Conclusion

This chapter has traced the judiciary's role within India's democratic structure — and, despite recurring tensions with the executive and the legislature, the judiciary's own prestige has grown considerably over the decades. At the same time, expectations of it keep rising. Ordinary citizens still ask uncomfortable questions: how do some people manage to secure easy acquittals, and why do witnesses so often change their testimony to suit the wealthy and the powerful? These are concerns the judiciary itself takes seriously, and they are exactly the kind of failure a truly independent, activist judiciary is meant to guard against, even when — as sometimes happens — it falls short.

None of this changes the larger picture: the Indian judiciary is a very powerful institution, known as much for its independence as for its power, and through a long line of decisions it has repeatedly given fresh meaning to the Constitution and defended the rights of citizens, often on behalf of people who could never have reached a courtroom on their own. That access to justice is reinforced, outside the courtroom itself, by a country-wide legal-aid network — National, State, District, and Taluka Legal Services Authorities — that offers free legal advice and representation to women and children, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, industrial workmen, persons with disabilities, and anyone earning below a modest income threshold, precisely the groups PIL was …