Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave recently said that the Supreme Court's decision to allow the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to continue has disenfranchised crores of voters.

He referred to recent reports regarding the functioning of Election Commission of India (ECI), to express his concerns about the ongoing SIR. He revealed that he is also at risk of losing his right to vote.

"Thanks to Election Commission and Supreme Court of India, adult franchise is going away because in the name of the SIR, everybody, even my wife and I have received notices as to whether we should really be included in voters list or not."

Speaking at the annual KM Bashir Memorial Lecture in Kerala, the senior lawyer also claimed that he has been privy to startling levels of corruption in the upper echelons of the Indian judiciary.

"I can tell you, as having been a lawyer for 48 years in the judiciary, that the judiciary has some outstanding judges, but there have been so many corrupt judges that I have lost count now in the Supreme Court. I've lost count. They have done great damage to justice," he said.

This has in turn enabled the rich and powerful to manipulate the system to obtain orders in their favour even in the most difficult of cases, he added.

"The rich and the powerful have hijacked the judicial system from us. Their cases are heard fast. Their cases always succeed. You open up a newspaper and you will find that the largest industrial houses every second or third day get some judgment in their favour. It's very surprising how they succeed in all cases."

Dave further said that the lack of diversity on the Bench also contributes to ineffective justice delivery.

"Most judges in this country are from higher caste and most of them belong to you know the legal fraternity. Justice DY Chandrachud who otherwise claimed himself to be a liberal judge appointed 17 judges to Supreme Court. Not one was a woman. Unless you appoint judges from across cross-section of the society, they will never understand the sensitivity that justice delivery demands," he observed.

Dave also made scathing observations regarding the judiciary's inaction in the face of blatant violations of fundamental rights over the years.

"It's very easy to take away people's fundamental rights and sadly, the judicial system in this country supports the executive, which has become more and more powerful. It is not just that Mrs. [Indira] Gandhi during emergency was responsible for excesses but it's also what is happening in last 12 years in the country. Article 32 (of the Constitution) requires the Supreme Court to enforce those rights but the Supreme Court is not willing to interfere at all," he said.

Dave's lecture was on the topic "Are we failing the Constitution or has the Constitution failed us?"

The senior advocate opined that over the past seven decades, the Constitution of India has been systematically decimated.

Pointing to the rising gap between the rich and the poor, the continuing prevalence of caste heirarchies, and discrimination against women in matters of employment and inheritance, Dave argued that the right to equality, a cornerstone of the Constitution, has not been delivered.

The same goes for the right to free speech and expression and the right to religion, he said.

"Even stand-up comedians are being targeted. Somebody writes a beautiful cartoon you know, whether it is against Mr. Modi or against Mamata or against Stalin or or Mr. Thackeray; these cartoonists are sent to jail. We are targeting minority communities so strongly in this country that sometimes one wonders as to what we are in the name of religion."

He pointed out that the framers of the Constitution themselves said that the constitution would fail, and that their prophecy in this regard is coming true.

"Today we have become slaves of the state or the political parties, those who are in power. We no longer own the state. They own us. Article 14 we must have equal protection of law and equality before law. But here we are we are all unequal. The politicians have taken a place above us. They are a special class of citizens."

Dave also spoke about rising youth unemployment and the government's focus on handouts rather than addressing structural issues, opining that these were directly contributing to concentration of power, enabling the "Ambanis and Adanis to walk away with everything in this country."

Dave did not mince words in criticising the Modi government for failing to keep its election promises and using Central agencies to target opposition leaders and quell dissent.

"Prime Minister offered 15 lakhs to every citizen before 2014 and never gave. But citizens have not filed a case against him, asking for specific performance of that oral assurance....His government today is absolutely dictatorial and investigating agencies are used on a large-scale basis to target opposition leaders, critics, stand-up comedians and anybody and everybody, including those who don't give them money."

He also critiqued Modi for his refusal to speak to the media, and the media and judiciary for failing to hold the government to account.

"The Constitution essentially is lifeless. It requires life by the men and women who implement it. Otherwise, it's a piece of paper. In my respectful view, the Constitution should be worshipped. We should say Inquilab Constitution. Long live revolution, Bhagat Singh said. We should say Long live the Constitution," he said.