Justice Chitta Ranjan Dash of the Calcutta High Court on Monday revealed that he is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). It was his last day as a judge.
The RSS is a Hindu right-wing organisation. It serves as the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Most of the senior BJP members, such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Deputy PM Lal Krishna Advani, and former Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi were RSS members before joining BJP.
Revealing his association with the RSS, Dash said that he was unfolding his “true self” to the people. He added that he has been a lifelong member of RSS and he is now ready to return to the organisation upon his retirement.
“Today, I must unfold my true self. I owe a lot to an organisation…I am there from my childhood till I attained youth…throughout my youth. I have learnt to be courageous, upright…(have) equal view for others, and above all, the sense of patriotism and commitment to the work, wherever you work…To the distaste of some persons, I must admit here that I was, and I am, a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),” said Dash, according to The Indian Express.
Dash further said, “I am ready now to go back to the organisation if they call me for any assistance, or for any work they need (that) I am capable of doing.”
‘I never used RSS membership for career advancement’
In his farewell speech at the time of his retirement, Dash said he never used his membership of the RSS for the advancement of his career. He added that he had distanced himself from RSS because of his work as a judge.
Dash said that he treated everybody at par as a judge and did not discriminate between persons based on their political leanings.
“(As a judge), I have treated everybody on a par: rich, poor, a Communist, (or someone) with BJP, Congress, or Trinamool. All were equal before me. As I’ve done nothing wrong in my life, I had the courage to say I belong to RSS as that too is not wrong. I can’t belong to a bad organisation If I am a good person,” said Dash, as per The Express.
Dash was appointed to the Calcutta HC in 2022. Previously, he was elevated as the Additional Judge of the Orissa HC in October 2009.
In recent months, Dash is the second former Calcutta HC who has been associated with the BJP or an allied organisation. In March, Abhijit Gangopadhyay joined the BJP within days of his retirement. He contested the Lok Sabha elections from Tamluk constituency in West Bengal as a BJP candidate.
Supreme Court had rapped Dash for his comments on girls
In January, the Supreme Court had rapped Dash and a fellow judge of the Calcutta HC, Paratha Sarathi Sen, for issuing guidelines for adolescent girls that including “controlling sexual urges”. The SC said it is not the job of a judge to preach or give their personal opinion in a judgement.
The two Calcutta HC judge had in a verdict said that “every female adolescent should control sexual urge as in eyes of society she will be a loser when she gives in to enjoy sexual pleasure of hardly two minutes”, as per Bar & Bench.
The judge further said, “Sex in adolescents is normal but sexual urge or arousal of such urge is dependent on some action by the individual, maybe a man or woman. Therefore, sexual urge is not at all normal and normative. If we stop some action(s), arousal of sexual urge, as advocated in our discussion supra, ceases to be normal.”
The SC had said that such comments were “unwarranted” and were in “in violation of the rights of adolescents under Article 21 of the Constitution”.
“Prima facie, we are of the view that, the Hon’ble judges are not expected to express their personal views or preach,” said the Apex Court.
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‘I’m an RSS member, ready now to go back’: Retiring Calcutta High Court judge Chitta Ranjan Dash
