'Public intellectuals are duty-bound to expose lies of State': Justice Chandrachud

Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, who is currently a judge of the Supreme Court, while addressing a virtual event on August 28 said the exercise of the right to speak truth to power the citizens is integral for the functioning of modern democracy. As part of the 6th MC Chagla Memorial Online Lecture, Justice Chandrachud was delivering a talk on the topic 'Speaking Truth to Power: Citizens and the Law'. While stating the importance of citizens being informed to bolster transparency in a democracy, Justice Chandrachud said that he did not mean just the elite and the privileged, but those who belong to the marginalised community and women, who traditionally have not enjoyed power and whose opinions have been 'caged, confined and crippled'. 'Democracy needs truth to survive' Pointing out that truth is vital in instilling faith in democracy, Justice Chandrachud said that as citizens one must strive to ensure a press free of any influence which provides information without biases. He also pressed that in a democracy, citizens must participate in strengthening public institutions. Since democracies are spaces for reasons and as reasons cannot be based on falsehoods, truth is important, he implied. Highlighting salient features of democracy, the judge had said that the right to speak truth to power by the citizens is integral to the functioning of modern democracy, adding, one cannot rely solely on the State to determine the truth but citizens 'must remain more vigilant and participate more actively in the process." Quoting philosopher Hanna Arendt, Justice Chandrachud said totalitarian governments are associated with 'constant reliance on falsehoods in order to establish dominance'. Underscoring the vital role of informed and responsible citizens, he said, "We should put these truth providers through intense scrutiny and questioning to convince ourselves of the veracity of the claims made by them. It is equally important for those making truth claims be transparent." 'Public intellectuals are duty-bound to expose the lies of the State' While referring to demands by plenty to regulate social media, he said that as a member of the Indian judiciary, it would not be appropriate for him to comment on the subject. Additionally, Justice Chandrachud referred to the COVID-19 pandemic as 'infodemic' for the overabundance of misinformation and fake news that was circulated in this regard. 'Undeniably, the phenomenon of fake news is on the rise," he had said. Furthermore, Justice Chandrachud called for more vigilant, active participation by citizens. Quoting Noam Chomsky, he said that public intellectuals are duty-bound to expose the lies of the State.

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'Public intellectuals are duty-bound to expose lies of State': Justice Chandrachud

While stating the importance of citizens being informed to bolster transparency in a democracy, Justice Chandrachud said that he did not mean just the elite

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