Jodhpur: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said on Saturday that the law should not remain a fortress erected to protect society from “. He also urged young lawyers to make a “forum” where differences are debated.
Addressing law students an event in Jodhpur, urged young professionals to consider law not as a closed citadel but as a public space. Invoking Mehrangarh Fort as a powerful metaphor, he added, “A fortress is built to defend, to guard against disorder and uncertainty. In its earliest conception, law resembled such a structure, erected to protect society from arbitrariness and chaos.”
Law cannot remain a fortress alone: CJI
“But in a constitutional democracy, he said, law cannot remain a fortress alone. It must transform into a forum where differences are debated, rights articulated and power reasoned with,” the CJI further said.
He also urged students not to consider the law as a finished product. The CJI noted that, unlike settled principles of certain sciences, there’s no finality in law. Sharing his experience further, the CJI noted that the law evolves due to society and its legitimacy depends on its ability to change. “What began as a limited safeguard against arbitrary imprisonment eventually expanded into doctrines of due process, equality, and dignity,” the CJI noted further, news agency PTI reported.
‘Graduating class must carry commitment, not merely degrees’
“Law, having once liberated, may distance itself again, wrapped in jargon and complexity, accessible only to a privileged few,” he added. The CJI further said, “As the graduating class steps into professional life, they must carry forward not merely degrees, but a commitment to ensuring that law in India remains an open forum in an unfinished Republic.” Talking about Article 14 of the Constitution, the CJI noted that it guaranteed equality before the law, and developed from a formal assurance into an instrument of substantive fairness.