Sans liberty life is nothing: Chief Justice

The CJI referred to the 12th century Magna Carta to say that it was a document at one point of time, but now it is a symbol, a metaphor as it stands as a pillar for a properly and constitutionally governed democracy

Without liberty life is nothing, Chief Justice Dipak Misra said yesterday, remarking that one feels "half-dead" if one loses one's liberty without due procedure of the law being followed. The chief justice made the remark during his speech at an event of a private university in Gautam Buddh Nagar's Greater Noida this evening. The CJI referred to the 12th century Magna Carta to say that it was a document at one point of time, but now it is a symbol, a metaphor as it stands as a pillar for a properly and constitutionally governed democracy.

"Be it a sunny afternoon, wintery night or a rainy evening, neither you nor I can adjust without the cherished values of democracy which welcomes liberty in its whole. "Sans liberty life is nothing. You lose your life, you may lose it, you never know. When you lose your liberty without due procedure of the law being followed, you feel like half dead. Because life is dearer to you, but liberty is dearest," he told the students at Galgotias University.

Referring to American history, he quoted Thomas Jefferson, the founding father of the US and its third president, to say: "When a government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny." However, he added, "I am not pointing out at any aspect which is present or in the past or the future. This (liberty) is a permanent value, we can't barter with anyone our liberty".

He noted that as long as citizens say no (to giving up their liberty), the life of liberty is saved but the moment they mortgage it there comes the peril.
Referring to the Supreme Court judgment on film "Padmaavat" by a bench headed by him, he said the movie was banned by four states who had put the explanation of law and order situation.

"The film had already got the certificate from the censor board. Once the censor board has certified and a creative mind has put it on celluloid from a poem or use some imagination. Whether you contrive or create, does not matter. Your idea is your idea, dear to you. And somebody can project it, bend it, present it on celluloid or on the theatre. And therefore the court said you can't ban it," Justice Misra said.

He read out the court's observation in the matter without quoting the judgment to say, "If intellectual prowess, a natural or cultivated power of creation is interfered with without the permissible facet of law, the concept of creativity paves the path of extinction. And when creativity dies, values of civilization corrode." Justice Misra, the 45th CJI, also referred to the Shreya Singhal case, the Hadiya case and the case after which passive euthanasia was allowed by the court to stress the significance of concepts of liberty, citizenry rights and individual dignity.

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