Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra delivers inaugural address of Human Values and Legal World conference in Puttaparthi; Excerpts of his speech

Yesterday, on 11th Aug. 2018, the sitting Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipak_Misra, inaugurated a two day Human Values and Legal World conference in Prasanthi Nilayam ashram in Puttaparthi.

Extracts from his above wiki page are given below:

Justice Dipak Misra (born 3 October 1953) is the current and 45th Chief Justice of India.[2][3] He is a judge of the Supreme Court of India and a former Chief Justice of the Patna and Delhi High Courts.
..
Justice Misra enrolled at the Bar on 14 February 1977 and practiced at the Orissa High Court and the Service Tribunal.[where?] He was first appointed as an Additional Judge of the Orissa High Court in 1996. The following year, he was transferred to the Madhya Pradesh High Court, where he was made a Permanent Judge on 19 December 1997. In December 2009, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Patna High Court, serving until May 2010, when he was appointed Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. He was elevated to the Supreme Court on 10 October 2011.[2][5]

Justice Misra has a tenure of almost fourteen months at the Supreme Court and has been appointed the 45th Chief Justice of India from 28 August 2017 until mandatory retirement at 65 years of age, on 2 October 2018.[5] Justice Misra will be serving as the Chief Justice for a term of 13 months and will retire on 2 October 2018.
...
A three judge bench led by Justice Misra has upheld the death sentence awarded to the four convicts of the Nirbhaya rape case on 5 May 2017.[14]

Justice Misra authored the landmark judgement confirming the death penalty of four convicts in the brutal 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder case which shook the nation and spurred the genesis of a stringent anti-rape law. In his verdict, Justice Misra termed the convicts as those who “found an object for enjoyment in her... for their gross, sadistic and beastly pleasures... for the devilish manner in which they played with her dignity and identity is humanly inconceivable”.[15]
...
[References:]
2. "Hon'ble Mr. Justice Dipak Misra". [https://web.archive.org/web/20170611141954/supremecourtofindia.nic.in/judges/sjud/dipakmisra.htm] Supreme Court of India. Archived from the original on 11 June 2017.
3. Maneesh Chhibber (1 October 2012). "The courtrooom cast after presidential reference". [http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-courtrooom-cast-after-presidential-reference/1010129/] The Indian Express. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
5. Mittal, Priyanka (8 August 2017). "Justice Dipak Misra to be next Chief Justice of India". Livemint. [http://www.livemint.com/Politics/zOQPvAxmvlg60nrOubBMzJ/Justice-Dipak-Misra-to-be-next-Chief-Justice-of-India.html] Retrieved 13 January 2018.
14. "Nirbhaya gangrape case: Supreme Court verdict on convicts plea challenging their death sentence shortly" [http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/nirbhaya-gangrape-supreme-court-verdict-convicts-plea-death-sentence/1/946138.html]. India Today. ANI. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
15. Rajagopal, Krishnadas (5 May 2017). "Delhi gang rape case: SC confirms death for four". [http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/2012-delhi-gang-rape-case-supreme-court-confirms-death-for-four/article18390742.ece] The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 13 January 2018.

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The Prasanthi Nilayam ashram authorities and the organizers of the conference must be congratulated for inviting and getting the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India to inaugurate this conference. I think it is a big achievement and has raised the profile of Prasanthi Nilayam ashram and Puttaparthi significantly, in this immediate post-Mahasamadhi period of Sathya Sai movement.

The Supreme Court of India is a very powerful institution in India today. It is the apex institution that protects Indian citizens from abuse of power by those in authority, and also keeps a check on those in power to stay within the constitution and laws of India. It also protects freedom of speech in India which is vital for social media writers like me. As a beneficiary, lover and open supporter of democracy and its key feature of freedom of speech in India, I am deeply grateful to the institution of the Supreme Court of India for this great service that it has provided over decades to my country.

And so, for me, the sitting Chief Justice (of Supreme Court) of India visiting Prasanthi Nilayam ashram and inaugurating a conference about Human Values in the legal world, is a matter of great satisfaction.

As an Indian citizen and resident of Puttaparthi, India, I thank the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra for visiting Prasanthi Nilayam ashram and Puttaparthi, for inaugurating the conference and for his conference inauguration speech. I also express my deep gratitude to him for his lead role in the judgement and related quotes given above in the brutal, inhuman and heinous 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder case.

Given below are a couple of screenshots from a video on CJI Misra's conference inauguration speech:

[To open pic in higher resolution, right-click on pic followed by open in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]




Above pics courtesy: CVR News English, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET2u5l819oc.

Given below are some articles from the Indian media about CJI Misra's conference inauguration speech.

1) CJI sees greater need for protection of human rights, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/cji-sees-greater-need-for-protection-of-human-rights/article24668082.ece, 12th Aug. 2018

Some quotes of CJI Misra's speech given in above article:

Dharma is a concept that cannot be adequately translated into any language, and it connotes that which sustains society, maintains social order, and ensures well-being and progress of humanity.
...
.. the reverence of life is unsegragably associated with the dignity of a human being, who is basically divine, not servile. A human personality is endowed with potential infinity and it blossoms when dignity is sustained. The sustenance of such dignity has to be the superlative concern of every sensitive soul.
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2) Judiciary will collapse if human values are lost: CJI,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/65372472.cms, 12th Aug. 2018

Some quotes of CJI Misra's speech given in above article:

The concept of law is built on the foundation of human values... If human values are lost, the edifice of the judiciary will collapse.
...
Spirituality is not beyond rationality and rationality is not bereft of spirituality. There has to be a synthesis, amalgamation and synergy between spirituality and rationality.
...
Some human values are inherent and some you have to cultivate.

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3) Dharma Ensures Well-Being, Sustains Society: Chief Justice Dipak Misra, https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/dharma-ensures-well-being-sustains-society-chief-justice-dipak-misra-1899075, 12th Aug. 2018

Some quotes of CJI Misra's speech given in above article:

There is distinction between human values and human rights. We need to protect human rights by expressing human values. One can enjoy one's human rights without bending the human rights of others. You should also not disturb the human values of others.
...
Law and justice is blended with humanity.
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The centrality of idea cannot be ego. The way to peace is the annihilation of ballooning of perpendicularism, which in spiritual terms, means elimination of ego. This is the culture of India and this is what Baba (Sri Sathya Sai Baba) preached.
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My spiritual and moral summoning has brought me here. There is no need for a tussle between science and spirituality.... There are three spiritual aspects, namely divinity is humanity, thoughtless thought is spirituality and remaining in constant nowness is physical and economic morality. [Ravi: I have to state here that I did not understand the last sentence. Perhaps Justice Misra has elaborated on it elsewhere which may help me to get a better understanding of it. end-Ravi]
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4) Life has no meaning without liberty: Chief Justice Dipak Misra, http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/2018/aug/11/life-has-no-meaning-without-liberty-chief-justice-dipak-misra-1856463.html, 11th Aug 2018

Some quotes of CJI Misra's speech given in above article:

(C)an human race survive without liberty?
...
(W)hat is the point if I do not have liberty, sans liberty life has no meaning. It is death.
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Here is a video have some clips of CJI Dipak Misra's speech

1) [Audio is not very clear] Justice Dipak Misra Speech at Human Values and Legal World Conference in Puttaparthi | CVR English, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET2u5l819oc, 4 min 29 secs.

[I thank Hon'ble Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, thehindu.com, indiatimes.com, ndtv.com, newindianexpress.com and wikipedia, and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above quotes of CJI Misra, from above mentioned websites on this post, and sharing extracts from his wiki page on this post. Note that this post is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever. I also thank CVR News English for the two screenshot pics from their abovementioned video put up on this post.]

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