Supreme Court Chief Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi (centre) with VIT Founder and Chancellor G. Viswanathan and Hindu Director N . Ram during The Hindu Justice Unplugged 2026 in New Delhi on February 28, 2026. | Photo credit: RV Moorthy
A lawyer’s vigilance serves as an early warning system to society against the gradual erosion of democratic values, senior advocate AM Singhvi said at Justice Unplugged: Shaping the Future of Law, a legal conclave organized by VIT School of Law, VIT Chennai, in association with The Hindu, in New Delhi on Saturday (268 February 2026).
“Democracies rarely collapse in a single dramatic moment. They erode gradually, through normalized excess, through institutional fatigue, through the slow corrosion of norms. It is the lawyer’s duty to recognize these early cracks,” he said, stressing that a vigilant bar represents the first line of constitutional defense.
Mr. Singhvi drew attention to what he described as a global phenomenon of constitutional backsliding characterized by deepening polarization and erosion of institutional norms. Lawyers, he said, must remain alert to such shifts.
“Around the world we have seen democracies strained by polarization, misinformation and the erosion of institutional norms. Rarely do these crises begin with tanks in the streets. They begin with subtle deformations, the normalization of exceptional powers, the questioning of judicial legitimacy, the weakening of checks and balances,” he said.
Law as a barrier for the deaf
He also urged the law students to persevere in upholding constitutional values. Citing stalwarts like Nani Palkhivala, he pointed out that eminent lawyers are remembered not only for their forensic brilliance in constitutional courts but also for their unwavering adherence to constitutional principles.
“The courtroom is not the battlefield of ego; it is the sanctuary of reason. To enter it unprepared is disrespectful; to enter it without integrity is dangerous,” he said.
Mr. Singhvi further noted that the law must act as a shield for those who do not have a voice. The true measure of a legal system, he says, is not how it treats the powerful when they are safe, but how it protects the vulnerable when they are exposed. He pointed out that transformational change across jurisdictions was often catalyzed by young lawyers unwilling to accept inherited injustice as immutable.
“In India, public interest litigation has expanded access to justice and brought under judicial scrutiny involuntary workers, undertrial prisoners, environmental degradation and gender discrimination. This movement was not driven by corporate incentives, it was driven by moral imagination,” he said.
Reference to ‘Selective’ corruption in NCERT textbook
Responding to a question from the audience, the senior counsel said the mention of “corruption” in the judiciary in the Class 8 textbook published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) was worrisome because of its “selective” emphasis. While acknowledging that corruption exists across institutions, he said the chapter singles out the judiciary without addressing similar concerns within the bureaucracy or the political class.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had registered a suo motu case on the “selective reference” and said it was a “pre-calculated, deep-rooted attempt” to defame the judicial institution.
“…There can be no two views on the fact that there are black sheep in justice, as in any other sector,” he said. “The problem is the selectivity of the two-page chapter, which outright isolates the judiciary without addressing institutionally the corruption that runs rampant in the bureaucracy and the political class. It is presented out of context, as if it only targets one institution. That is worrying,” he said.
He added that the inclusion of the chapter appeared to be done without proper scrutiny and could be construed as an “agenda” to “intimidate” the judiciary.
A chapter titled “Role of Judiciary in Our Society” in the NCERT-prescribed Class 8 social studies book identifies corruption, mounting backlog and insufficient judicial strength among the “challenges” facing the judicial system. The book’s section on “corruption in the judiciary” states that judges were bound by a code of conduct that governed not only their behavior in court but also how they behaved outside it.
Published – 28 Feb 2026 23:20 IST
