Justice Chauhan given warm send-off

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, May 30

When Justice Jitendra Chauhan of the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld the conviction of Haryana’s former top cop SPS Rathore in the infamous molestation case, his judgment was dubbed as path-breaking. Among other things, Justice Chauhan held momentary lapse of morality “shuts down the reasoning ability of a man” and the “consequences are disastrous”.

This was not the only verdict that brought Justice Chauhan extolment. Justice Chauhan’s ruling that a husband cannot compel his wife to conceive and give birth to his child — delivered about nine years ago — was lauded as one of the most progressive judgments and was reported nationally and internationally. In one of the cases, Rs15 lakh deposited with the Bar Association Advocates’ Welfare Fund on Justice Chauhan’s order was utilised for the welfare of its Class IV employees.

During his tenure of nearly 13 years, Justice Chauhan delivered more than 31,000 substantive judgments and trudged the hitherto unexplored grounds of law meandering through technicalities. The judgments Justice Chauhan came out with laid down the path for new interpretations and analysis.

His immense contribution to the law emerges not only from the pages of his judgments, but also from his out-of-the court activities and behind-the-scenes work in encouraging egalitarianism and diversity across a range of ideas and opinions.

Born on June 6, 1959, and elevated as a Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in July 2008, Justice Chauhan is retiring on June 5. He was given a warm send-off on his last working day on Friday. The pandemic may have succeed in masking up to a certain extent the usual celebrations by the Bar and the Bench associated with the retirement of a Judge, but Justice Chauhan’s work evoked words of appreciation from the lawyers as they bid him adieu despite the lockdown.

Those who have appeared in his court say Justice Chauhan will be remembered for his “watchful progression of the law in a way that synchronises with the fundamental objectives of the legislation”.

His ability to take a drone-like outlook, analysing the legal background from a height and pulling incongruent and distinct threads together before summarising what the law is and what it should be will always be valued.