Delivering the 2nd Prof. N.R. Madhava Menon Memorial Lecture, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said that courts decide individual cases while academics see the patterns across them, and that a meaningful system of justice needs both.
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New Delhi: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Tuesday (October 6) said that justice needs the experience of the courtroom and the analysis of scholars, while delivering the 2nd Prof. (Dr) N.R. Madhava Menon Memorial Lecture on “Judging with Compassion: Human Understanding in the Practice of Law”.
‘Courtroom sees the case, academia sees the pattern’
The CJI said courts decide cases one at a time, while academics are placed to identify systemic patterns:
“The Courtroom sees the case, while academia sees the pattern. And justice needs both.”
He pointed out that scholarship can reveal what courts often cannot see, such as whether compensation awarded is actually paid or whether victims receive the support promised to them, because scholars follow cases beyond the courtroom to examine whether justice was in fact delivered.
What compassionate judging means
The CJI described compassionate judging not as charity but as a matter of competence in the justice system, requiring judges to acknowledge the full human context that lies beneath legal facts and procedure. He spoke of what he called “invisible victims”, including survivors of gender-based violence, families of undertrial prisoners and persons with disabilities, who face prolonged and difficult judicial processes.
Beyond the courtroom
The CJI said compassion on the part of courts and lawyers alone is not enough, and that systems must provide legal aid at police stations, protected spaces for vulnerable witnesses to testify, and multilingual access to courts and judgments.
Surya Kant On Academia: About the lecture
The lecture honours Prof. N.R. Madhava Menon, the legal educator known for his emphasis on victim-centred justice.
Event: 2nd Prof. (Dr) N.R. Madhava Menon Memorial Lecture, “Judging with Compassion: Human Understanding in the Practice of Law”
Speaker: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant
Date: October 6, 2026