Law without compassion is tyranny, compassion without law chaos: CJI

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant underscored the need for a humane yet firm approach to drug abuse, calling it a social and medical issue that demands consultative action

Law without compassion becomes tyranny and compassion without law becomes chaos, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said on Sunday.

Addressing the concluding function of the 30-day special awareness campaign of the Goa State Legal Service Authority on drug abuse, the CJI said one should recognise that substance abuse is not merely a criminal problem, but a social, psychological and medical one which requires consultative action and not retributive rhetoric.

The month-long campaign on drug abuse has clearly managed to capture this ethos, he added.

"I would also want to speak about the crucial interplay of legal system and social change. In the last four decades, I have watched the evolution of our justice delivery system. I have seen it recognise that law without compassion becomes tyranny and compassion without law becomes chaos," the CJI asserted.

"The campaign against drug abuse has spoken to students without speaking down to them. The campaign has sensitised the people without instilling fear in their mind," he pointed out.

Referring to the video that was played during the event, which showed rehabilitated youths, the CJI said it has given a voice to those whom society had written off.

Their testimony is more powerful than any pamphlet at this stage, he emphasised.

"Drug abuse does not arrive with noise or warning. It slips quite into our homes, classrooms, and community, eroding potential future. Drug abuse does not only spoil individuals but society itself," the CJI said.

Speaking about Goa, he said the state's spirit is embedded not only in the buildings and street corners, but in every citizen and resident, all of whom seem to carry DNA Goa as antiquity, resilience, and beauty.

"This is what Goa stands for. For preservation, heritage, and pride in our identity," the CJI said.

Among those who attended the programme held at Kala Academy here included Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Supreme Court's Justice J K Maheshwari and Justice Manmohan as well Bombay High Court Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar.