Lawyers gather on Supreme Court lawns to read the Preamble to the Constitution

A group of lawyers gathered at the Supreme Court lawns this afternoon to read out the preamble to the Constitution of India in unison.

The impromptu gathering dispersed immediately after having read the Preamble. A lawyer part of the gathering told Bar & Bench that the reading was prompted for upholding the constitutional values and reminding the judiciary that this is our Constitution.

The demonstration comes in the backdrop of protests following the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.

Recently, a gathering of Madras High Court lawyers also read out the Preamble of the Constitution as part of a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

A number of petitions challenging various aspects of the controversial legislation are pending before the Supreme Court. The Bench led by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde is due to take up the matter later this month.

A more recent controversy that has since prompted national debate concerns violence in Universities. Petitions alleging brutality by the police on students of the Jamia Milia Islamia University and the Aligarh Muslim University were initially filed before the Supreme Court.

However, after the Supreme Court declined to take up the matter on an urgent basis, the petitions were redirected to be taken up be the respective jurisdictional courts.

Last weekend, armed persons entered the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus to attack the university students.