Democracy without dissent, a contradiction, says SC judge

Democracy without dissent is a contradiction, and that silence in the face of injustice is not neutrality, but complicity, Supreme Court judge Justice Surya Kant has asserted as he invoked India's constitutional ethos and the top court's role in defending civil liberties.

- Utkarsh Anand

NEW DELHI:

Justice Kant, who is in line to take over as the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in November this year, was speaking at the Washington Supreme Court as part of an international judicial exchange.

In his address earlier this week that underscored the shared constitutional commitments of India and the US, the judge said: "Democracy without dissent is a contradiction, and that silence in the face of injustice is not neutrality, but complicity. These are not merely legal precedents; they are constitutional declarations."

Justice Kant highlighted that the right to free speech, protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution and First Amendment in the US, has been "zealously defended" by courts on both sides of the Atlantic.