"Overt Discrimination Has Now Become Systemic; Casteist, Ableist, Genderist Hierarchies Entrenched Structures In Society": Justice DY Chandrachud

"One may argue that after 70 years of the Constitution of India, caste-based discrimination no longer exists because untouchability and other egragious caste atrocities have been outlawed. However, overt discrimination has now become systemic! Casteist, ableist and patriarchal, genderist hierarchies are entrenched structures in our society", remarked Justice D. Y. Chandrachud on Wednesday.The judge was speaking at the virtual launch event of CEDE (Community for the Eradication of Discrimination in Education and Employment), a network of lawyers, law firms, judges, and other organisations and individuals, who are committed towards reforming the Indian legal profession."Discrimination now manifests in the form of inferior gender roles for women, fuelled by the bias that women are just not fit for certain jobs, underpaid and exploitative jobs for the bahujans and poverty and isolation for the disabled", continued the judge.He explained how even when the Supreme Court had last year in the case of Babita Punia held the practice of the Indian Army in forbidding women officers from applying for Permanent Commission as discriminatory, a sizeable number of women officers had to knock the doors of the Supreme Court again this year over the methodology of the grant of the PC- "Fostering indirect discrimination, the authorities were applying to these women the same medical and evaluation criteria as the male officers. Women officers in the age group of 40 to 50 were being required to meet the standards of a male officer in his youth!""At interviews, women are repeatedly enquired about their marriage and child care plans to determine if an institution should invest in them as a candidate. They are even asked if they are looking at the law as a career or a short-term hobby. No one asks these questions of men! Although there are an equal number of men and women candidates at the threshold, this parity is not reflected in the number of those who make partners at law firms, senior advocates or even judges. Even at the Supreme Court of India, the representation of bahujans, adivasis, Dalits, women, the disabled has been abysmal", discussed Justice Chandrachud.He continued to speak of the innumerable stories of people hiding their sexualities and gender, no matter how overpowering the gender dysphoria. "These are the problems which we are dealing with today", he said.Justice Chandrachud proceeded to state that discrimination is even an endemic within the legal fraternity, with its fragmented structure – he mentioned how social networks and existing families with roots in the profession translate into quality mentorship, referrals from peers and clients, designation as senior advocate and even in collegium selection to the higher judiciary."The discrimination begins even before one enters law school. Most of the top law schools, which offer the five-year integrated law course, conduct admissions through a competitive test which is only in English, besides English also being a separate component of testing. The effect of this is that only the privileged students with access to high-quality English medium education are able to qualify for it, while the underprivileged students whose earlier education has been in the national or regional languages and who aspire to enter into the judicial services are deprived of the learning at these institutions. As a result, these national law schools turn out candidates who are vying for lucrative placements at private law firms, which also has a consequence on the legal education to those who join the judiciary...", elaborated the judge.He added that till the last year, the CLAT incorporated questions which tested logical reasoning capabilities that required the use of sight and which in turn discriminated against the visually challenged candidates. "Although the National Law School consortium has now assured that this would not happen in the future, the replication of this commitment in reality is awaited", said Justice Chandrachud."Even if a student clears this exam, then begins the secondary gradation – the choice of law school. There is a real and perceived bias among various law schools and students of the top tier National Law Universities are deemed to be better on account of their law school affiliation. But these institutions are expensive and scholarships, or even loan-based scholarships, may not suffice. So one exam taken by an 18-year-old becomes a means of differential treatment which has consequences on their law school experience and life trajectory thereafter", reflected Justice Chandrachud.He continued to explain that it is within the law school where begins the third gradation, that determines which students thrive and succeed. He mentioned that students hailing from Dalit, adivasi and other marginalised sections are often found to be relatively behind not only in terms of academic grades, but also other extracurricular activities like moots, debates and internship. "The...

"Overt Discrimination Has Now Become Systemic; Casteist, Ableist, Genderist Hierarchies Entrenched Structures In Society": Justice DY Chandrachud

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