Discarding redundant colonial practices should be judiciary’s guiding principles, says President Murmu

New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu Tuesday said that equal justice and getting rid of redundant colonial practices should be the guiding principles for the country’s judiciary.

Terming the Supreme Court as the conscience-keeper of Independent India, she said the apex court has developed a jurisprudence that is rooted in Indian ethos and realities.

Addressing an event here, Murmu said the members of the Constituent Assembly would have thought about the events of the decades behind them just as “we are looking back at the last 75 years of our judicial history”.

“The experience of suffering imperial arrogance, like those caused by the bitter opposition to the Ilbert Bill and the passage of the Rowlatt Act, would have hurt their sensibility. They conceived the judiciary of Independent India as an arm of the social revolution which would uphold the ideal of equality,” she said.

Murmu said equal justice and getting rid of the now-redundant colonial practices “should be the guiding principles for our judiciary”.

While continuing with the useful aspects of the pre-independence jurisprudence, “we should remove the legacy over-burden”, the President said while releasing three publications of the Supreme Court of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The released publications are “Justice for Nation: Reflections on 75 Years of the Supreme Court of India”; “Prisons in India: Mapping Prison Manuals and Measures for Reformation and Decongestion”; and “Legal Aid Through Law Schools: A Report on Working of Legal Aid Cells in India”, according to a statement issued by the President’s office.

Murmu said the book titled ‘Justice for the Nation’, captures the high points of the Supreme Court’s 75-year journey.

“It also describes the impact of the Supreme Court on various aspects of the lives of the people. Our justice delivery system must strengthen our onward march as a just and fair society.

“I am glad to observe that the report on the working of legal aid cells, released today, is devoted to the legal aid clinics operating in law schools in our country,” she said.

The President said such legal aid clinics contribute to imparting holistic legal education to the country’s youth and sensitise them to the needs of the vulnerable segments of society.

“The status of undertrial prisoners has been an abiding concern for me. I am happy that the report on the prison system, released today, seeks to understand the role of the judiciary in reducing the number of undertrial prisoners,” she said.

Murmu said these three publications will help realise the objectives of free legal aid and prison reforms, besides educating the people about the exceptional role played by the Supreme Court in the country’s journey as a republic.

“I congratulate the members of Bench and Bar, past and present, for making the Supreme Court of India the great institution that it is,” the President said.

She said the apex court has been organising very purposeful activities and events to commemorate the 75th year of its founding.

“Holding of Lok Adalats at the Supreme Court and organising a conference of district-level judicial officers are but just two examples of addressing the ground realities related to our justice delivery system. I commend the CJI for such initiatives,” she said at the event.

The event was attended by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, among others.

PTI