Supreme Court Justice P S Narashimha has said the original idea of India has nothing to do with religion or identity, but the people who loved the nation.
' Delivering the keynote address for the 1 st Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi Memorial Lecture at the India International Centre , Justice Narasimha delved into various phases of Indian history and said, "We are a tolerant nation and let us keep it that way. “
In his 40-minute speech, Justice Narasimha talked about how colonial powers tried to destroy Indian identity and along with it the self respect of the people. He said the freedom struggle was driven not only by the aspiration of the people to gain territorial independence but also to assert their identity , and the psychological aspect of it must be studied.
Justice Narasimha spoke at length on the evolution of the Indian nation and said India evolved as nation not because commonality of religion of its people. “The original idea of India has nothing to do with religion or identity, but the people who loved the nation.”
In this context, he also talked about the need for greater tolerance in the society and said India is a tolerant nation and it should remain that way.
The occasion was the inauguration of the Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi Foundation on Saturday. Also present were a host of judges of the Supreme Courts and High courts. Sidharth Luthra, Senior Advocate of the SC , was the Guest of Honour, while Vinod Kanth, senior ddvocate, Patna High Court was the Special Guest.
Referring to the Preamble of the Indian Constitution, Justice Narasimha said among everything else the Constitution promises to strive for `Fraternity’ was the most important of all. "Only Fraternity can bring about harmony and allegiance to truth and reason. Fraternity must entail a willing and agreeable reduction of the assertion of the self, for it to give way and to bestow identity to the neighbor," he said.
Justice Narasimha concluded that most cases of contention in Courts arise from an assertion of power, property or ego, and said that the Indian Constitution leaves space for the most subtle and sacred; and our identity is embedded in its interpretation, and this must find way in the judgments of the Indian courts.
The Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi Foundation is a non-profit organization established in the memory of Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi. It aims to contribute to the development of the full spectrum of the new legal order in India. The Foundation shall endeavour to promote, foster, and maintain legal thought through the betterment of legal, judicial, and social infrastructure, promotion of discourse on legal and judicial education and reform, judicial impact assessment and judicial conscientiousness. These proposed initiatives will be complemented by bolstering a comprehensive understanding of legal principles in professionals and nurturing the present and future generations of the legal profession. The Foundation aspires to contribute to positive efforts that effect a long-lasting difference in the field of Law.
Justice Tripathi was a prominent figure in the legal fraternity, both as a part of the Bar and the Bench. He was sworn in as a judge of the Patna High Court on October 9, 2006. He took office as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Chhattisgarh on July 7, 2018. On March 23, 2019, he was appointed as a Judicial Member of Lokpal of India, the National Anti-Corruption Ombudsman, wherein he played a pivotal role during the formative period of the institution with his innovative ideas and inputs. He held this position until his untimely demise on May 2, 2020.
The functioning of the Foundation will be overseen by Justice Tripathi’s wife, Alka Tripathi, as Founder and Trustee along with his daughters and son-in-law: , Anushree Tripathi, Consultant (For Law on Climate Change), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; Aditi Tripathi, Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court of India; Aakriti Tripathi, Assistant Professor, Jindal Global Law School, and Rahul Narayanan, Senior Corporate Counsel (Litigation), Amazon.
