65 no age for SC judges to retire, govt must rethink: SCBA president Vikas Singh
New Delhi, May 23 (PTI): Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president and senior advocate Vikas Singh on Friday said the retirement age of 65 years for apex court judges was a waste of their legal acumen.
Singh felt "privileged" to speak at the SCBA event in honour of Justice Abhay S Oka, whom he described as one of the most "dynamic and progressive judges".
"I personally feel that 65 is no age to retire. I think this is definitely a matter which needs to be rethought, and the government can well do this.Wasting the legal acumen of a judge at the age of 65 (years) is actually a waste to the system," he said.
He called Justice Oka’s verdicts "amazing work."
"He (Justice Oka) provided that the grounds of arrest should be given to an accused when he is to be arrested. He ruled that even if you are having some not relied upon document, which normally in criminal law is not to be supplied to the accused, it has to be supplied, because there could be something favourable in that for the accused," Singh said.
The SCBA president said such judgments provided solace to the accused, if he was booked under a "draconian provision" of law.
"The other jurisdiction, which I would like to mention, is the jurisdiction in the matter of environmental justice. Justice Oka has taken the cause of the environment as if there is some personal commitment to the cause, the way he handled the environmental bench, and the way he was so strict," Singh said.
He said that Justice Oka was ready to provide relief to "a common man" and to "a common lawyer" if a case was made out in their favour.
"Everybody, regardless of whether he was rich or poor, whether he was well represented or not represented, whether it was a senior lawyer or a junior lawyer, everybody got relief in his court, and that really speaks volumes of what we expect from the judiciary," the SCBA President said.
He said that Justice Oka encouraged both women and young lawyers.
Justice Oka, the third senior-most judge, whose date of retirement is on May 24, a court holiday, served over two decades in judiciary, including as a judge of the Bombay High Court, Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court following which he was elevated to the Supreme Court August 31, 2021.
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South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
