At a time when large swathes of the world are plunging into wars and authoritarianism, jurist Upendra Baxi’s new book has argued that human rights now stand at a crossroads where the new generation has to rise to the occasion and make it a people-led movement.
In the new book ‘Law, Justice, Society: Selected Works of Upendra Baxi’, published by the Oxford University Press, editor Amita Dhanda said that Baxi calls for a “new kind of moral language” to address the human rights challenges in the changing world. She said the book carries the message that human rights cannot bear the burden anymore with the status quo.
Baxi, 86, is a leading Indian jurist who is an Emeritus Professor of Law at the Universities of Warwick and Delhi and has previously served as the Vice Chancellor of Universities of Delhi (1990-94) and South Gujarat (1982-85). He has played a key role in Mathura rape case, Bhopal gas tragedy, and the development of the public interest litigation (PIL) movement.
Justice BV Nagarathna of the Supreme Court launched the book at the Indian Law Institute, Delhi. Recalling decades of his work as an academic and activist, she said he demonstrated that the role of a legal academic is not limited to classrooms or research but extends to addressing the real-world struggles for justice.
“His life highlights the potential of the clinical education model where law professors assisted by students can play a crucial role in bringing the plight of the vulnerable citizens before the authorities and the court rules,” said Nagarathna.
‘We are our own messiahs’
As the role and relevance of international organisations, such as the United Nations (UN), in safeguarding human rights is under question, Baxi calls for a two-pronged approach to address the challenges, said Dhanda, a Professor Emerita at NALSAR University of Law, Bengaluru.
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