Gender justice not the responsibility of women alone; men must contribute: CJI BR Gavai

The journey towards gender equality will be fruitful only if women and men collaborate and contribute equally towards dismantling barriers, Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai said on Wednesday.

CJI Gavai underscored that achieving gender justice is not the responsibility of women alone and requires men to accept that sharing the disproportionate amount of power they wield is not a matter of loss, but a move towards liberation of society as a whole.

"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. Real progress will come only when men recognize that sharing power is not an act of loss, but of liberation of society. The path to a gender equal India, therefore, lies not in confrontation, but in collaboration, where men and women together rebuild the moral and institutional architecture of equality envisioned by our Constitution," he said.

The Chief Justice made these remarks while delivering the 30th Justice Sunanda Bhandare Memorial Lecture on the theme Justice for all: Building a gender equal and inclusive India.

CJI Gavai's lecture noted the progress made in the sphere in three phases of 25 years each, starting from 1950, when the Constitution of India came into force.

"After 1975, the national discourse on gender equality began to evolve beyond questions of formal rights, turning instead towards the deeper idea of dignity as an inseparable component of equality. The conversation shifted from a mere legal parity to the recognition of the woman's autonomy, bodily integrity and the social realities that shape their lived experiences," he said.

And the focus in the last 25 years has been on comprehensive protection and empowerment, he said. In this regard, CJI Gavai pointed to the enactment of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, the recognition of reproductive rights and inclusion of transgender and queer rights in landmark Supreme Court cases.

However, the Chief Justice acknowledged that the path has not been without its challenges as there have been instances where judicial interpretations failed to capture the lived realities of women and fell short of the transformative spirit of the Constitution.

He spoke of the Mathura case as an "embarrassing" example of the same. This was a case where the Supreme Court acquitted two policemen who were accused of raping a young tribal girl on finding that the victim had seemingly not fought the assault with any vigour.

"The judgment reflected a deeply regressive and patriarchal understanding of consent, effectively denying the social context of power, coercion and vulnerability in which sexual violence often occurs. In my view, this decision remains one of the most troubling moments in India's constitutional and judicial history. And it could be called as a moment of institutional embarrassment, where the legal system failed to protect the dignity of the very person it was meant to safeguard."

However, this moment was also a turning point, CJI Gavai explained. The public outrage and nationwide protests that followed - led by women's groups, students and legal activists - ignited the modern Indian women's rights movement.

"The vigilance of civil society, the persistence of women's moments, and the courage of ordinary citizens have together kept the judiciary accountable to the constitutional promise of equality. Therefore, it is important to acknowledge that the progress in gender justice has never been the achievement of courts alone. The collective voice of the citizens has ensured that regressive precedents were questioned, debated and ultimately corrected through reform, reinterpretation or legislative intervention," he elaborated.

CJI Gavai concluded by reminding the audience that the journey remains far from complete. The task now is not merely to celebrate symbolic achievements or token representations, but to ensure that women everywhere have a real and equal share in the space of power, decision-making and opportunity.

This journey has always been and will continue to be shaped by the contributions of Justice Sunanda Bhandare, both on and off the bench, CJI Gavai said.