You Cannot Take The Law Into Your Hands Or Become A Law Unto Yourself

His 13-month-long tenure as the 45th Chief Justice of India was eventful. He will always be remembered for some of the most iconic judgments in Indian jurisprudence. Legal Era in a freewheeling chat with JUSTICE DIPAK MISRA

LE: Your Lordship, you’ve had a long innings and served as the Chief Justice of the Patna and Delhi High Courts before being elevated to the Supreme Court. Please share an interesting anecdote or two while serving in these capacities.

Instead of an anecdote, I would like to refer to a situation which is related to law. I always had an idea that Bollywood was extremely progressive and that their thinking was modern. A matter came before us under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, where a lady made a grievance that though she was qualified to be given a license as makeup artist, she was denied the same and instead given the license of a hairdresser. The only reason shown was that she was a lady. It perplexed me that in such a modern world and progressive movie realm, they had this kind of discrimination. We had to direct for the grant of license to the lady as a makeup artist. Some kind of impediment was created by the Registering Society but eventually, they had to obey the Court’s order and ultimately, she was given the license as a makeup artist.

LE: Under your Lordship, there have been several landmark judgments, not the least of which is recognizing and giving sanction to passive euthanasia. What was the thought process that went into this verdict?