The Abyss We Are Heading Into At a time when the State is becoming more and more inhuman, the laws enacted are turning out to be more draconian by the day, and the poor and the vulnerable becoming more and more vulnerable and helpless. Dilip Borah 14 July 2021, Last Updated at 7:28 am Representational image outlookindia.com 2021-07-14T07:28:31+05:30 The other day, speaking at a farewell function of Justice Ashok Bhusan, the CJI, Justice N. V. Ramana, expressed his view that judges while giving judgments, must focus on law, precedents, and facts of a case on one hand and the other, the human aspect. It is a view that reminds us that justice, without a touch of humanity, is a soulless entity, a cold and lifeless body. At a time when the State is becoming more and more inhuman, the laws enacted are turning out to be more draconian by the day, and the poor and the vulnerable becoming more and more vulnerable and helpless. Such thoughts from a person like the CJI gives our sinking hearts a flicker of hope that the right to life and dignity of the human body, the right to justice and equality before the law, someday, will lighten the dark caprices of our collective life that are becoming bigger and bigger under the spreading shadow of religious bigotry, communal hatred, caste prejudices and politics of othering. This is still a dream, but a dream that we, the people of India, can abandon only at a colossal cost.