Justice AM Khanwilkar, he third-seniormost Judge of the Supreme Court, will retire on Friday after having served on the Supreme Court for six years. In the last one month, Justice Khanwilkar has delivered several important judgements including dismissal of a plea against the exoneration of PM Narendra Modi in 2002 Gujarat riots and upholding the wide powers of Enforcement Directorate under PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act). In the past, Justice Khanwilkar has also made important decisions on stopping hate speeches and in ensuring that Board exams are not held during the pandemic in light of the health of children.
On June 24, a bench led by Justice Khanwilkar dismissed the pleas filed by activist Teesta Setalvad and Zakia Jafri, wife of Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was among the 68 people killed at the Gulbarg Society in Ahmedabad. The bench said the plea is "devoid of merits" and was filed "to keep the pot boiling". The court added that "all those involved in such abuse of process, need to be in the dock and proceed with in accordance with law". The next day she was arrested by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch for alleged fabrication of evidence regarding the 2002 Gujarat riots cases.
On July 14, a bench led by Justice Khanwilkar dismissed a plea seeking an independent probe into the alleged killing of 17 tribals during an anti-Maoist operation in Chhattisgarh in 2009. The court imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the petitioner Himanshu Kumar who is an activist and ordered the Chhattisgarh government to act against him for "criminal conspiracy".
On Wednesday, a bench led by Justice Khanwilkar upheld the stringent provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in proceeds of crime, search and seizure, power of arrest, attachment of properties, and bail, which were under challenge in the court. The court said stringent provisions like these were needed because money laundering promotes heinous crimes like terrorism and impacts the sovereignty and integrity of the country.
Earlier this year, on April 8, the bench led by Justice Khanwilkar upheld the validity of certain amendments to the provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act saying "the strict regime had become essential because of the past experience of abuse and misutilisation of foreign contribution." The court was hearing a petition challenging the amendments saying that they have imposed harsh and excessive restrictions on the NGOs in utilising foreign funds.
In November 2021, a Justice Khanwilkar-led bench had dismissed all petitions that challenged the central government's Central Vista project saying, "Its the prerogative of the authorities concerned to make changes in development plan and it is a policy matter."
In April this year, a Justice Khanwilkar-led bench had asked the Uttarakhand government
to disallow those who delivered hate speeches against any community from speaking at a dharam sansad scheduled in Roorkee and warned the state government that it would hold the Chief Secretary, Inspector General and the Home Secretary responsible for any untoward event or speech.
In June last year, the CBSE had informed the Supreme Court that it had decided to cancel the physical exams for Class 10 and 12 students in view of the pandemic and had devised an objective assessment scheme to evaluate their performance. A bench led by Justice AM Khanwilkar had given its consent to the scheme.
Justice Khanwilkar has also been a part of several benches that delivered verdicts of national importance. In 2018, he was part of the bench that gave the historic judgement which decriminalised Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and made private homosexual relations legal. Justice Khanwilkar was also part of a Constitution bench, which held that the right to die with dignity is a fundamental right.
Justice Khanwilkar was also part of the famous Hadiya case in which a three-judge bench allowed Hadiya's reunion with her husband. He had also been part of a bench that issued a series of directions against honour killings at the instance of Khap Panchayats. Also, a bench of which Justice Khanwilkar had been a part of issued a bunch of directions to combat mob lynching.
Justice Khanwilkar was appointed as a Supreme Court Judge on May 13, 2016. He belongs to Maharashtra and did his B.Com from Mulund College of Commerce, Mumbai and LLB from KC Law College in Mumbai. He was enrolled as an Advocate on February 10, 1982. In the past, he has been the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court and the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
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