8,630 Complaints Against Sitting Judges Reached CJI’s Office in Last 10 Years: Lok Sabha Told

The office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) received a total of 8,360 complaints against sitting judges of the Supreme Court and various High Courts over the past decade, the government informed Parliament today.

Indian Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal shared the figure in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. The data, provided by the Supreme Court, spans the years 2016 to 2025.

The disclosure came in response to a question from DMK MP Matheswaran VS, who had sought information on complaints involving corruption, sexual misconduct, or other grave impropriety. The government released the overall number but did not furnish a category-wise breakdown, details of substantiated cases, or outcomes.

In India, allegations against serving judges are generally addressed through the judiciary’s internal in-house procedure, which remains confidential. Impeachment, a constitutional process, has been invoked extremely rarely in the country’s history.

The statistic, averaging around 836 complaints per year, has prompted renewed conversation about judicial accountability, transparency in complaint handling, and the distinction between genuine misconduct and grievances arising from dissatisfaction with court verdicts. Most such complaints are understood to be dismissed as baseless or frivolous, though the judiciary does not routinely publish detailed outcome statistics.

The disclosure highlights the persistent tension between safeguarding judicial independence and calls for greater openness in addressing public concerns about the higher judiciary.