ON February 12, 2025, while hearing civil writ petitions concerning the implementation of the Scheme of Shelter for Urban Homeless, Justice B.R. Gavai, the second senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, described homeless people as “parasites” because they were getting, among others, food grains and other benefits free of cost.
Justice Gavai, who is set to take up the mantle of the Chief Justice of India, on May 14, 2025 asked from the bench, “Sorry to say, but by not making these people part of mainstream society, are we not creating a class of parasites?”
He went on to assert,
“Because of freebies when elections are declared, people are not willing to work…they are getting free rations without doing any work! Would it not be better to make them part of mainstream society so that they can contribute to the nation?”
These remarks symbolised a definitive disconnect between how judges in higher courts perceive the nation’s pressing concerns, and the complex ground realities that inform everyday life in the republic. But beyond this, it also represents a certain alienation from the Constitution’s binding promises.
