Four senior judges of India’s Supreme Court have raised serious concerns about the integrity of the country’s judiciary. They have accused the highest court in the land of bench-fixing and collaborating with government. These charges cannot be ignored as minor internal matters. The judges themselves consider them so important for the future of India’s democracy, that they have broken our longstanding tradition of collegial silence, and have gone public.

The grim matters our judges have raised are symptomatic of a deep malaise. Nearly every aspect of India’s judiciary – its jurisdiction, structure, method of appointing judges, transparency, and accountability – has failed to serve the Indian people.