We are in a country where we do not allow the provisions of the Constitution to influence our personal behaviour, S. Muralidhar, former Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court and now a senior advocate of the Supreme Court, said at The Hindu Justice Unplugged on Saturday (February 28, 2026). In a conversation with Krishnadas Rajagopal, Legal Correspondent at The Hindu, the eminent jurist and author said change comes from the social milieu where you grow up in your houses, in your homes and talks of how constitutional thinking has to start from home. He said it was up to each young lawyer to make the best of the initial years of struggle. Edited excerpts:
KDR: Your remarks on the topic of the conversation – ‘The art of Constitutional Thinking: How great lawyers are made’
SM: Law is very much in everyone’s mind, imagination. The amount of coverage of courts and lawyers in the last two decades has been phenomenal. After the advent of social media, everyone gets to see some video clip of some lawyer in action or judge in action. I think there is a greater realisation that courts are playing, whether we want it or not, a very active role in people’s life. Almost every aspect of life in India is governed by some court order or some statute or some legal policy. So everybody is interested in knowing what’s happening in the courts and with lawyers.
The one marked change I am finding, and this owes to the change in legal education, is the advent of the national law schools and products of the national law schools coming into the Bar.
Of course, some have been fired by idealism and are very clear that they want to practice from day one. But there is this trend. There is also a trend of the national law school products coming back into academia. So, they are coming back to teach in the national law schools. Of course, the divide does exist.
But overall I would think it’s improving the quality in an indirect way also among the Bench because many of these young law students are interning with judges. Many of them are law researchers for judges. I know judges who are driven to perform better with many young minds around them. There is a whole building up of public opinion and driving lawyers and judges to get homosexuality decriminalised. Even the latest Sukanya Shanta judgment which invalidated many provisions of prison manuals which permitted segregation of prison on cast lines or allocation of duties to prisoners on cast lines. There are many young legal minds interacting with judges. Many of them I know within chambers questioning judges… I am not a pessimist. As you must have all realised by now. I am this eternal optimist. and I think the better days are yet to come.
KDR: On the one side there are new branches of law opening up like AI governance, on the other, courts are seeing more and more cases with a communal tinge. Do you believe that the ideals enshrined in the Constitution — equality, fraternity, dignity and right to life — have to be inculcated at a very young age, it has to evolve as a natural way of thinking?
SM: We have many law reform statutes which have not changed societal behaviour. I am prefacing my remarks with this because lawyers are products of society, right? And judges are from among the lawyers. So, if you look at the entire spectrum of the legal system, unless you start very early in imbibing constitutional values, you are not going to be able to find that happenIt has to start at home. You know, these things have happened for a long time. We are in a country where we do not allow the provisions of the Constitution to influence our personal behaviour. Change comes from the social milieu where you grow up in your houses, in your homes.
KDR: We have a mushrooming of law schools, different branches of law coming up. Is the focus largely on corporate, law as a money-spinner. Do you think that that the human aspect of law, the litigant as a sufferer, is on the wane?
SM: One can be pessimistic and say therefore the percentage of lawyers who stand up for the poor, who stand up for rights, is very small. But I think the better way of looking at it is looking at the better examples in the present generation of lawyers, of cases and causes being taken up not for money, not for fame, but for belief in constitutional values. Look at Square Circle, it is so encouraging to see very young lawyers with complete commitment undertaking great risks in going to the prisons. These young lawyers are visiting prisons in the most remote corners of our country. Talking to prisoners who are on death row, who are serving life sentence, getting out their stories… Younger people are coming forward. It’s not like a transformative sea change, but it’s happening, and that’s very encouraging.
KDR: There is a legend that you came to Delhi and you had function initially from a blue Maruti Omni van… Is it tough to be a first generation lawyer?
SM: So, in Chinese whispers what was a white Maruti van has become blue. That is the only change. I come from a middle class family. It is a privilege to be a law student in this country particularly because you do not find a country as diverse as India. Law helps you actually encounter society in ways that you will not encounter in other professions. It gives you an enormous opportunity to learn about your own society, to learn about the discriminatory practices in your society. When you are doing human rights work, when you are doing law and poverty work you are also doing political work. You will have to find your way amidst all of this. The good news is there is enough space for all of us. There is enough space for the idealist lawyer, for the hard working lawyer, for the corporate lawyer, they can all rub shoulders.
KDR: But the dreams of a lawyer often come crashing down because they don’t have that initial capital which takes them through the initial years of struggle?
SM: All professions have struggle. All professions have inequalities. You know all the Bollywood stars that you hear of suddenly some opportunity comes in your 35th year. Look at the great MG Ramachandran. Till he was 30, he was a nobody. The initial years of many professions are years of struggle.
KDR: Should statutes be simplified?
SM: Absolutely. Legal English is jargon-heavy. Litigants often know their case better than lawyers but cannot articulate it in court language. Much is lost in translation. We must simplify statutes and judgments so litigants understand why they won or lost.
