A growing clutch of lawyers and former judges have been very critical of the judiciary's total disregard for and bias against what they call the daridra narayana class: the slum-dweller, the repressed gender, the bonded labourer and the Dalit scavenger. A stratum distinct from members of the creamy layer: a communal leader, a political operator or a manipulator acting on behalf of an mnc. Notes Justice . Krishnaswamy Reddiar, former judge of the Madras High Court: "Technically, there can't be a judicial tilt towards the rich and influential. It's for the courts-high court and the apex court-to see that the pil remains an empowering tool in the hands of the needy....

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