10/07/2024
of DY Chandrachud on Saturday expressed his reservations about people calling the courts "temples of justice" and said there was a "grave danger" in judges perceiving themselves as deities of those temples.
Chandrachud made the comments while addressing a regional conference of the National Judicial Academy in Kolkata.
"When we are addressed as 'Honour' or as 'Lordship' or 'Ladyship', there is a very grave danger ... and people say that the court is a temple of justice. There is a grave danger that we perceive ourselves as deities in those temples. Therefore speaking for myself, though I have my own set of personal values which are deeply personal to me, I am a little reticent when I am told that this is a temple of justice because temple postulates that judges are in the position of a deity," Justice Chandrachud said.
CJI added that he would rather want to see the judges as those who serve the people with compassion and empathy.
"I would rather recast the role of the judge as a server of the people. When you regard yourselves as people who are there to serve others then you bring in the notion of compassion, of empathy, of judging others but not being judgmental about others".
The CJI made the remarks shortly after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was also present at the event, equated courts with the places of worship. All India Reporter Pvt. Ltd.