Constitution cannot be rejected merely because it is a modification of Government of India Act: Justice S Ravindra Bhat

The Constitution of India is a living document and merely because it has colonial origins in the Government of India Act of 1935, it cannot be said to be un-Indian, retired Supreme Court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat said on Wednesday. .Hence, rejecting the Constitution on the ground that it is a modification of Government of India Act of 1935 will not be jusitified, Justice Bhat said."Our constitution is a living document which cannot but be the answer to what is Indian. Just because it has colonial origins cannot be reason to say it is essentially un-Indian. In my opinion, the constitution is a product of its time, of a quick exit of colonisers, in the wake of partition. The blind rejection of the Constitution on the ground that it is a modification of Government of India Act of 1935 is not a well thought out argument," he stated.He was speaking at the Kerala High Court on the topic "Shedding the Colonial Hangover - Perspectives on Indianising the Legal System". The lecture was organised by Kerala Judicial Academy and Indian Law Institute's Kerala State unit. .He said that Indian Constitution is a transformative one and decolonisation is an ongoing process.Hence, he also took a dim view of the stance that we must return exclusively to the strength of ancient Indian traditions and that anything non-Indian must be aggressively removed. Such a thought should be critically examined before any steps are taken, he opined.Pertinently, he highlighted one of the biggest challenges facing decolonisation - that India is not a homogenous society. While there might be common threads in our society, we cannot use any one culture or tradition in India as a common ground for all, he underscored."The project of decolonisation cannot just substitute one system for another without causing untold hardship for citizens. It has to be a process. Our society is not homogenous. Our ancients traditions and cultures are not one syncretic whole. There might be common threads but we cannot use any one as the only common ground," he stated.Justice Bhat specifically highlighted the the vast and plural nature of India. "Even within Kerala itself, each part will have differences. We must study all of this and see what is common and what is good," the retired judge opined.In this regard, he also pointed out how the British overrode the plurality and diversity of the country in the interest of having a homogenous law, thereby disconnecting the masses from their indigenous roots. "The very thing that India stood for, flexibility to assimilate, which was customary, became something else altogether in the hands of the British. There were punishments for crimes against property, new laws for evidence. Our plurality and diversity was overridden in the interest of having a homogenous law. The colonial way of law making delinked the people from their own indigenous roots through the importation of common law system and use of English as the common language," he said..Justice Bhat then highlighted some of the specific transformative provisions in the Constitution which makes it stand apart from the colonial Government of India Act - universal adult franchise, reservation for marginalised castes and a strong Election Commission."A simplistic critique based on textual borrowing does not do justice to the revolutionary ideas imprinted in our constitution. They are not some colonial vestige. The first such idea was the universal adult franchise which in one stroke guaranteed equal rights. Second is the horizontal application of rights which I call the emancipation code of the Constitution of India," he said.It was not just a break from our past that was hoped but also a break from our feudal past where a large section of our people remained constrained for a long time, he added..[Read live coverage of the lecture below]