PRIVATE LIVES AT HOUSEHOLDS NOT CONSTITUTIONAL VACUUMS FOR INJUSTICE: CJI

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Sunday said though households provide a private sanctuary to the inhabitants, it may not be simply an equitable space.

Dwelling on the topic 'Constitutional imperativeness of the state, navigating discrimination in public and private spaces' the Chief Justice underlined that the gain of improving private lives will reflect on public life as well, for these private structures are not constitutional vacuums'.

Justice Chandrachud was delivering the Justice E S Venkataramaiah Centennial Memorial Lecture organised by the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru here.

According to the CJI, courts in India have in the past privileged the institution of marriage over the individual. The courts inherited the thought that the need to preserve the institutions is greater than the need to protect individual's rights.

The sensitive sphere of privacy of homes was considered to be an intimate sanctuary, immune from the applications of the core principles of constitutional law, he said.