Panaji, Dec. 27 -- Mediation is not a sign of the law's weakness but its highest evolution, the Chief Justice of India, Surya Kant, said on Friday. "Mediation is not a sign of the weakness of the law, but rather, mediation is the highest evolution. It is the true transition from the culture of adjudication, where we merely manage conflicts," he said. He was addressing the two-day National Conference and Symposium on 'Mediation: How Far Significant in the Present-Day Context' at the India International University of Legal Education and Research, Goa. Stating that mediation was not a Western concept but "the genius of our soil", CJI said it was the "ancient art of kshama", reclaimed and recontextualised for a modern era. He also called for a transition towards a multi-door courthouse system - mediation, arbitration, and eventually, litigation too. Later in the day, while speaking at a 30-day awareness campaign on drug abuse, the CJI stressed that "the law must speak firmly, decisively, and without hesitation" when dealing with traffickers and those who profit from human vulnerability. However, he added, the law's response must be different when it encounters a first-time user. "In such cases, the central question is no longer one of culpability; it becomes a question of recovery. Punishment by itself cannot be the end. Justice must ask whether it is merely closing a case or preserving a future that might otherwise be lost." During the event, the CJI also paid tributes to the 25 people who lost their lives in the recent Goa nightclub fire, calling it "a profound loss for their loved ones and a tragedy for our entire nation."...