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Hyderabad, March 27 (IANS) The Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, said on Wednesday that he feels social media exacerbates the differences between people, but lawyers and judges rise above the differences in the common quest for justice.
The CJI was speaking after laying the foundation for the new Telangana High Court complex, which will come up adjacent to the Jayashankar Telangana State Agriculture University at Rajendranagar here.
Addressing the gathering, he said that lawyers belong to different ideologies, different regions, and come from different cultural backgrounds belonging to different religions.
“But the most important thing that marks out all of us lawyers is the great syncretic tradition in India, which is that in the work that we do we rise above our birth marks which define our existence. Our birthmarks are our reason for existence, but as lawyers and judges, who come from the bar, we rise above those birthmarks in the sense that our identity is universal identity which is the quest for justice in the framework of the Constitution governed by the rule of law.
“There are so many differences in the world around us, and I think technology and social media exacerbate those differences between people. But something that stands out within our institution is our universality, our ability to stand with each other, and our ability to pursue a common quest for justice. That is truly the hallmark of the judiciary and of the bar, which is one of the richest tributaries of the judiciary in our country,” he said.
The CJI noted that the high court is a public space for the contestation of ideas, values, rights, duties, and obligations, and above all, it represents the supremacy of the judiciary.
“The high court represents not only a public space for contestation, but also a public space where reason, dialogue, and the art of persuasion and traditions are still valued,” he said.
Terming the setting up of a new high court building as a watershed moment in the history of Telangana, the CJI said: "The dignity with which judges work and the lawyers can work defines the dignity of the institution itself."
Recalling that as the administrative judge, he worked in many district courts, the CJI said many district courts lacked even a common washroom for young women.
Citing the report on the state of Indian judiciary recently put out by the Supreme Court through the Centre of Research and Planning, he said it shows and demonstrates a significant deficit in infrastructure, not merely in the district judiciary but also the high courts.
“Our judges must have a sense of belonging. They must have a sense of self-worth. Creating new chambers for lawyers, creation of areas where judges and lawyers can interact, areas where young members of the bar are trained are crucial for the evolution of the institution of judiciary,” he said.
The CJI also asserted that public spaces often reflect pre-existing social inequalities, as he called for creating new infrastructure intended to reach out to the broader cross-section of society.
He observed that the creation of infrastructure plays a significant role in the mainstreaming of communities and groups in the society, which have been traditionally excluded from the judicial process.
"We must all remember that public spaces often reflect pre-existing social inequalities. Our infrastructure sometimes reflects subtle signs of exclusion, such as lack of washrooms for women, which I referred to earlier, ramps for the differently-abled, creches and lactating rooms for young mothers etc.," he said
Though India is a fast-growing economy and market, today there is an internet divide in the country as not everyone has access to the internet and not every lawyer has access to a smartphone and not every citizen has a laptop, he said.
The CJI also digitally launched 32 eSewa centres of the district judiciary in Telangana.
Supreme Court judges Justice P.S. Narasimha, Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar, and Justice S.V. Bhatti, and Chief Justice of Telangana High Court Justice Alok Aradhe attended the event.
--IANS
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