The ‘new’ Justitia and reimagining justice
The new statue
| Photo Credit: PTI
The addition of the open-eyed Justitia in the Supreme Court of India has led to public debate. The ‘new’ six-foot white statue is a sari-clad ornamented goddess-like figure without a blindfold, holding scales in her right hand and a copy of the Constitution of India in her left hand. It signified, said then Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud, who commissioned the statue in October 2024, that “Law is not blind; it sees everyone equally”. This is, historically speaking, puzzling since the Bombay High Court has an open-eyed Justitia statue along with a Statue of Mercy — the open-eyed justice is as much part of colonial iconography as the blindfolded figure of justice.E...