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A Bench comprising Justices GR Swaminathan and V Lakshminarayanan made the remarks while dismissing a petition seeking a ban on the movie.
The petition had been filed by advocate RS Tamilvendan, who argued that the film portrayed courts in a damaging manner and scandalised the judicial system.
The Madras High Court has observed that corruption exists within the judiciary and that judges should not be treated as “holy cows”, while refusing to ban the Tamil film Karuppu, which depicts corruption in a trial court.
A Bench comprising Justices GR Swaminathan and V Lakshminarayanan made the remarks while dismissing a petition seeking a ban on the movie.
“None can deny there is corruption in the judiciary. There were and are corrupt judges,” the court said in its order.
The Bench further observed that judges are not beyond criticism. “Judges need not be treated as holy cows. Justice is not a cloistered virtue; she must be allowed to suffer the scrutiny and respectful though outspoken comments of ordinary men,” the court remarked, Bar & Bench reported.
The petition had been filed by advocate RS Tamilvendan, who argued that the film portrayed courts in a damaging manner and scandalised the judicial system.
Justice Swaminathan, who authored the judgment, noted that he had personally watched the film before delivering the order. While acknowledging that the portrayal of the judicial system was exaggerated, the court said such dramatisation is common in Tamil cinema.
“It is true that the portrayal of the system in the movie is grossly exaggerated. But that is the way movies are taken in Tamil. The hero will single-handedly vanquish a dozen villains who surround him. Everything is melodramatic in Tamil cinema. Therefore, Karuppu should also be taken as one of a piece,” the Bench observed.
The court also underlined the importance of artistic freedom, stating that filmmakers and artists are entitled to tell stories in their own manner and that artistic licence must be placed “on a high pedestal.”
The bench also noted that the film was set in an imaginary court called “Seven Wells Court” and said the director had not portrayed the entire judicial system as corrupt.
“There is no court called ‘Seven Wells Court’. It is an imaginary one, just as Malgudi is a fictional village in RK Narayan’s works. When a person presiding over an imaginary Court is portrayed as corrupt, it would not attract the penal provisions contained in Contempt of Courts Act, 1971,” the Court said.
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