Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Sunday said that justice may be blind but it has an excellent sense of humor because behind the judgments there are human beings who have their faults and dashes of comic wit that makes us laugh but also helps us learn.
Speaking at the book launch of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the CJI referred to the two books – “The Bench, Bar and the Bizarre: The Curious and the Extraordinary in Law” and “The Lawal and the Awful: Quirky Tales from the World of Law” – and said that the courtroom is the place where theater meets law and where judges with a flair for the dramatic and lawyers are caught in the crossfire of their hysterical errors. He envisioned a “joyful dance of mutual silliness.”
“Justice may be blind, but she has an excellent sense of humour, and perhaps even a penchant for slapstick comedy,” the CJI said.
“The humor here is not mockery but education… In a world that often views the law as a source of intimidation or intrusiveness, the lawyers opened the doors, invited us in, and gave us permission to laugh heartily at its absurdities,” he added to a nearly full court, in the presence of almost all the Supreme Court justices.
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Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Attorney General R Venkataramani also spoke on the occasion. “The interesting elements (in these books) force us to think and from a literary perspective, they take us out of the very serious atmosphere of the courts,” Shah said.
The minister said that the people of the country have great confidence in the constitution, and if they are subjected to any injustice or violation of their rights, they are confident that the courts will do them justice.
The ICJ lightened the mood by sharing anecdotes from Indian courts, and asked the Advocate General to consider publishing a third edition focusing on the Indian judiciary.
While the book is full of anecdotes from foreign courts and jurisdictions, the CJI said finding comedy in the courtroom reveals that there is a beating heart beneath the robes and legal proceedings.
“The Lawyer gently reminds us that the law, as serious as it is, is still a profoundly human enterprise. At the end of the day, we have to realize that behind every law and every ruling there are just people with charlatans, their own flaws, but also splashes of comedic wit.”
“Law is not just about orders and objections. It is also about the human comedy that happens in between… The courtroom is the place where theater meets law and everyone has a starring role. The judges with their stunned faces and their occasional impatience and the lawyers with their trappings and periodic theatrical performances contribute to the great spectacle of justice,” the CJI said.
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Mehta explained that since he intends to practice for many years, he chose to exclude cases from Indian courts.
“These books are not a treatise or a criticism of any particular topic in law… I have just collected some examples which will be very interesting for all of us to learn,” Mehta said.
Capturing the disruptions of AI dress codes, hallucinated judgments and pleadings and even drunken disorderly behavior in courtrooms, the CJI appreciated the books for the depth of their research that elevates the collection of tales into an “engaging narrative”. However, the CJI wondered how Mehta took time to write these books amid his busy schedule.
“Either he has petitioned God for the twenty-five hours he has set aside for himself, or he has decided that the best time to write comedy is when he is sitting in Court No. 1 (the ICC tribunal) and he knows that the bench will continue to read briefs while he can jot down his reminiscences. My money is on the latter,” said CJI Kant.
