It was Sir Francis Bacon who remarked, “Judges must beware of hard constructions and strained inferences, for there is no worse torture than that of laws."

However, this is what is happening in most judicial establishments. In addition, there are judges who fear to do justice! When hard constructions and strained inferences are relied upon to liberate terrorists, killers, rapists, and fundamentalists, it is an ominous sign that men with devious minds are infiltrating the hallowed portals of courts of law.

Ridiculous judgments are only to be expected from a rogue judiciary, for there are no living icons to be emulated. But a peep into history brings out forgotten stalwarts, who were literally gods in the garb of human beings.

On the Kottayam-Pathanamthitta border in Kerala, about 8 km from Ponkunnam on the Chirakkandam-Manimala route, is a temple of Cheruvally Devi. There is a unique shrine dedicated in this temple, to a judge, called Judge Ammavan, meaning judge uncle! Judge Ammavan was indeed a judge in flesh and blood who lived in the 18th century.

Govinda Pillai was a judge at the royal court who belonged to Thalavady in Thiruvalla, in Kerala. A Sanskrit scholar, he gained eminence for delivering punctilious verdicts. Govinda Pillai was the apt person to head the ‘Sadar kodathy’, as the royal court was referred to.

By a sheer quirk of destiny, Judge Govinda Pillai had to decide a case pertaining to his own nephew, Padmanabha Pillai, who stood accused of raping and killing a girl. Present-day judges would have ‘excused’ themselves, but not so the resolute Judge Govinda Pillai. The eminent judge weighed all the evidence presented before him and ruled that his nephew was guilty, and awarded him the death sentence, which was duly carried out. However, after a few days, new facts........

© News18