Empathy Is An Essential Ingredient In The Law And It Is What Separates a Just Society From An Unjust One: CJI DY Chandrachud At NALSAR

Delivering the Inaugural Silver Jubilee Lecture-cum-Convocation Address at the 19th Annual Convocation of NALSAR University, the Chief Justice of India, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, on Saturday, highlighted the importance of empathy and compassion in legal education.“I believe that empathy is an essential ingredient in the law and it is what separates a just society from an unjust one. It is a critical component of justice and facilities in promoting a compassionate view of justice.” Empathy and Compassion While reflecting upon the practice of discrimination, which plagues the educational institutions, the CJI referred to the recent incident of a Dalit student committing suicide at IIT, Bombay. He recalled that similarly last year an Adivasi student at NLU, Odisha had also committed suicide. The CJI emphasised that incidents of suicide of students from the marginalised communities are becoming common and he believed the only way to address the issue was to recognise the problem. “The incidents of suicide of students from the marginalised communities are becoming common. These numbers are not just statistics, they are stories sometimes of centuries of struggles. “He was of the opinion that it is high time that rather than only focusing on creating institutions of eminence we focus on creating institutions of empathy. The CJI reckoned that the judiciary should be part of the discourse as the lack of empathy in educational institutions is linked to the issue of discrimination. “...judges cannot shy away from social realities. Instances of judicial dialogues are common across the globe.”In this regard, he also referred to the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States of America and the involvement of the judges in facilitating the movement. The CJI said similar efforts are to be made by the judges in India where they ought to engage in a dialogue with the society even beyond the courtrooms. Focusing on ‘empathy’, which the CJI regarded as ‘an essential ingredient of law’ and ‘critical component of justice’, he expressed his opinion that it has the potential to end the culture of elitism and exclusion. Th CJI did not shy away from elucidating on the practices which entrenches caste discrimination - “Allotment of hostels based on entrance marks which leads to caste based subjugation; putting out a public list of marks along with categories; asking for the marks of Dalit and Adivasi students publicly to humiliate them; making a mockery of their English and physical appearances; stigmatising them as inefficient; not acting on incidents of abuse and bullying; not providing a support system and reducing or stopping their fellowships; normalising stereotypes through joke…”Criticising such practices, the CJI implored the educational institutions to attempt to inculcate a sense of empathy in the students and also towards them. He highlighted that the lack of empathy adversely impacts the mental health students. “Lack of empathy in educational institutions have adverse effect on students. I have been emphasising on the mental health of lawyers. But equally important is the mental health of students.”The CJI pointed out that the idea behind the creation of NLUs was to encourage law students to approach law with empathy. He also added that the idea was to promote an interdisciplinary learning based on a clinical education model which would allow human interaction with the study of law. Accessibility It was emphasised that the creation of NLUs was to make quality legal education accessible and not to create elite institutions. The CJI acknowledged that the NLUs have been struggling to be accessible to a large section of the society. He identified the concerns, particularly the one pertaining to the pattern of the entrance exam which acts as an impediment for students not well versed in the English language. However, he opined that merely changing the pattern of the exam would be of no use, until and unless the internal structure of the law schools are altered. The CJI was also vocal about the financial inaccessibility of these institutions. He suggested that the law schools and the Government sit together and chalk out a plan to make NLUs financially accessible. The CJI encouraged strengthening the traditional law universities so that legal education as a whole witnesses a revamp. He added that the NLUs rich in resources should assist other smaller law colleges to grow academically. Not particularly pleased about the clinical legal education imparted in the country, the CJI indicated that the representatives of the Bar Council of India, lawyers and judges should reflect on the state of clinical legal education in India. “It is by reshaping our legal education model that we will be able to make empathy a core value of our legal system.We must work to address the structural inequalities that are built into our legal system and to create a system that truly reflects our shared values of justice.”While addressing the...

Empathy Is An Essential Ingredient In The Law And It Is What Separates a Just Society From An Unjust One: CJI DY Chandrachud At NALSAR

Sohini Chowdhury

Tags