While the controversy rages unabated, in order to better appreciate the aforesaid stand of the Bar, it is necessary to understand the two distinct limbs of the sentiment in question viz that of the concerned individual Judge, and the institutional integrity of the judiciary.

To talk about the former first, the high regard and affection that Justice Muralidhar commands is perhaps most beautifully captured in a deeply symbolic photograph that dates to the early years of the past decade. Through the long and torturous legal journey, stretching over decades, charted by the cases brought on behalf of the Bhopal gas tragedy victims, various significant victories were achieved by hopelessly outgunned and embattled victims through the hard work and persistence of several unsung advocates, many of whom fought the gruelling legal battle on a completely pro-bono basis. Sometime in the aftermath of one of these precious and hard-fought successes before the Supreme Court, a photograph seems to have been taken, and which is still available on an otherwise obscure web-page dedicated to the legal journey of the cases, which shows a veritable mob of overjoyed litigants flashing the victory sign while surrounding the person who successfully represented them.

The photograph captures a rare and fleeting moment of happiness in the faces of these men and women, otherwise worn-down from years of fighting for basic dignity and recompense against gross bureaucratic apathy, and of having to deal with the frustratingly glacial pace of an overburdened judicial system. In the middle of the scrum stands a diminutive bespectacled advocate, wearing a sheepish smile and looking away from the camera, displaying a shy reticence not entirely at ease with the exuberant adulation of those who surround him. The advocate in question is S Muralidhar (as he then was).