1986 was the year when the Shah Bano case – the case of a divorced woman who had filed for maintenance - became a bone of
contention between the mullahs and the moderates. It was the year when Charles Sobhraj, who had lead a life of luxury in Tihar, escaped from jail yet again. And it was the year when Ambani (Reliance) and Nusli Wadia (Bombay Dyeing) engaged in a battle for supremacy. But it was also the year that Govinda (who went on to become the “King of Comedy”) made his debut on Bollywood; and SAARC was established as a South Asian regional body.
The introduction of PIL (Public Interest Litigation) – to secure the enforcement of fundamental rights – in areas as diverse as gender justice, child protection, bonded labor, prison reform, public health and the environment changed the judicial landscape.
But the question remains – have the courts not usurped the role / responsibility of the administration by taking decisions that strictly pertains to the executive branch, decisions that they may not be qualified to take? And, can the court solve problems that really belong to the social sphere? The author says that the alternative to judicial activism would be an admission on the court’s part that, though violations of human rights have taken place, the court can offer no satisfactory relief…Where the PIL (Public Interest Litigation) has helped is in breaking down the judicial walls of orthodoxy, and in removing procedural bottlenecks that stand in the way of human liberty.