Lady Justice in SC Library Now Depicts Open-Eyed Stance with the Constitution

While Lady Justice, sitting in the judges' library of the Supreme Court, now holds a copy of the Indian Constitution, with this initiative to shed off all vestiges of colonial imprint and traditional attributes, she is no longer blindfolded and has open eyes.

Under present Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud, this shift now indicates that the law in the country is not blind and does not represent merely punishment. Traditionally, the blindfold represented equality before the law, indicating that the administration of justice should not be swayed by the social status, wealth, or power of the parties involved. The sword, historically, represented authority and the ability to punish injustice.

It deviates from colonial influences, such as the replacement of the penal code of the colonial era with Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, yet the new Lady Justice shows that the law of the country views everyone equally as decreed under the Constitution.

The might of the Constitution prevails in the process of justice delivery, not the sword.

However, the weighing scales of justice have been kept in the right hand of Lady Justice, meaning a societal balance, whereas evidence and arguments of both sides should be granted proper thought before issuing the judgment.

Last month, President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the new flag and emblems of the Supreme Court as part of the celebration of the institution's 75 years since its establishment. During the period of Chief Justice of India Chandrachud, the SC began to live stream proceedings of the Constitution Bench on YouTube and used artificial intelligence and natural language processing technology to live transcribe such hearings of national importance. Both judicial hearings in the NEET-UG case and the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital suo moto case were huge public views.