‘Everything depends on the judge’

Justice K Chandru takes lightly the instant celebrityhood he got after ‘Jai Bhim’, a film based on his life, became a hit. He took part in MBIFL on Friday.

“The power of the film is remarkable. After the screening of the film, many youngsters approached me and said that they were shocked that such instances were happening. They wanted to know what they could do to combat such issues,” he said. 

He referred to a case depicted in ‘Jai Bhim’, similar to the Rajakannu case in which a man was tortured and murdered at a police station in Cuddalore 28 years ago.

“The real hero of the case was Justice P. S. Mishra who made a remarkable judgement in the Rajakannu habeas corpus case. In any court, it is the judge that matters. The law is the same, the arguments are the same, and it is the discretion of the judge what matters. If there was no Justice Mishra, ‘Jai Bhim’ would never have been a story at all,” he said.

He recalled instances where helpless people come in search of him from places far away from Chennai, where he stays, to fight their cases.

“Many of them have seen the film. They believe that once they reach my place, all their worries are taken care of,” he said.

The success of the film has made him don a new role. “That of a consultant for court scenes in films,” he said with a smile.