Date:24/04/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/24/stories/2006042402831002.htm

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Why not?

One wonders what the Bar Council of India has achieved by asking its lawyers to stop addressing the judges as `My Lord' and `Your Lordship.' The use of such words should not be seen as continuation of colonial practices.

The Bar Council should look beyond the literal meaning of the words and appreciate that a judge while dispensing justice is equal to god.

Ch. Sridhar,
Visakhapatnam, A.P.

* * *

Judges deserve to be respectfully addressed. This is in keeping with our tradition of deifying the administrator of justice. As judges are expected to act without fear or favour, they are held in high esteem by society.

When they are addressed as `My Lord,' they are also subtly reminded that they should render impartial justice.

S. Kannan,
Chennai

* * *

Has the mouthing of the innocuous words over the years spoilt the prestige of the judiciary? Or has the decision to stop using them enhanced its reputation?

Can we now erase the stamp of colonial occupation from the face of India and rewrite history? And can we undo all the systems established in India by the British regime and rebuild a homogenous India from scratch?

R.M. Manoharan,
Chennai

* * *

I hope steps are taken to revamp the Indian Penal Code, also a British legacy. Apart from being written in 1860, it has several inadequacies that need to be addressed.

Azad Singh Bali,
Singapore

* * *

It has become a practice to use the prefix `His Excellency' for the President, the Vice-President, Governors, and so on. In a democracy, constitutional functionaries owe their positions of power to the people.

It is time to do away with such anachronisms and replace them by plain `Mister' or its Indian equivalent of `Shri.' Gen. Eisenhower became Mr. Eisenhower the moment he was elected U.S. President.

R. Ramachandra Rao,
Hyderabad