A Unique Appeal: Faiz's Couplets in the Supreme Court
Explore how Justice Markandey Katju has incorporated the powerful verses of Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz into his judicial opinions, using poetry as a medium for justice and social commentary. Discover anecdotes of how Faiz’s words influenced legal decisions and public perception.
Quoting Faiz in judgments and elsewhere
By Justice Markandey Katju
Faiz Ahmed Faiz is my favourite Urdu poet of the 20th century (though I regard Mirza Ghalib the greatest Urdu poet of all times). So I quoted him in some judgments of mine in the Supreme Court, beginning the judgment with his sher (couplet).
When I decided to issue an appeal through my judgment to the Pakistan Government to release an Indian citizen, Gopal Das, who was undergoing a life sentence in Pakistan for espionage, and had been in Pakistani jails for 27 years I began with a couplet of Faiz:
"Qafas udas hai yaaron, saba se kuch to kaho
Kaheen to beher-e-khuda aaj zikr-e-yaar chale"
The sher had such a powerful impact on the Pakistani authorities that they announced that the Pakistan Government would honour the appeal made by the Indian Supreme Court. Gopal Das was released a few days thereafter and he came back to India and has got married.
This was unprecedented. Never perhaps in world judicial history was such an appeal made by any Court to a foreign government, and never was it so honoured. Such is the power of Urdu poetry.
In another judgment in the Supreme Court I again began by quoting a sher by Faiz:
"Bane hain ahal-e-hawas muddai bhi munsif bhi
Kise vakeel karein kisse munsifi chaahen?"
i.e.
"When selfish people are both petitioners and judges
Whom should I make my lawyer? From whom should I seek justice?"
I was informed by a lawyer friend who went to Pakistan soon after I gave the judgment quoting the above sher that printouts of my judgment were being distributed by lawyers like hot cakes in Lahore, Karachi, etc. I was told by another friend that when one of my judgments was cited in a High Court in Pakistan, the Judge asked the lawyer "Is he the same Judge who quotes Faiz?"
I quoted Faiz' famous poem 'Hum dekhenge' in a speech I gave in Chandigarh in a function on World Human Rights Day :
To understand Faiz' poetry one must understand that like Ghalib and other great Urdu poets, Faiz writes often not in direct language but indirectly, by allusions, metaphors, hints, suggestions and indications. A good example is here :
And let me end this post by mentioning a mischief I did over 45 years ago, using a Faiz verse, which I have not revealed to anyone till now.
This incident happened in the year 1972 or 1973. I was then a very junior lawyer in Allahabad High Court. When I have so much fire in me even now at the age of 73, you can imagine the fire in me at the age of 26 or so.
It so happened that a very 'dismissing judge' (if I may use a vulgar expression) came to the Allahabad High Court, having been elevated from the subordinate judiciary. He would dismiss every petition and appeal which came before him. Some lawyers came to me and said "Katju Saheb, bachaiye, yeh to hamein barbaad kar dega" (Katju Saheb, save us , this Judge will ruin us"). I told them not to worry.
That evening I wrote a leaflet with the heading "High Court ya kasai ghar?" ( i.e. 'High Court or Slaughterhouse?') Below that I quoted the sher of Faiz mentioned above (Bane hai ahal-e-hawas muddai bhi munsif bhi ---). I then wrote that ever since this Judge has come he has been dismissing almost all cases, making the High Court like a slaughterhouse, etc, etc.
This leaflet was secretly printed in some press, and the next morning long before the Court could assemble was distributed widely in the High Court premises. In each of the Courtrooms, a copy was placed on the Judges' desk, and in the front row where mostly the senior lawyers would sit. When the Judges came into their Courtrooms they saw the leaflet, read it, and there was an uproar. Many Judges retired to their chambers saying "Yeh kya badtameezi hai?" ("What is this impertinence?)
However, the leaflet had its effect, and the judge became a bit more liberal after that.
The credit again must go to Faiz !
(Justice Katju।s a retired judge of the Supreme Court of।ndia. These are his personal views.)
