On 13th August, 2020, Symbiosis Law School Pune’s celebrated event of Justice ‘Y. V. Chandrachud Memorial Public Lecture’ series was held under the esteemed banner of ‘Symbiosis Golden Jubilee Lecture Series’. This year the lecture was delivered by none other than, the Nobel Laureate Hon’ble Shri Kailaish Satyarthi. The theme of the lecture was “Sound of Silence, Cry of Innocence – Protecting Child Rights in India in Post COVID-19 Period”.
The panel consisted of Shri Kailash Satyarthi, as the chief guest, Dr. S.B Majumdar, Chancellor, SI(D)U, Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar, Pro-Chancellor, SI(D)U, Dr. Rajani Gupte, Vice Chancellor, SI(D)U, Dr. Shashikala Gurpur, Director, SLS, Pune, The lecture was conducted online over the zoom platform and over 700 participants joined it.
The lecture commenced with the welcome address delivered by Dr. Bindu Ronald, Dy. Director, SLS, Pune, followed by the Chancellor’s address by Dr. S.B. Majumdar. On this auspicious occasion Shri Kailash Satyarthi, along with other dignitaries, released this year’s Symbiosis’ booklet on Y.V. Chandrachud Lecture.
Satyarthi ji began his lecture with his kind words for Justice Y.V. Chandrachud. Speaking about the theme of the lecture, he began with a poem called “Open your eyes maa” written by her daughter. He told that the poem is inspired from a shocking event where a child was seen pulling up a sheet of cloth covering his dead mother’s body in an attempt to wake her up. He explained through the poem that this is what sound and cry of Innocence looks like.
Further, he talked about his journey which began when years ago, a friend knocked on his door to save a young 14-year old girl from becoming a victim of human trafficking. He and his friends were beaten up for their attempt to save the young girl but instead of giving up they went to court and saved the daughter by a habeas corpus order delivered by court. “I have extreme faith in law, constitution and judiciary of this country”, he said. He also spoke about his journey of making education a fundamental right. He also spoke about how he conceived and led the largest civil society network for the most exploited children – the Global March against Child Labour that traversed 103 countries and covered 80,000 kms, mobilising unions, civil society and most importantly, children with a sole demand for an ILO Convention on Worst Forms of Child Labour. This march led to the adoption of ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour which went on to become the fastest ratified convention in the history of ILO.
Sir also reiterated about the responsibility of the lawyers for protection of children. “Lawyers have the moral responsibility to make the justice available to those who need the most”, he said. Sir also mentioned about his latest campaign, ‘100 million for 100 million’ and encouraged everyone to contribute for that. At the end, sir answered few questions asked by students and he ended his lecture on the note that, “We can’t wait for the leaders outside, there’s a leader inside all of us. Therefore, have the courage to raise your voice for the right”.
