<p>New Delhi: Former chief justice of India <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/d-y-chandrachud">D Y Chandrachud</a> on Friday said that literature humanised the law and could bridge the gaps of context and compassion in legal texts.</p>.<p>The former CJI was apeaking at the inaugural ceremony of "Vidhi Utsav 2025 -- The Festival of Law, Legal Literature and Luminaries" organised by Oakbridge Publishing.</p>.<p>He said, "Literature humanises the law. What legal text may lack in context, compassion and currency, it may derive from literature. As lawyers, legal professionals and judges make moral decisions, the law may invariably fall short in a dynamic world and even settled ideas may require a deeper understanding." The apex court bench deciding the validity of the sub-classification of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, during which a deeper sociological, historical and statistical understanding of the social realities was required, he illustrated.</p>.Eyes on polls: What’s behind Maharashtra’s push for love jihad law.<p>"This looking beyond the law is essential for perspective, for clarity. Granular data emerging from the grassroots must regularly inform the law for it to remain in sync with our changing world. We as judges and leaders of the law cannot afford to look away," said Chandrachud.</p>.<p>He said literature was a mediator between the law and the society, and a corrective tool for the law.</p>.<p>"Literature confronts the letter of the law with the lived experiences of the people it governs. It not only informs of the genesis of law but also constantly redirects the course of the law; should be veer towards majoritarianism. Literature pushes back against marginalising impulses and brings difficult conversations to the mainstream," the former CJI added.</p>.<p>Illustrating how sometimes even the law became a perpetrator of injustice, he said the Persons with Disabilities Act of 1995, adopted a "medical understanding" of disability.</p>.<p>"Persons with disabilities were defined as persons suffering from at least 40 per cent of any disability as certified by medical authority. Over several litigations and civil society engagement, the lawmakers eventually recognised that it was a society that disabled a person and that we could do better," he said.</p>.<p>The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act of 2016, said Chandrachud, removed the "medical narrative that fixated on people's bodies rather than society's deficiencies" and defined a person with a disability as someone with "long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment, which, in interaction with barriers, hindered his full and effective participation in society, equally with others".</p>.<p>"This (definition) was a piece of literature from a statute," said Chandrachud, "and this understanding of what the law should be, is derived in no small measure, from the body of literature that scrutinised disability law and argued that disability was not a physical anomaly, but a social reality." The former CJI said that it was essential to have a critical engagement with literature across diverse forms, languages and genres. </p>
<p>New Delhi: Former chief justice of India <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/d-y-chandrachud">D Y Chandrachud</a> on Friday said that literature humanised the law and could bridge the gaps of context and compassion in legal texts.</p>.<p>The former CJI was apeaking at the inaugural ceremony of "Vidhi Utsav 2025 -- The Festival of Law, Legal Literature and Luminaries" organised by Oakbridge Publishing.</p>.<p>He said, "Literature humanises the law. What legal text may lack in context, compassion and currency, it may derive from literature. As lawyers, legal professionals and judges make moral decisions, the law may invariably fall short in a dynamic world and even settled ideas may require a deeper understanding." The apex court bench deciding the validity of the sub-classification of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, during which a deeper sociological, historical and statistical understanding of the social realities was required, he illustrated.</p>.Eyes on polls: What’s behind Maharashtra’s push for love jihad law.<p>"This looking beyond the law is essential for perspective, for clarity. Granular data emerging from the grassroots must regularly inform the law for it to remain in sync with our changing world. We as judges and leaders of the law cannot afford to look away," said Chandrachud.</p>.<p>He said literature was a mediator between the law and the society, and a corrective tool for the law.</p>.<p>"Literature confronts the letter of the law with the lived experiences of the people it governs. It not only informs of the genesis of law but also constantly redirects the course of the law; should be veer towards majoritarianism. Literature pushes back against marginalising impulses and brings difficult conversations to the mainstream," the former CJI added.</p>.<p>Illustrating how sometimes even the law became a perpetrator of injustice, he said the Persons with Disabilities Act of 1995, adopted a "medical understanding" of disability.</p>.<p>"Persons with disabilities were defined as persons suffering from at least 40 per cent of any disability as certified by medical authority. Over several litigations and civil society engagement, the lawmakers eventually recognised that it was a society that disabled a person and that we could do better," he said.</p>.<p>The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act of 2016, said Chandrachud, removed the "medical narrative that fixated on people's bodies rather than society's deficiencies" and defined a person with a disability as someone with "long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment, which, in interaction with barriers, hindered his full and effective participation in society, equally with others".</p>.<p>"This (definition) was a piece of literature from a statute," said Chandrachud, "and this understanding of what the law should be, is derived in no small measure, from the body of literature that scrutinised disability law and argued that disability was not a physical anomaly, but a social reality." The former CJI said that it was essential to have a critical engagement with literature across diverse forms, languages and genres. </p>