Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant on Saturday urged the legal fraternity to remember the Constitution’s promise and to ensure justice remains accessible to all citizens.
Addressing the Supreme Court Bar Association’s (SCBA) Independence Day function on the Supreme Court lawns, he said, “It is my profound privilege to be celebrating the Independence Day with you all… Independence Day calls upon us to pause and to remember, with deep gratitude, the men and women who gave their lives, their labour, and their dreams so that we might inherit the India we cherish today.”
Tracing the deep link between law and the freedom movement, he noted, “Today’s gathering is special because our freedom struggle had a deep and enduring connection with the law.”
He recalled: “Two of the greatest architects of modern India, Mahatma Gandhi and Dr BR Ambedkar, were lawyers,” adding that their lives remind us “the legal profession was not a bystander to India’s freedom struggle, but an integral part of it.”
The CJI highlighted how the purpose of law has evolved: “We began to discover that the true purpose of law is not just to command or regulate, but to serve justice, protect liberty and uphold human dignity.” He stressed that post-independence, “the challenge was no longer to resist colonial power, but to give life to the constitutional vision of a free India.”
On access to justice, he said legal aid through the Legal Services Authority has ensured that “access to justice is not a privilege of the few but a constitutional commitment to all.” He added that “the responsibility of the legal profession did not end with the attainment of freedom — it simply changed its form. Today, that responsibility is to keep this constitutional promise alive, especially for those who may not otherwise have the means, or the voice, to claim it.”
Addressing young lawyers, the CJI expressed confidence in the new generation. “This generation brings with it qualities that give us every reason to be confident,” he said, noting their sensitivity to “equality, inclusion and access to justice.”
“The responsibility that this Bar has carried since the days of the freedom struggle will, before long, rest on your shoulders,” he told graduates. “The institutions of justice that generations before you have built and strengthened are now yours to protect and to carry forward… The miles that remain are yours to walk, and we walk with you.”
Concluding his address, the CJI thanked the SCBA for organising the event on this “meaningful and historic day.”
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