If he were a judge, Sorabjee would have considered hate speech as verbal violence, Justice Viswanathan added.
Justice KV Viswanathan
Article by Debayan Roy | Bar and Bench
Supreme Court judge Justice KV Viswanathan on Saturday said that eminent jurist late Soli J Sorabjee was a strong opponent of hate speech.
If he were a judge, Sorabjee would have considered hate speech as verbal violence, Justice Viswanathan added.
“I may be bold to say that Soli as a judge would have been receptive to the argument that hate speech not only invites violence but was violence per se and is verbal violence,” he said
The Supreme Court judge was delivering the Soli J Sorabjee Excellence Award & Scholarship and Memorial Lecture hosted by Jindal Global Law School.
The top court judge said Sorabjee had a knack for simplifying hardcore constitutional concepts and was respectful of human rights. He had some inherent constitutional values, Justice Viswanathan said.
On Sorabjee’s work as a law officer, Justice Viswanathan said he was fiercely independent as Attorney General and recalled him saying that he was Attorney General for the country and not the government.
Justice Viswanathan also said that Sorabjee practiced secularism in his office and it is stated that he had lawyers from all conceivable communities.
“One Parsi lawyer had said that he should take more Parsi juniors and he said that I take juniors based on merit and not the faith they possess,” he added.
[Watch full lecture below]