Hundreds of young people die in India due to honour killings merely because they love someone or marry outside their caste or against their family's wishes, Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud lamented on Saturday.
In this regard, the CJI said that morality is a fluid concept which varies from person to person.
He cited an article which spoke about how a 15-year-old girl was killed by her parents in Uttar Pradesh in 1991.
"The article stated that villagers accepted the crime. Their actions were acceptable and justified (for them) because they complied with the code of conduct of that society in which they lived. However, is this the code of conduct that would have been put forward by rational people? If this is not a code of conduct that would have been put forward by rational people? Many people are killed each year for falling in love, or marrying outside their caste or against their family's wishes," he said.
Morality, the CJI said, is often dictated by dominant groups.
He added that members of weaker and marginalised groups are forced to submit to dominant groups and cannot develop their counter culture because of oppression.
"Who decides the code of conduct or morality? The dominant groups, which overpower the weaker ones. The vulnerable groups are placed at the bottom of the social structure, that their consent even if attained, is a myth," he remarked.
The members belonging to the marginalized communities have little choice but to submit to the dominant culture for their own survival, the CJI opined.
"Vulnerable sections of society are unable to generate a counter culture because of humiliation and separation at the hands of the oppressor groups. The counter culture, if any, that the vulnerable groups develop, is overpowered by the government groups to further alienate them," the CJI said while referring to the 'negotiation of morality due to power difference.'
The CJI was delivering the Ashok Desai Memorial Lecture on Law and Morality organised by the Bombay Bar Association in Mumbai
During his speech, the CJI also highlighted the Supreme Court judgment that decriminalised homosexuality in India.
"We rectified the injustice. Section 377 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) was based on morality of a gone era. Constitutional morality focuses on rights of individuals and protects it from popular morality notions of the society."
In similar vein, he also spoke of a Constitution bench judgment which unanimously struck down Section 497 of the IPC, which penalised adultery.
"The values of a progressive constitution serve as a guiding force for us. They convey that our personal and professional lives aren't divorced from Constitution."
He, therefore, opined that the Indian Constitution was designed not for people as they were, but how they ought to be.
"It is the flag bearer of our fundamental rights. It guides us in our daily life."
During his address, the CJI also reiterated that every case that comes before a High Court or the Supreme Court is important for the court and judges do not differentiate between cases.
The CJI underlined that people have faith in the courts for protecting their personal liberty.
"No case is big or small for any court, be it High Court or Supreme Court," he said.
[Read a live-account of the CJI's speech here]