NAJAR Expresses Grave Concern over The Comments Made by Justice S.A. Dharmadhikari at The 2nd NLIU SBA Law Conclave, Bhopal
National Alliance for Justice Accountability & Rights (NAJAR) | 01 May 2026 | Countercurrents
The National Alliance for Justice, Accountability and Rights (NAJAR) expresses grave concern at the comments[1] made on 12th April, 2026 by Justice S.A. Dharmadhikari, Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, at the 2nd NLIU SBA Law Conclave held at the National Law Institute University, Bhopal. Justice Dharmadhikari, while speaking on the topic of “Beyond Colonial Hangovers: Rethinking and Reforming the Western Influence on India’s Legal System”, advocated for the mandatory teaching of texts such as the Manusmriti and Arthashastra in legal curricula at Law Universities. The aforementioned texts are replete with regressive doctrines and explicitly mandate caste-based discrimination in the administration of justice. As such, NAJAR strongly believes that such texts and writings have no place in a civilized legal education system and we hope Justice Dharmadhikari will publicly retract these comments.
We acknowledge some of the seemingly well-meaning comments of Justice Dharmadhikari in other parts of his speech, where he refers to ‘freeing the Indian legal system from its colonial hangover’ or points out that purpose of legal education must be to further rule of law and empathy for common people and not merely become millionaires. However, we feel reform in legal education must deepen constitutional ethos and not be at the expense of constitutionally guaranteed principles and rights…