8. Institutional Ethics and Constitutional Symbolism

1.  Lady Justice Statue at Supreme Court: Symbolism and Gender Justice

Notes for Students

Context of the Article: On October 16, 2024, the Supreme Court of India unveiled a reimagined statue of Lady Justice in its Judges’ Library. The statue features open eyes and holds a copy of the Indian Constitution instead of a sword. This move, commissioned under the leadership of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, symbolically redefines the vision of justice in India, aligning it more closely with constitutional morality, gender justice, and institutional transparency, departing from colonial and patriarchal legal iconography.

UPSC Paper Topic Belongs To:

• GS Paper II: Indian Constitution – Features, Amendments, and Role of Judiciary
• GS Paper II: Ethics in Governance – Institutional Integrity and Accountability
• GS Paper I: Indian Society – Gender and Social Justice

Dimensions of the Article:

1. Symbolism of Lady Justice in Indian Constitutional Context
2. Open Eyes and the Shift from Colonial Legal Imagery
3. Replacing the Sword with the Constitution: Implications for Rule of Law
4. Gender Justice and Institutional Representation
5. Legal Reforms and Constitutional Morality in the Post-Colonial Era

Why in News

The traditional Lady Justice statue—a blindfolded woman with scales and a sword—has long symbolized impartiality and authority in Western legal systems. However, in October 2024, the Supreme Court of India unveiled a modern reimagination of this symbol. The newly installed statue features eyes wide open, carries scales of justice, and holds the Indian Constitution in place of a sword. This transformation, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, reflects an intentional departure from colonial symbolism and embraces a constitutionally rooted and inclusive conception of justice.

Features of the News

1. Reimagining Legal Symbolism
   1. Traditional Lady Justice statues use blindfolds to represent impartiality and swords to denote punitive power.
   2. The Supreme Court’s version removes the blindfold, suggesting awareness, inclusivity, and context-sensitive justice.
   3. The sword is replaced by the Constitution of India, signaling that power flows from democratic values, not coercion.
      
2. Gender Justice and Feminist Legal Symbolism
   1. The statue challenges patriarchal depictions of justice by centralizing women’s agency in a non-violent and constitutional framework.
   2. It aligns with the Supreme Court’s evolving jurisprudence on gender equality, reproductive rights, LGBTQIA+ recognition, and intersectional justice (e.g., Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India [2018], Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India [2017]).
      
3. Constitutional Morality over Legal Formalism
   1. The depiction reaffirms that constitutional morality—not archaic formalism—should guide judicial conduct.
   2. By holding the Constitution, the statue suggests justice is accountable to constitutional values like dignity, liberty, equality, and fraternity.
      
4. Departure from Colonial Legal Legacy
   1. The statue complements recent legal reforms replacing colonial laws:
      • Indian Penal Code replaced with Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
      • CrPC with Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
      • Indian Evidence Act with Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023
   2. This transition reflects India’s aspiration to decolonize legal institutions and reaffirm sovereign constitutional identity.
      
5. Institutional Ethics and Transparency
   1. Open eyes indicate vigilance, judicial accountability, and awareness of social realities, countering critiques of judicial aloofness.
   2. The statue’s placement in the Judges’ Library further underscores the value of reasoned deliberation over retribution.

Explainers

1. Why remove the blindfold from Lady Justice?

The blindfold, historically rooted in Western legal iconography, symbolizes impartiality and objectivity—that justice must not be swayed by wealth, power, identity, or status. However, in the Indian context, this symbolism has been critiqued for overlooking socio-economic and cultural realities that shape access to justice.

Removing the blindfold in the new statue represents a conscious break from legal formalism and acknowledges that neutrality is not the same as justice. The open eyes signify a judiciary that is aware of caste, gender, and class disparities, and one that interprets the law in light of the lived experiences of marginalized communities. This aligns with the Indian constitutional vision of substantive equality, as enshrined in Articles 14, 15, and 21.

Moreover, it reflects the Supreme Court’s recent context-sensitive jurisprudence, where social context, vulnerability, and intersectionality are integral to decision-making—for instance, in the judgments on manual scavenging, domestic violence, and LGBTQIA+ rights. The statue thus symbolizes a shift toward empathetic adjudication grounded in constitutional morality rather than detached legal abstraction.

2. What does replacing the sword with the Constitution mean?

Traditionally, the sword in Lady Justice’s hand represents the coercive power of the state to enforce laws and punish offenders. However, this can also reflect an overemphasis on retributive justice and colonial notions of state authority based on force.

Replacing the sword with the Indian Constitution underscores a paradigm shift toward rights-based, democratic justice. The Constitution, as a living document, is the source of all lawful authority and defines the limits of power through fundamental rights, separation of powers, and judicial review.

This symbolism aligns with transformative constitutionalism, where the judiciary plays an active role in realizing the goals of justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity. By holding the Constitution, the statue affirms that the true source of judicial legitimacy is not might, but moral and constitutional reasoning—grounded in public trust and constitutional fidelity, not colonial vestiges of authority.

3. How does this connect with ongoing judicial reform?

The unveiling of the new Lady Justice statue complements the broader efforts to “Indianize the legal system” and democratize judicial symbolism. It coincides with landmark legislative reforms that have replaced colonial-era codes such as the:

• Indian Penal Code, 1860 → Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
• CrPC, 1973 → Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
• Indian Evidence Act, 1872 → Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023

These reforms aim to make the legal system more citizen-centric, accessible, and rooted in constitutional values. Simultaneously, the judiciary has evolved toward upholding progressive interpretations of rights—from privacy and dignity to gender equality and freedom of expression.

The statue, as an institutional symbol, therefore reinforces the Court’s ethical and jurisprudential commitment to constitutionalism, transparency, and inclusivity. It visually affirms what judicial pronouncements have increasingly aimed for: shedding colonial legal legacies in favor of a justice system that is ethical, compassionate, and people-oriented.

4. Why is this significant for UPSC aspirants?

For aspirants of civil services, understanding the symbolic shift in legal representation is vital to interpreting broader themes in:

• Judicial Reforms and Separation of Powers
• Ethics in Governance and Institutional Accountability
• Indianization of Public Institutions
• Social Justice and Constitutional Morality

It provides concrete insights into the interface between law, ethics, and governance, all of which are integral to GS Paper II and IV. Moreover, it demonstrates how symbolism in public institutions can reflect deeper normative shifts in constitutional values, aiding aspirants in writing high-quality answers in Mains, as well as enriching their essay and ethics paper with contextually relevant examples.

For instance, aspirants can use this case to illustrate:

• How symbolic representation influences institutional trust
• The ethical responsibility of judiciary as a public institution
• The convergence of substantive equality and legal ethics in decision-making

This symbolic transformation of Lady Justice becomes a powerful example of how India’s constitutional democracy continuously reimagines itself—a valuable analytical asset for both answer writing and interview discussions.

Conclusion 

The unveiling of the Lady Justice statue with open eyes and a Constitution in hand marks a pivotal moment in India’s legal evolution—symbolically and institutionally. It reflects an aspiration for transparent, aware, and constitutionally bound justice that is sensitive to gender, social, and historical contexts. This change is not merely aesthetic; it is an ethical commitment to institutional reform, gender-inclusive jurisprudence, and democratic symbolism. As India continues its journey of decolonization and constitutional deepening, such gestures reinforce the spirit of transformative constitutionalism envisioned by the framers of the Constitution.