An important two-day lawyers’ conference was held in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, on 30–31 August 2025, where a new discourse on legal practice was initiated. Shanta Kumar, president of the AP chapter, did an excellent job organizing the event, which was hosted by the Indian Lawyers Association (ILA). The AP chapter’s conference drew about 700 lawyers.
ILA’s founder-president, Srikanth Chintala—a young constitutional lawyer from the Telangana High Court—is working to build a well-informed legal team committed to defending the oppressed. Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, former Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, was the chief guest. He is especially known for declaring at his oath ceremony that “he was elevated to that office because of Ambedkar and the constitution he gave to India.” As the first Dalit Chief Justice of an RSS/BJP-controlled state, his appointment became both newsworthy and controversial.
I, too, was a speaker at the event.
Shifting Ideologies in Judiciary and Policing
Across the country, right-wing forces have established significant ideological influence on the courts and the legal community, promoting the idea that courts and police should follow Sanatana Dharma rather than constitutional morality. This conference sought to reset constitutional morality as the guiding principle for the judicial system nationwide. Increasingly, judges in higher courts are demanding that lawyers justify their arguments with references to the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Manu Dharma Shastra, or Kautilya’s Arthashastra, instead of the Constitution, Cr.P.C., and IPC. The criteria for judicial appointments may, over time, shift to a candidate’s knowledge of Sanskrit texts rather than foundational legal documents.
In one court, while Srikanth himself was arguing a case using evidence from the Constitution and relevant precedents, the judge pressed Srikanth, asking, “Did you read the Bhagavad Gita?” Srikanth replied that “he read the Indian Constitution, not the Bhagavad Gita.” The judge nearly shouted in response, nearly calling him in contempt of court.
This trend is not isolated. There is a growing judicial inclination toward Sanatana nationalism. Should RSS/BJP dominance continue for some years, police FIRs may be written with reference to Sanskrit Sanatana literature rather than the Constitution, IPC, or Cr.P.C.
This pattern mirrors that of Muslim monarchies, where legal decisions are guided more by the Quran than by secular law. Ironically, Hindutva forces seek to replicate this model.
Defending the Oppressed Within Changing Systems
The conference expressed concern about the judiciary and police’s changing tendencies and the ways this endangers oppressed castes and communities. It emphasized educating lawyers on how to fight in courts at every level with a new consciousness, efficiency, and commitment to the life, liberty, and property of the oppressed.
For judicial and police officers, adherence to Sanatana ideology often becomes a path to promotion, given the preferences of current rulers. Delhi’s ruling class and RSS leaders place more value in Sanatana Dharma texts than in the present Constitution. These traditional texts have, for centuries, facilitated the oppression and exploitation of Shudra, OBC, Dalit, and Adivasi masses. Officers from these groups often conform to prevailing ideology to secure their positions and advance. Corruption is overlooked as long as the individual aligns with the rulers’ ideology.
The Imperative for Competent Legal Advocacy
A key question addressed by the conference was how lawyers must fight for the poor and oppressed in a caste- and male-dominated legal system that increasingly reinforces those hierarchies.
There was extensive discussion on the need for rural and urban poor, and especially first-generation lawyers, to acquire command of English, given that court proceedings operate almost exclusively in that language. While the RSS/BJP push for court use of regional languages—mainly Hindi—the Supreme Court recently held that “such translations cannot be considered authentic.” Only the English version is treated as official in courts. Lawyers arguing cases in regional languages cannot effectively shape written judgments. Clear and persuasive English arguments improve a lawyer’s chances of winning. Thus, mastery of English is more vital for court practice than for universities.
In Western countries, courts and police never write FIRs or judgments by referencing the Bible. Srikanth reminded participants that the first known cross-examination in a court before a judge comes from the Bible’s Book of Daniel, with no such precedent in Indian Sanskrit texts. There is no notion of justice in Manu Dharma—only caste duties. While the Bhagavad Gita offers moral guidance, on many points Krishna’s statements are hostile to Shudra and Chandala castes, and the concept of caste-free justice is absent from these texts.
For example, in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna judges that even if Karna wins Draupadi’s Swayamvara, she may still refuse to marry him because he is a Shudra, even though the rules did not bar Shudra/Chandalas from competing. Such judgments are celebrated as “Dharma,” though they are, by contemporary standards, deeply unjust.
Indian courts only recognise written history, not oral tradition. In ancient Sanskrit sources, productive castes long remained under the dominance of the three Dwija castes. What those upper castes did to the lower castes was considered Dharma, meaning equality was unknown until Dr. Ambedkar’s Constitution articulated such a principle.
Lawyers defending the oppressed must understand the legacy and ideology behind Sanatana Dharma and the Sanskrit texts that sustain it.
Sustaining Constitutional Democracy
The ILA conference took up a comprehensive discussion of all forms of Indian jurisprudence. Ambedkar, the first genius lawyer from the oppressed communities, set an example for defending the marginalized.
Notably, several judges participated as speakers and attendees, repeatedly affirming that the survival of constitutional democracy in India depends on the legal community. The Constitution itself is the outcome of legal minds from around the world, and Ambedkar drew from the world’s positive legal philosophies in drafting it.
Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is a political theorist, social activist and author. His latest book is The Shudra Rebellion.
https://countercurrents.org/2025/09/repositioning-indian-lawyers-in-defence-of-the-poor/
Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd 