'Justice no privilege of few but every citizen's right': CJI Gavai
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New Delhi: Justice is not a privilege of the few but a right of every citizen, Chief Justice of India B R Gavai said on Saturday, while emphasising that it is the duty of judges and lawyers to ensure that the light of justice reaches even the last person standing at the margins of society, PTI reported.
Addressing the inaugural function of a national conference on strengthening legal aid delivery mechanisms at the Supreme Court premises, Gavai said the true reward of the legal services movement does not lie in statistics or annual reports, but in the quiet gratitude and renewed faith of citizens who once felt invisible.
"Justice is not a privilege of the few but a right of every citizen, and that our role, as judges, lawyers, and officers of the court, is to ensure that the light of justice reaches even the last person standing at the margins of society," Gavai said.
Gavai said the real measure of success is not in numbers but in the trust of the common person, in the belief that someone, somewhere, is willing to stand by them.
"And that is why our work must always be guided by the spirit that we are changing lives," he added.
"Even your presence for a single day, your visit to a village or a jail, your conversation with a person in distress, can be life-changing for someone who has never had anyone come for them before," he said.
At the event organised by NALSA (National Legal Services Authority) to mark its 30th year, the CJI said that legal aid must not be envisioned as a reactive system, but as a living movement.