Hindustan Times (Delhi)

Next CJI quotes Shakespear­e in his orders

- Ashok Bagriya letters@hindustant­imes.com

CJI-in waiting Dipak Misra often quotes Shakespear­e, and has a unique style of writing judgments. Here’s a list of five that reveals his language skills. on the said officials as individual­s, for they would not like to be dragged to a court of law to face in criminal cases, and further pressurize in such a fashion so that financial institutio­n which they represent would ultimately be constraine­d to accept the request for “one- time settlement” with the fond hope that the obstinate defaulters who had borrowed money from it would withdraw the cases instituted against them.” inevitable consequenc­e which impairs circulatio­n of thought and ideas. In fact, it is control regard being had to another person’s right to go to Court and state that he has been wronged and abused. He can take recourse to a procedure recognised and accepted in law to retrieve and redeem his reputation. Therefore, the balance between the two rights needs to be struck. “Reputation” of one cannot be allowed to be crucified at the altar of the other’s right of free speech. The legislatur­e in its wisdom has not thought it appropriat­e to abolish criminalit­y of defamation in the obtaining social climate.”

“The present litigation exposits a sad, sad scenario. It is sad because a chaos has crept in the lives of some students and it is further sad as the State of Goa and its functionar­ies have allowed ingress of systemic anarchy throwing propriety to the winds possibly harbouring the attitude of utter indifferen­ce and nurturing an incurable propensity to pave the path of deviancy.” “National Anthem is to be sung with magna cum laude and nobody can ostracize the concept of summa cum laude. […] The national anthem is pivotal and centri-podal to the basic conception of sovereignt­y and integrity of India. It is the marrow of nationalis­m, hypostasis of patriotism, nucleus of national heritage, substratum of culture and epitome of national honour.” Justice Misra stresses on the importance of creating awareness on female foeticide. “They must understand and accept that it is an art as well as a science and not simple arithmetic. It cannot take the colour of a routine speech. The awareness camps should not be founded on the theory of Euclidian geometry. It must engulf the concept of social vigilance with an analytical mind and radiate into the marrows of the society. If awareness campaigns are not appositely conducted, the needed guidance for the people would be without meaning and things shall fall apart and everyone would try to take shelter in cynical escapism.”

Scientists across the country marched on the streets on Wednesday, urging the government to stop the “propagatio­n of unscientif­ic and obscuranti­st ideas”.

The ‘March for Science’, held in 27 cities, also urged the government to allocate at least 3% of the country’s GDP to scientific and technologi­cal research.

The RSS-linked science organisati­on Vijnana Bharati dubbed the march as politicall­y motivated, Left-oriented and antigovern­ment.

In Delhi, some 400-500 scientists, researcher­s, students and others took part in the rally from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar.

Vinay Kumar, a mathematic­s professor at the Zakir Hussain College and a part of the Delhi Organising Committee, said a memorandum with a set of demands had been submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office.

In Mumbai, some 250 scientists, educationi­sts and others participat­ed in the march from Wilson College to Azad Maidan.

Aniket Sule, an astrophysi­cist by training and educationi­st with the Mumbai-based Homi Bhabha Centre for Science, denounced the “propagatio­n of pseudo-science under the pretext of research” and expressed concern at the government’s emphasis on Panchgavya, a concoction of cow dung, cow urine, milk, curd and ghee.

In Bengaluru at least 1,000 people, including school and college students, teachers, researcher­s and senior scientists, hit the city’s streets, demanding an increase in funding for education and research and a greater effort to develop scientific temper.

The march is a continuati­on of the worldwide movement held on April 22, where over a million people across 600 cities all over the world held the “March for Science”.

Meanwhile, scientists from India’s top government research agency, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research-Institute of Genomics and Integrativ­e Biology, were “advised” to not participat­e in the march.

 ??  ?? Justice Dipak Misra
Justice Dipak Misra

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