'Public Intellectuals Are Duty-bound To Expose Lies Of State': Justice Chandrachud
Public intellectuals have “a duty to expose the lies of the State”, Supreme Court Justice DY Chandrachud said Saturday morning, stressing that in a democratic country it is important to hold governments in check and guard against falsehoods, false narratives and fake news.
Delivering the 6th Chief Justice MC Chagla Memorial Lecture, Justice Chandrachud also cautioned against an over-reliance on the government to provide social, political, economic, cultural and, in the current context, medical truths.
He also highlighted the importance of a “press that is free from influence of any kind… political or economic” to ensure that governments can truly be held to account for actions and policies.
“One cannot rely only on the State for truth. Totalitarian governments are known for their constant reliance on falsehoods to consolidate power… we see there is an increasing trend among countries around the world to manipulate COVID-19 data,” Justice Chandrachud said.
His remarks have been viewed against the backdrop of concerns expressed by experts, activists and journalists that governments may have fudged Covid data to hide the true spread of infections.
“The phenomenon of fake news is on the rise. The WHO (World Health Organization) recognized this during the COVID pandemic… calling it ‘infodemic’. Human beings have a tendency to get attracted to sensational news… which are often based on falsehoods,” he explained.
As early as February last year – when the pandemic was beginning to spread throughout the world – the WHO warned of a wave of fake news and misinformation emerging on social media, including “deliberate attempts to disseminate wrong information”.
Justice Chandrachud acknowledged that social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook should be held responsible for false content, but said people should be vigilant and, crucially, be open to reading about, debating and, perhaps, even accepting different opinions.
He spoke about a “post-truth” world, in which “there is a contest between ‘our truth’ vs ‘your truth’, and a tendency to ignore a ‘truth’ not in alignment with one’s perception”.
“We live in a post-truth world. Social media platforms are responsible… but citizens are also responsible. We incline towards echo chambers and don’t like opposing beliefs… we live in a world that is increasingly divided along social, economic and religious lines,” he said.
“We only read newspapers that align with our beliefs… we ignore books written by people who do not belong to our stream… we mute the TV when someone has a different opinion… we do not truly care about the ‘truth’ as much as we do about being ‘right’,” Justice Chandrachud explained.
“To counter fake news we need to strengthen our public institutions. We must ensure that we have a press that is free from influence of any kind… political or economic. We need a press that will provide us information in an unbiased manner,” he added.
Justice Chandrachud also called for a positive atmosphere in schools and colleges – one in which “students can learn to differentiate truth from falsehood (and) question those in power”.
He also urged people to be kinder and more sensitive to those around them, saying, “We should not be quick to judge others for their opinions. We need to remove barriers based on gender. caste, religion, language or economic status.”
"Intellectuals Have A Duty To Expose Lies Of State": Supreme Court Judge (ndtv.com)
Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, who is currently a judge of the Supreme Court, while addressing a virtual event on August 28 said the exercise of the right to speak truth to power the citizens is integral for the functioning of modern democracy. As part of the 6th MC Chagla Memorial Online Lecture, Justice Chandrachud was delivering a talk on the topic 'Speaking Truth to Power: Citizens and the Law'.
While stating the importance of citizens being informed to bolster transparency in a democracy, Justice Chandrachud said that he did not mean just the elite and the privileged, but those who belong to the marginalised community and women, who traditionally have not enjoyed power and whose opinions have been 'caged, confined and crippled'.
'Democracy needs truth to survive'
Pointing out that truth is vital in instilling faith in democracy, Justice Chandrachud said that as citizens one must strive to ensure a press free of any influence which provides information without biases. He also pressed that in a democracy, citizens must participate in strengthening public institutions. Since democracies are spaces for reasons and as reasons cannot be based on falsehoods, truth is important, he implied.
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Highlighting salient features of democracy, the judge had said that the right to speak truth to power by the citizens is integral to the functioning of modern democracy, adding, one cannot rely solely on the State to determine the truth but citizens 'must remain more vigilant and participate more actively in the process."
Quoting philosopher Hanna Arendt, Justice Chandrachud said totalitarian governments are associated with 'constant reliance on falsehoods in order to establish dominance'.
Underscoring the vital role of informed and responsible citizens, he said, "We should put these truth providers through intense scrutiny and questioning to convince ourselves of the veracity of the claims made by them. It is equally important for those making truth claims be transparent."
'Public intellectuals are duty-bound to expose the lies of the State'
While referring to demands by plenty to regulate social media, he said that as a member of the Indian judiciary, it would not be appropriate for him to comment on the subject. Additionally, Justice Chandrachud referred to the COVID-19 pandemic as 'infodemic' for the overabundance of misinformation and fake news that was circulated in this regard.
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'Undeniably, the phenomenon of fake news is on the rise," he had said.
Furthermore, Justice Chandrachud called for more vigilant, active participation by citizens. Quoting Noam Chomsky, he said that public intellectuals are duty-bound to expose the lies of the State.