Supreme Court judge, Arun Mishra, in his speech at the International Judicial Conference in Delhi on Saturday, 22 February 2020, referred to Prime Minister Modi as “an acclaimed visionary.” Calling Modi a “versatile genius”, Justice Mishra lauded PM Modi as someone who “thinks globally and acts locally.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address, said, “We have repealed 1,500 laws that are no longer relevant.”
“We also came up with new laws such as those on transgender rights, Triple Talaq and the specially-abled,” the prime minister said in his opening remarks.
The comments came amid growing clamour for the rollback of the Citizenship Amendment Act passed by the Parliament in December 2019.
Acknowledging the stellar role of the judiciary as an important pillar of democracy, PM Modi further said, “We are also grateful to India's judiciary for acknowledging the balance between vikas (development) and environment.”
Speaking on the occasion, Union law minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Populism becomes a problem when those rejected by people's mandate become the flag-bearers of spreading ideas.”
“Governance must be left for those who are elected representatives,” Prasad further said.
Touching upon the concerns around the Right to Privacy, the law minister said, “Terrorists and the corrupt have no right to privacy”.
The International Judicial Conference commenced in the capital on Saturday, 22 February, with representatives from around 20 countries, that includes judges, among the participants who would be attending the event over next two days.
Emphasising on the need to curb poverty, Attorney General KK Venugopal said, “Traditional concept of human rights violation is illegal incarceration or restricting free speech. But another facet of human rights violation is when people are allowed to live in sub-standard conditions.”
“The Constitution has created a strong and independent judiciary and we have strived to keep this basic feature intact,” CJI SA Bobde was quoted by PTI.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)