BENGALURU: The three pillars of the Constitution - legislature, executive and judiciary - have lost their credibility, and their core ideas have been shaken, said former Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph on Friday.
In the fourth pillar - the media -- truth and facts are missing, he said at the Volken-Stan Swamy Memorial Lecture 2024 on the topic ‘Role of civil society in nation building’.
During his address, he also apologised for the failure of democratic institutions in providing justice to late Fr Stan Swamy. “On behalf of the entire judiciary, I would like to tender an apology for what happened to Fr Stan. He was denied basic human rights, let alone fundamental rights, which are assured by the Constitution.” He added that this was a failure on the part of courts, civil societies and the media to project what was right and truthful.
He said the way forward and out of this “moral crisis” is a need for a strong movement which can be undertaken by the “fifth pillar of society – the civil groups.”
“The lawmen are not able to perceive and assimilate the values of the Constitution and their silence is damaging democracy. There is a need to respect, protect and promote everyone’s rights,” he said. Joseph emphasised dropping the position of neutrality that indirectly promotes injustice.
Salil Shetty, former secretary general of Amnesty International and a human rights activist, spoke on how India has remained a democracy only for a few people.
“We are the 12th most unequal country in the world. Ever since the current regime has been in power, they have created a chilling effect of silencing people.” He added that India is slipping on every democratic index, and to counter this, the Union government is planning to introduce its own metrics.