‘Justice Unplugged 2026’: extending learning beyond the classroom

‘Justice Unplugged 2026’, a joint initiative of The Hindu and VIT, Chennai, was held on Saturday, February 28, 2026, in New Delhi. Legal experts and practitioners discussed a variety of topics, from legal education and technology to constitutional thinking and increasing access to the law.

Guests at the opening ceremony included Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan; Abhishek Manu Singhvi, senior lawyer and G. Viswanathan, founder and chancellor of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT).

“We are in a country where we do not allow the provisions of the Constitution to affect our personal conduct,” said S. Muralidhar, former Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court and currently a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court.

Talking about constitutional morality, Senior Advocate Karuna Nundy said, “The mob is not something to decide on” and cautioned that majoritarian sentiment cannot override constitutional guarantees.

More than two years after a sign language interpreter first assisted a deaf lawyer during Supreme Court hearings, accessibility in courtrooms is still inconsistent and difficult to ensure, say barrister Sanchita Ain and advocate Sarah Sunny, speaking about accessibility in the courts.