Children raised without religion, caste are the hope for future: Kerala High Court Justice VG Arun

The hope for the future lies in children who are unbound by the notions of religion, Kerala High Court judge Justice VG Arun remarked recently.

Justice Arun praised parents who choose to raise their children outside the influence of religion.

Those children will be the ones who rightly question the status quo in the future, he added.

"I laud each of you who send your children to school and teach them without attaching religion or caste to their names. These children are the promise of tomorrow. These are the children who will tomorrow ask the right questions without fear, even in the face of opposition from society," he remarked.

Justice Arun was speaking at an event organised by the Kerala Yukthivadi Sangam, a rationalist organisation based out of Kerala. The event was organised to commemorate prominent rationalist and writer who went by the pen name Pavanan. Another rationalist author, Vaisakhan, was felicitated at the event for his contributions to rationalist discourse.

In a speech delivered entirely in Malayalam, Justice Arun recalled that his father, the late TKG Nair who was an author, politician and activist, was closely associated with Pavanan.

The judge spoke of the contributions of Pavanan and Vaisakhan who chose pen names that reflected their rejection of caste based surnames. Pawanan was born Puthan Veetil Narayanan Nair and Vaisakhan was born Gopinathan Nair. Justice Arun said that his father, inspired by Pavanan, wrote under the pen name Anilan for a while.

Justice Arun also lauded Pavanan and Vaisakhan for their conviction and refusal to back down from their principled stances. However, these days, rationalists like the two writers, are regularly attacked on social media.

The judge also said that while considering petitions dealing with social media posts, he is unfortunately confronted by unsavoury language and thoughts.

"Social media warriors pounce on them like vultures. I am currently presiding over the jurisdiction which deals with quashing criminal proceedings. Many petitions that come before me are to quash cases registered based on social media comments. I have to read these posts to consider those cases. It is distressing but I must say these social media posts pollute the Malayalam language. I have often wondered how a Malayalee can debase themselves in such a manner. I believe this is due to the lack of rationalists like Pawanan and Vaisakhan", Justice Arun said.

Justice Arun has walked the talk on the judicial side as well.

In a significant judgment delivered in 2022, Justice Arun upheld the right to be recognized as 'non-religious' in a secular country like India.

The judgment was passed in a case filed by a group of students who had cleared their class XII exams and sought community certificates in the non-religious category for college admission.

"As has been often held, the objective of secularism is to ultimately reach a classless society. The declaration by certain citizens that they and their progeny are non-religious can only be perceived as a bold step towards that constitutional goal," Justice Arun said in the judgment.