethical standards. So, a judicial officer should not be swayed by partisan interests. So, even if Indian judiciary is well known for its high ethical standards, a single infraction by any judicial officer may be led to untold harm to the entire judiciary because every judicial officer is expected to maintain high ethical standards. So, a judicial officer should not be swayed by partisan interests.

Basic values
A judiciary equipped with a strong ethical usage can never lose its moral strength or structure to dispense justice and is protected from attack all respects. In this context, let me permit to remind the statement of Asian Human Rights Commission. AHRC, Hong Kong observed in 2003 as follows:
'' The basic values on which the justice system should be rooted is now lost.''

But we should not ignore the above observation on the ground that it does not applicable to Indian judiciary as this observation also wakes us up. The commission also observed that ''Every act or gesture that people see where matters relating to the judiciary become a playing in the hands of unscrupulous persons, causes lasting damage and generates a negative spirit.''

That too, recently, Union Law Minister H.R.Bhardwaj commented that '' corruption in judiciary was a serious disease, which the in-house mechanism had failed to cure''. Mr. Bhardwaj also said that ''How can the judiciary be protected from the serious disease, which is slowly eating into the vital of the institution. It is for them to give a serious thought.'' So, every judicial officer should be faithful to the law and maintain professional competence in it. In public perception, a single wrong act committed be a judicial officer may rescind much of the credibility of upheld by the judiciary and so he must remind himself of high ethical standards.

OATH
I deem it is appropriate time to remind that every judge is bound by the oath that they take from Schedule -III of Indian constitution.
Oath:
'' I will duly and faithfully and to the best of my ability , knowledge and judgment perform the duties of my office without fear or favour, affection or ill will and that I will uphold the constitution and law.''

Thus, the oath succinctly explains core judicial responsibilities. That too, the Apex Court in decision reported in (1990) 2 SCC 533 at 539, it was held that '' the Judge's Bench is a seat of power''. So, every judicial officer should have dignity, courtesy, impartiality, thoroughness, patience and open mindedness.

Judicial officer should be neutral
Every judicial officer should be neutral. In the opinion of Edmund Burke, the judge must be '' cold neutrality of an impartial judge''. A judicial officer must be benign. Every judicial officer must be impartial then only he can dig out truth through the clash of contradictions. Without having social consciousness, no judicial officer can work properly and so he must improve it.

Judicial officers are very busy
The nature of work of a judicial officer is that although he performs his duty to the best of his abilities, there may be chance to leave one party of a case less satisfied than other. There is no qualm that every court is filled with bundle of cases and those cases are yet to be disposed of. But, how many people know that during the trial of a case, at every stage, every trial judge under attack in the Court room drama and every judicial officer is working hard to stop inheriting a legacy of huge arrears. Even in those circumstances, judicial officer makes sincere efforts to render justice. Thus, at every stage, the judicial officers are very busy in their judicial work, their administrative responsibilities as well as in conducting legal literacy awareness camps and they have no time to refuel their minds. However, the failure of such professional obligation may even pose threat to the image of judiciary therefore apart from dealing with his case load, a judicial officer is expected to be well versed with law as well as be up to date with latest case law.

Conclusion
It is above all, a belief in the judiciary is one of the most important foundation of trust . If any split caused by the loss of trust may give rise to conflicts within the psyche of individuals members within the society and therefore not only judicial officers but also every citizen should assist to the judiciary and then the desire of society will be fulfilled and thereby the confidence on judiciary will also be increased.