Justice Sunanda Bhandare Memorial Lecture: Path to a gender-equal India lies in collaboration, says CJI

CHief justness of bharat (CJ) Bhushan R Gavai on midweek said that the track to a gender-equal republic of india lies not in confrontation but in collaboration where men, particularly those in positions of power, recognise that sharing power with women is not an act of loss but liberation of society.Delivering the Justice Sunanda Bhandare Memorial Lecture here, CJI Gavai said that achieving the path to gender justice requires dismantling the invisible social, cultural, and economic barriers that limit women’s freedom and participation. True equality, he said, demands that the benefits of law, education, and opportunity extend to each woman, not just in the metropolitan cities, but in every small town, village and marginalised community.“Achieving gender justice is not the responsibility of women alone. It requires an active reimagining of power by men, especially those who occupy positions of authority in our institutions, workplaces, and political systems,” CJI said.Sharing the vision of justice Bhandare, a former Delhi high court judge, who was a vociferous proponent of gender justice and social equality, both as a lawyer and a judge, the CJI said, “The path to a gender-equal India lies not in confrontation but in collaboration, where men and women together rebuild the moral and institutional architecture of equality envisioned by our Constitution.”Real progress, he said, will come only when men recognize that “sharing power is not an act of loss, but of liberation of society” as he narrated the evolution of law in achieving gender justice through the past 75 years since the adoption of the Constitution.Looking back, while a lot of progress has been made in this direction, gender equality is not to celebrate “symbolic achievements or token representations” but to ensure women have a real and equal share in spaces of power, decision-making, and opportunity. This is possible only by dismantling the invisible barriers that limit women’s freedom and participation, he added.“The rights guaranteed by our Constitution must reach every woman, not just those in metropolitan cities or privileged contexts, but also those in small towns, villages, and marginalized communities who continue to live at the edges of justice.” CJI said.This year was the 30th memorial lecture on the topic “Justice for All: Building a Gender Equal and Inclusive India”. CJI Gavai, who shared the long association of his father RS Gavai with Murli Bhandare, former governor and justice Bhandare’s husband, cited several judgments given by the Supreme Court over the past years which has effectively shaped these rights for allowing meaningful participation of women in all spheres of life.However, he said that progress in gender justice has never been the achievement of courts alone, as he recognised the collective voice of citizens which has ensured regressive judgments to be reversed. He cited the Mathura rape case judgment of 1979 where two policemen accused of raping a minor tribal girl inside a police station were acquitted terming it as a “moment of institutional embarrassment” in the constitutional and judicial history of the country.“The dialogue between the courts and the people thus remains one of the most vital sources of India’s democratic strength, reminding us that the march toward gender equality is not a destination reached, but a commitment constantly renewed,” he said.Delhi high court chief justice DK Upadhyay and former SC judge Madan Lokur also spoke at the event that was attended by several past and present judges of the Supreme court and high courts, senior lawyers and academicians.Justice Bhandare was an eminent judge of the Delhi high court who died while a judge in November 1994. The lecture series was instituted by her husband and her two children