 "‘We’re our own messiahs’: Indian jurist Upendra Baxi seeks to redefine human rights as people-led movement")
At a time when large swathes of the world are plunging into wars and authoritarianism, jurist Upendra Baxi’s new book has argued that human rights now stand at a crossroads where the new generation has to rise to the occasion and make it a people-led movement.
In the new book ‘Law, Justice, Society: Selected Works of Upendra Baxi’, published by the Oxford University Press, editor Amita Dhanda said that Baxi calls for a “new kind of moral language” to address the human rights challenges in the changing world. She said the book carries the message that human rights cannot bear the burden anymore with the status quo.
Baxi, 86, is a leading Indian jurist who is an Emeritus Professor of Law at the Universities of Warwick and Delhi and has previously served as the Vice Chancellor of Universities of Delhi (1990-94) and South Gujarat (1982-85). He has played a key role in Mathura rape case, Bhopal gas tragedy, and the development of the public interest litigation (PIL) movement.
Justice BV Nagarathna of the Supreme Court launched the book at the Indian Law Institute, Delhi. Recalling decades of his work as an academic and activist, she said he demonstrated that the role of a legal academic is not limited to classrooms or research but extends to addressing the real-world struggles for justice.
“His life highlights the potential of the clinical education model where law professors assisted by students can play a crucial role in bringing the plight of the vulnerable citizens before the authorities and the court rules,” said Nagarathna.
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As the role and relevance of international organisations, such as the United Nations (UN), in safeguarding human rights is under question, Baxi calls for a two-pronged approach to address the challenges, said Dhanda, a Professor Emerita at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad.
In an interview with Firstpost on the sidelines of the book launch, Dhanda said the book calls for, firstly, a people-led bottoms-up approach to human rights and, secondly, the development of a new language for human rights.
Dhanda said, “The book talks about the human rights movement as the power of the people. Every generation has continually reinvented the movement and the current generation has its moment of reinvention now where it has to work towards what is appropriate for the time. Instead of relying on the UN, you have to be your own institution. You cannot believe that someone is going to come and be a messiah. We are our own messiahs.”
In the four-volume book, Dhanda edited the volume dedicated to the contemporary discourse on human rights which comprises interviews with Baxi and his selected writings.
Even as human rights organisations like the UN Human Rights Commission are under question, Dhanda said that the book calls for their reform, not removal.
Justice Nagarathna on social justice & jurisprudence
In her speech at the book launch, Nagarathna said that law cannot be seen in isolation from society and stressed that critique of the judiciary strengthened jurisprudence.
Highlighting the role of Baxi in the development of social justice jurisprudence in India, Nagarathna said that Baxi has demonstrated how public interest litigation has served as a mechanism for holding the state accountable by enabling the judiciary to act as a guardian of fundamental rights and a force for social transformation.
“His scholarship highlights how PILs have empowered citizens, civil society organisations, and even the most marginalised groups to seek judicial remedies for systemic injustices, thereby democratising access to justice. He has rightly termed PILs as ‘social action litigation’,” said Nagarathna, who is expected to be the first woman Chief Justice of India in 2027.
However, Nagarathna will then serve one of the shortest terms as the CJI at 36 days.
On a lighter note, Nagarathna said that the time had perhaps come for Baxi to write about the misuse of PILs. She said that PILs are now losing their virtuousness as several PILs are now being filed with wrong motivations.
“PIL, if I may say, was a virtuous weapon in the hands of the weak, but now it is losing its virtuousness. PIL, if I may say in a very colloquial way, is either ‘paisa interest litigation’, ‘publicity interest litigation’, or ‘private interest litigation’. Where is the real public interest litigation? Normally, therefore, the need is to have real public interest litigation or social action litigation,” said Nagarathna.
Recalling the constitutional discourse that Baxi shaped in India for decades with his writings and critique of the judiciary, Nagarathna said that the critique led to a gradual improvement in judgements and the evolution of constitutional law.
“I think one of the most significant contributions of Prof. Baxi has been his role as a distinguished scholar of jurisprudence. Through his insights in legal analysis and his deep reflection of how judicial decisions shape the evolution of constitutional law and in fact the sociopolitical landscape of this country, his critiques have served as an intellectual force, prompting judges to be more self-reflective and ensuring the legal scholarship which remains a vital part of democratic discourse,” said Nagarathna.
Very few judges do justice, says Baxi
When Baxi took the mic to address nearly 200 people in attendance, including judges, academics, lawyers, and law students, he praised Nagarathna’s dissent in the demonetisation judgement and said that “very few judges do justice”.
In 2023, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court held the Narendra Modi government’s demonetisation exercise in 2016 as valid in a 4:1 judgement. Nagarathna was the sole dissenting judge who said that even though the exercise was conducted with good intentions, it was unlawful as it was not done as per legal provisions.
Recalling the words of Mahatma Gandhi, Baxi said, “Law is nothing but the convenience of the powerful. We need judges to stand up to this idea. And I’m able to say a very few judges should stand up to judge.”
Calling Nagarathna’s dissent in the demonetisation judgement as an “eye-opener”, Baxi said that “the greatest menace to Indian democracy, by the way, is the habit of executive lawmaking and executive rulemaking” in an apparent reference to the way Nagarathna said the demonetisation exercise was conducted without routing it through the parliament.
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